Quote:
Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore
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
|
Those are not anecdotal accounts. I visit 20 factories per month, at least. That is part of my job, we sell machinery and accessories. I can speak, read, and write Chinese and can speak Vietnamese. So I am not just an outsider looking in.
Read the code of conduct that Nike, Adidas, and all major Western companies have for their suppliers. And it is being enforced. A copy must be displayed in every factory. They have frequent controls. Factories are being fined for overtime infractions and I have seen factories being taken off the supplier list for non-compliance.
I was talking about China, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. All the workers are locals and the industries have brought the countries up. (though Indonesia is a special case, instability, fanaticism and the Asian crisis of 1997 threw them way back). Taiwan is at Western standards already, more prosperous than most of Europe and many parts of the US.
The rich Gulf countries are a very different story. They depend on the oil money, not on the industry. The workers there are expats "serving" the local population.