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Originally Posted by HansTWN
I have spent the last 20 years traveling around Asia. I visited more than 1000 factories (though not electronics factories). I can tell you that the hype regarding working conditions is way overblown. No, work is no picnic, but standards have improved so much over the last 20 years. All big foreign companies (like Adidas, Nike, Timberland, etc) have exacting standards regarding working conditions, hours, overtime. 5 working days with 8 hours per day, double pay for overtime. 60 hours per week maximum. Believe me, middle and upper management work a lot longer than the workers. They are in the office Saturday, and often even on Sunday. Because of the investment these factories brought so many people in these countries have pulled themselves out of abject poverty and have pretty good lives.
For someone like me who has seen the changes over 2 decades and how the standard of living for the average person (like the workers) has improved, it is absolutely amazing.
Sure, they are still behind western standards. But what would happen if western standards were imposed on all these countries? These countries have achieved in 20-30 years, what took 150 years in the west. Were do you find the really appalling working conditions? In the local (not foreign invested factories like Foxconn) that work for the local market. They work 7 days a week and there is absolutely no control over working conditions from the government's or the customers side.
It is very fashionable to cry "these poor exploited workers". But the reality is very different. It is difficult to get workers these days. Pay has doubled and trippled over the last few years. The work ethic has changed. That alone has assured that the factories are competing with each other with favorable working conditions.
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This all sounds well and good, but do you have any evidence to back up your anecdotal account? Studies on work conditions? Worker mortality and incidents of work-related injury and illness? There is no doubt that standards of living have improved over all in China (and even more so in Taiwan), but the claims you are making go beyond that and require more than mere anecdote to be accepted. I know that in many of the Gulf Countries you have an over-all high standard of living that is subsidized by the horrible conditions of the workers who, up until the recent financial melt-down, were building the Gulf with the sweat of their backs and the blood from their veins. In other words, over-all increases in standards of living can be deceptive.
Luqman