In Chinese factories, lost fingers and low pay

[DuaneBidoux]

Source: International Harold Tribune

Nearly a decade after some of the most powerful companies in the world — often under considerable criticism and consumer pressure — began an effort to eliminate sweatshop labor conditions in Asia, worker abuse is still commonplace in many of the Chinese factories that supply Western companies, according to labor rights groups.

The groups say some Chinese companies routinely shortchange their employees on wages, withhold health benefits and expose their workers to dangerous machinery and harmful chemicals, like lead, cadmium and mercury.

"If these things are so dangerous for the consumer...


Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/05/business/05sweatshop.php

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If Dems come to power this year I don't want to put these people out of work...I want to help their labor movements gain ground so we can start bringing them up to our standard.

[brentspeak]

1. Ain't cheap labor grand?

[fenriswolf]

2. i remember reading an article

being late (eg 1 second past the appointed time) for shift losses you two hours pay, food (malnourished poorly prepared) costs you big time. as well as the lice infested cot that you have a timeshare with 3 other people. horrible working conditions, horrible slave masters, most people who work their loose their health, their ambition and do not make any money they in fact become indentured servants because they never make enough to be able to leave.

[originalpckelly]

3. So, wait, those weren't complimentary chicken fingers in that Barbie's box?

[LeftishBrit]

4. Horrific

Like something out of the Victorian age. A socialist country, my arse. I agree with the importance of supporting their labour movements.

[BearSquirrel2]

7. They're facists now ...

Didn't you get the memo. They're in league with facists in the west. They are a totalitarian society with a corporatist power base. FASCISTS!!!

Unfortunately, most of our political structure is directly or indirectly involved with them as well. There is lots of money to be made by exploiting cheap labor. This bubble is going to burst. And when it does, I suspect a lot of these creeps will be living in walled off cities or Dubai.

[Steepler0t]

5. A cheap labor conservatives utopia

Ahh, behold the almighty capitalism in all its splendor.

[bluesmail]

6. is this what we have to look forward to?

The Planned Collapse of Amerika

[ReadTomPaine]

9. Bingo. Coming soon to a town near you...

China is the GOP dream plan for the United States come true. For corporate conservatives, it's a model to be admired and emulated.

[rasputin1952]

8. One of the stated reasons that come from business, is that

"consumer goods will become cheaper". Which of course is ridiculous. Brand names, like Nike, Adidas and the like have kept their prices relatively stable while labor costs have been cut some 750% or more. To maintain this high level of profit, labor costs, health care and other aspects we take for granted are basically non-existent.

When one delves further into the Chinese and other labor markets, it makes Dickensian England look like paradise. There have been reports of people executed because the attempted to bring labor reforms. Threats and actual beatings are the norm, and while indentured servitude eventually let said "servant" go, there is no hope for millions that are being abused all over the world. India, Vietnam and a host of other nations exploit people at every chance they can.

It is hardly different here in many ways. There has been talk of some major corp's just not having Medical Insurance Coverage as an option anymore. Workers would get a small percentage of what the company was paying into healthcare, back in the wallets, but they would have to get their own policies and coverage. Of course, depending on what "pool" you were in, your benefits could be nearly nothing, but your cost would be astronomical.

The only way to produce change is to stop purchasing goods from nations that abuse workers until they verifiably change their ways. But the addiction to cheap goods is demanding, and it wold take a worldwide effort. Most people don't give a hoot, because it is something that happens far away and they don't realize that every time they buy something that came from a country that supports abuse, they just make it worse for the worker.

[Pastiche423]

10. Excellent post

While it is true most people don't give a hoot, others do. It may not mean much in the larger scheme of things, but it makes me feel better that I will not purchase goods from a country that abuses its workers.

[rasputin1952]

11. I agree...I try very hard to avoid purchasing items from a

country that abuses it's workers. I have to be honest though, so times it is exceptionally difficult to accomplish that goal. Some items simply aren't made in countries that have good labor laws/ethics...:(

[Riktor]

12. This reminds me of...

... what it is like to work in the United States.

"The groups say some Chinese companies routinely shortchange their employees on wages,"

I have to make photocopies of my time cards because my boss is prone to "misplacing" the originals.

"withhold health benefits and expose their workers to dangerous machinery"

I used to work for the USPS. As I recall, the emergency brakes on the LLVs (mail trucks) are so unreliable the USPS issues wheel chocks to prevent roll aways. I've had brakes give out, faulty steering columns, shot transmissions, dead blinkers and brake lights, flat tires, broken heaters in the winter, and no AC in the summer. Pile that on top of the fact the vehicle doesn't allow for 180 degrees of vision and there's no way to see directly behind the vehicle (which is great, considering kids like to follow the damn trucks around).

As for health benefits, one time there was a mail handler at some processing and distribution plant who had a heart attack on the mailroom floor. Before anyone was allowed to call an ambulance, the supervisor made this man clock out so he wouldn't die on company time.

"and harmful chemicals, like lead, cadmium and mercury."

I've been around cyanide, hydroflouric acid, hydrocholoric acid, liquid nitrogen, liquid argon, hydrogen, choloroform, ether, and high concentrations of carbon monoxide... all of this while I was an uninsured temp at a shipping and receiving dock.


I'm not suggesting we have it quite as bad as the Chinese, but employers get away with the same kind of crap right here at home.