Labor conditions

Re: [spiers] Labor conditions

Well, yes...simple...visit the factory... so far, it strikes me that China is
using precisely the
means the UK and USA used to move from pre-industrial to industrial society,
just faster.
One of the purposes of the WTO is to ensure China and other developing countries
never
make it to the fully industrialized stage, by forbidding the Chinese and others
the means we
used.

As to Chairman Mao, he no doubt would have had the scoundrels shot, because he
did not
care for competition. Tens of millions we enslaved in maoist work camps, so
even if the
stories today are true (and I doubt it) this is a huge improvement.

As to "no recourse," things are far more complex than that in China, and people
have ways of
extracting justice. When last in china I read about labor shortages, not enough
skilled labor
to go around. hard to burn workers when there is a shortage of workers.

John


On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:08:37 -0000, "mgranich" wrote :

>
> John, are you or any other importers on the list, concerned about the
> conditions at the factory where your imported products are produced?
>
> I read this article on the BBC,
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5079590.stm
>
> Apple ipods may be produced in sweatshop conditions. Workers work 15
> hours per day and get paid $50/month.
>
> Then, I saw a show on PBS about China....I think it was Frontline but
> I can't remember. The show interviewed a professor at UC Berkley
> (Born in Hong Kong) who has studied Chinese labor for 25 years. She
> conveyed a story about migrant construction workers getting paid once
> a year. The shocking thing was (at least for me) that the worker is
> paid at the discretion of the construction foreman. If the foreman
> says "Get lost! I'm not paying you.", the worker has no recourse, he
> gets nothing. He basically worked the whole year for food and
> water....a slave. Do such arrangements happen in manufacturing in
> China? What would Chairman Mao say?
>
> Don't get me wrong, John is turning me into a free trade apostle.
> But I want my designs to bring people opportunity (while fattening my
> bank account) not add to their plight. That sounds Pollyanna'ish, I
> know…can't help it.
>
> Anthony

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