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Poor treatment of workers is nothing new. The US had massive labor problems at one time, heck there are still sweatshops in places in the US today, which lead to the Unions. Europe had brutal labor practices for a long time. Mexico, countries in Africa, countries through out Asia all have awful labor practices.
If people in the US really cared, we would not buy products from countries that do not have stringent labor laws and enforce those labor laws. The truth is most of us are not willing to pay the extra money to buy products from places where labor is protected.
How many people on this forum eat chocolate? It is well documented that the vast majority of chocolate is harvested by slave labor. Pretty much everything sold to any of the large chocolate producers (Nestle, Tollhouse, Ghiradelhi (sp), ect...) is some how touched by slave labor. The only way to potentially avoid slave labor for choclate, and most foods, is to buy Fair Trade certified and Organic. Most Organic farmers have also signed fair trade clauses.
If we are unwilling to pay more for our chocolate, then why is it s surprise that we are unwilling to pay more for our clothes and pricey electronics. I own three Kindles, I have bought my Mom two. They are all made in China and I can guarentee you that a large percentage of the components and the final product are made using practices similar to the ones Apple is dinged for.
Don't blame Apple and Amazon, blame the consumer (ie me) who wants the cheaper product and overlooks the blatantly awful labor practices that get me that cheaper price.
You probably need to blame yourself too.
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