Quote:
Originally Posted by Sonist
Without getting into this debate, your comment misses the point entirely.
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I'm not sure that it does. I worked in 4 factories here in Canada. 2 of them broke the working time laws, but I was 18 and didn't know that they couldn't. (12 hour shifts, 7 days a week, sometimes being called in on the 12 off to work for 15 minutes, occasional 18's etc)
The kinds of conditions I was exposed to by two of them I wouldn't wish on anyone. The only difference from China was the hourly rate was good. However, the factory my ex-girlfriends father works in(producing spark plugs)and a similar plant to mine provided much better conditions.
I am 22 now and I wake up every day feeling like I'm drowning, my lungs have permanent damage in all likely-hood that will be ongoing for as long as I live. and it feels like it's getting worse. If we don't even police our own companies here, why are we trying to police the companies of other countries? The factory that did that was owned by one of the biggest corporations in the world, everyone knew of the environmental disaster it was waiting to happen, even guys who work for the city, but problems always go away for this factory. The health and safety person brought up issues and was fired, the next one toed the company line completely, down to refusing to acknowledge a workers hernia was work related(he lifted 125 lb items 12 hours a day by himself, it was determined that carrying grocery bags was the cause of course) I was exposed to some nasty stuff, but the company did save almost 5$ a day on safety equipment that would have stopped it, some of it was like asbestos(stays in your body forever cutting and damaging) some of it was just chemical, so I get to watch what I eat and touch now to avoid reactions. The other was one of the largest in their area of production, and the factory is right in downtown Vancouver.
They merely exploited workers ignorance, a few minor exposure risks, to excessive smoke, hydrofluoric acid and associated fumes, and occasional risks of serious harm from the acid spills.
I've seriously considered moving to Asia, the safety standards are higher at the two factories I know of people working in, the workers are better cared for and the wages would provide me a higher standard of living there. Oh and medical care from the company? My plant manager sent me to a private clinic rather than my own GP, asked for all receipts and told me to avoid workers comp, everything would be covered. 3 months of waiting, now outside workers comp claim window, and I go to see him, he looks me up an down and says, forgot to tell you we don't cover you after all, then goes back to his computer. My GP won't do anything other than some bloodwork, and left it at that when I go to him later. Only last week I finally got a new doctor, and they realized I'd never been sent for the tests I should have been. Turns out my red blood cell count is way high, a sign of lungs not absorbing o2.
How about policing the companies exploiting workers right here first?