Quote:
Originally Posted by stustaff
"Each employee would sign a 'voluntary overtime affidavit,' in order to waive the 36-hour legal limit on your monthly overtime hours. This isn't a bad thing, though, as many workers think that only factories that offer more overtime are 'good factories,' because 'without overtime, you can hardly make a living.'"
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That seems like something they checked 20 years ago. The first question at the door of a factory when somebody is looking for work hasn't changed. It is still "do you have overtime". But 20 years ago the prospective workers were looking for "yes, we have over time", because the money was better. Now the answer they want is "no, we don't", because people want more free time.
And I can show you plenty of textile mills where your jaws would drop. But not because of the poor working conditions, because of how clean, spacious, light, friendly the work environment is.
Yes, there are plants with terrible conditions. Those work to produce low priced goods of low quality. And especially those who make the low-end goods for the local market. So if you want to support better working conditions, buy brand name products. Sure, if you buy a tablet PC for 100 USD, do you think that plant will adhere to labor standards? Or or $2 t-shirt?
So all those journalists should walk the streets in China and Vietnam, go through the production plants and look at the people. How they dress, the gadgets they have, how they spend their time and money once they get off work. The industrial plants have brought great prosperity to these countries. People from all walks of like have been able to pull themselves out of poverty through their hard work. Look at Africa and see what all those free donations are doing. Donations do not help, investments that create opportunities do.