Board index › General Discussion › News and Current Events

Labor Camp SOS

Page 1 of 1 [ 16 posts ] 

Previous topic | Next topic

justkillingtime
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Aug 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,021
Location: Washington, D.C.

07 Nov 2013, 1:17 am

www.cnn.com/2013/11/06/world/asia/china ... loween-sos


_________________
Impermanence.


Moondust
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 29 May 2012
Age: 64
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,558

09 Nov 2013, 6:21 am

So that's how the Chinese manage to sell so cheap? By having slaves?


_________________
There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats - Albert Schweitzer


Fogman
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 19 Jun 2005
Age: 59
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,986
Location: Frå Nord Dakota til Vermont

09 Nov 2013, 8:23 am

Moondust wrote:
So that's how the Chinese manage to sell so cheap? By having slaves?


I guess so. It also explains part of the reason why QA/QC is virtually nonexistant with a lot of stuff produced in China as well.

This just sucks.


_________________
When There's No There to get to, I'm so There!


Moondust
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 29 May 2012
Age: 64
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,558

09 Nov 2013, 11:16 am

Why would the slavery system preclude QA/QC?


_________________
There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats - Albert Schweitzer


justkillingtime
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Aug 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,021
Location: Washington, D.C.

09 Nov 2013, 1:23 pm

Moondust wrote:
Why would the slavery system preclude QA/QC?


Maybe because owners or the government that have the kind of ethics to treat people like that probably do not care if their products have any integrity or are dangerous. They would only control quality if they were unable to make a profit.


_________________
Impermanence.


Fogman
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 19 Jun 2005
Age: 59
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,986
Location: Frå Nord Dakota til Vermont

09 Nov 2013, 1:41 pm

Moondust wrote:
Why would the slavery system preclude QA/QC?


Because the laborors are not being paid for their work, so why should they care about the quality of work that they do.

Also, the Government, or perhaps more clearly, the corrupt government officials who run the camps would not care either as they have free labor, and are clearly only in it for the money.

Furthermore, the companies that contract the stuff to be made want the maximum amount of product for the lowest amount of cash tendered, as they too are only in it for the money.


_________________
When There's No There to get to, I'm so There!


Moondust
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 29 May 2012
Age: 64
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,558

09 Nov 2013, 2:09 pm

I'm surprised that the West hasn't done anything to seriously damage slavery in China, as it's "unfair" business advantage.


_________________
There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats - Albert Schweitzer


Fogman
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 19 Jun 2005
Age: 59
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,986
Location: Frå Nord Dakota til Vermont

09 Nov 2013, 3:10 pm

Moondust wrote:
I'm surprised that the West hasn't done anything to seriously damage slavery in China, as it's "unfair" business advantage.


It's their country, not ours, and China is a 'Most Favored Nation' when it comes to trade status, at least in the US at any rate. Also, since almost everything that we used to make is now made in China, we really can't enact a trade embargo without seriously crippling our own economy in the process.


_________________
When There's No There to get to, I'm so There!


justkillingtime
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Aug 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,021
Location: Washington, D.C.

09 Nov 2013, 4:26 pm

We owe China over $1 trillion. They are also buying commercial and residential properties in the U.S. www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2011/09/1 ... n-the-u-s/


_________________
Impermanence.


GoonSquad
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 May 2007
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,748
Location: International House of Paincakes...

09 Nov 2013, 4:45 pm

Are you guys kidding. Apple products have great build quality... they make up the margin on safety. :)



Quote:
The explosion ripped through Building A5 on a Friday evening last May, an eruption of fire and noise that twisted metal pipes as if they were discarded straws.

When workers in the cafeteria ran outside, they saw black smoke pouring from shattered windows. It came from the area where employees polished thousands of iPad cases a day.

Two people were killed immediately, and over a dozen others hurt. As the injured were rushed into ambulances, one in particular stood out. His features had been smeared by the blast, scrubbed by heat and violence until a mat of red and black had replaced his mouth and nose.

“Are you Lai Xiaodong’s father?” a caller asked when the phone rang at Mr. Lai’s childhood home. Six months earlier, the 22-year-old had moved to Chengdu, in southwest China, to become one of the millions of human cogs powering the largest, fastest and most sophisticated manufacturing system on earth. That system has made it possible for Apple and hundreds of other companies to build devices almost as quickly as they can be dreamed up.
Human cost of the iPad (click)


_________________
No man is free who is not master of himself.~Epictetus


staremaster
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Dec 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,628
Location: New York

09 Nov 2013, 4:59 pm

I remember reading some years ago that the Chinese prison system consists mostly of farms and factories. While serving their sentence, the prisoner works for free. After their sentence, they are often compelled to keep working in the same place with pay. Only political criminals go to real prisons.



Fogman
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 19 Jun 2005
Age: 59
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,986
Location: Frå Nord Dakota til Vermont

09 Nov 2013, 7:25 pm

GoonSquad wrote:
Are you guys kidding. Apple products have great build quality... they make up the margin on safety. :)


Apple isn't using Penal Labor, but still, I thought the article was quite telling about Apple, who in the article, when they get a factory running up to their standards, then want the prices for manufacturing cut even lower than what they were when they contracted the factory, and the factory makes substantial investments in improvements.

How can a factory make money if they have to spend a lot of money to get their factory up to Apple's standards, then have to make better product for less money?
--Does anybody seriously think that there will not be problems with this?


_________________
When There's No There to get to, I'm so There!


GoonSquad
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 May 2007
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,748
Location: International House of Paincakes...

10 Nov 2013, 10:08 am

^^^ You can't blame big business for succumbing to this... Doing business with China is like doing economic crack .


HOWEVER:

This is why we need a strong, international labor movement and why 'civilized, developed countries' need to require better standards from their trading partners.

Products made under unsafe conditions or by unfree labor should not be available for sale in a 'moral country' like the United States.


_________________
No man is free who is not master of himself.~Epictetus


Fogman
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 19 Jun 2005
Age: 59
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,986
Location: Frå Nord Dakota til Vermont

10 Nov 2013, 12:56 pm

GoonSquad wrote:
^^^ You can't blame big business for succumbing to this... Doing business with China is like doing economic crack .


HOWEVER:

This is why we need a strong, international labor movement and why 'civilized, developed countries' need to require better standards from their trading partners.

Products made under unsafe conditions or by unfree labor should not be available for sale in a 'moral country' like the United States.


Which in turn is like the economic equivalent of syphlis, as far as companies are concerned.


_________________
When There's No There to get to, I'm so There!


khaoz
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 9 Apr 2013
Age: 69
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,940

11 Nov 2013, 6:34 am

So, if the American companies who are importing these items are not willing to stand up and say something about the conditions of the labor that produces the products they are importing then this means they condone this way of doing business, which should explain to Americans why unions are so important and maybe people would stop bashing the unions. Would America tolerate this system if it were happening to workers right here in the United States?

(sorry if I am wrongfully thinking that the original post was from someone outside the US



justkillingtime
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 12 Aug 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 4,021
Location: Washington, D.C.

11 Nov 2013, 10:44 pm

khaoz wrote:
So, if the American companies who are importing these items are not willing to stand up and say something about the conditions of the labor that produces the products they are importing then this means they condone this way of doing business, which should explain to Americans why unions are so important and maybe people would stop bashing the unions. Would America tolerate this system if it were happening to workers right here in the United States?

(sorry if I am wrongfully thinking that the original post was from someone outside the US


I'm in Indiana. I believe some people would not have a problem with some Americans living like the people in the news piece.


_________________
Impermanence.