Slave Labour and us!

Bonnyboy

Bonnyboy

Nori Brick
Tackler
Everyone likes a good deal but at what cost ?

Every now and then there is a “news item” showing images of children working in some factory in, generally, a third world country. They are at times hired by the contractors of some of our favourite “high street names “( unknowingly of course )

The “news team” are horrified. Our “high street names” are horrified ( and will address any such issues with immediate effect ) Then there’s us….the public. Are we horrified ? I wonder. I would suggest that we aren’t horrified. We still want our good deals we also want to be paid as highly as possible for any work that we do, therefore retailers/purchasers will look anywhere they can for cheaper labour , in order to offer us what we crave.

Surely we aren’t naïve enough to think that we can have what we want without the involvement of slave labour ?
 
I am shocked that the retailer feigns surprise still.

However the "slave labour" aspect isn't just used by cheaper companies. most clothing/footwear companies use far eastern sweatshops. (I remember the furore over the guy who ordered his Nike trainers (when they would put your name or whatever on them) he wanted the name of the bloke who worked 16 hours a day in Vietnam for $1 a day's name on them. they refused.

So most clothing retailers use far eastern sweatshops so they can have a ludicrously high profit margin. If they wanted to stop it they could, by paying a higher salary and employ the staff direct. They won't and they use a third party so they can pretend they don't know about it.

B*ll*cks
 
Stanaccy said:
I am shocked that the retailer feigns surprise still.

However the "slave labour" aspect isn't just used by cheaper companies. most clothing/footwear companies use far eastern sweatshops. (I remember the furore over the guy who ordered his Nike trainers (when they would put your name or whatever on them) he wanted the name of the bloke who worked 16 hours a day in Vietnam for $1 a day's name on them. they refused.

So most clothing retailers use far eastern sweatshops so they can have a ludicrously high profit margin. If they wanted to stop it they could, by paying a higher salary and employ the staff direct. They won't and they use a third party so they can pretend they don't know about it.

B*ll*cks
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If you sit and think about it Stan...it cant half take out the "feel good factor" of getting a bargain. :(
 
there are two problems here... one is that the children are working for bugger all and the other is that the children have to work in the first place to feed their families...............yes the companies are taking advantage of the poverty but who's fault is the poverty and what would happen to their families if the children didnt have jobs at all??

just to make it perfectly clear i do not agree with children working!
 
Bonnyboy said:
If you sit and think about it Stan...it cant half take out the "feel good factor" of getting a bargain. :(
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I don't think the bargain is passed on to the consumer, the retailers use the cheapest labour and then bump up the cost before passing it on to us:(
 
BERNADETTE said:
I don't think the bargain is passed on to the consumer, the retailers use the cheapest labour and then bump up the cost before passing it on to us:(
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i can go with that,sounds about right,ya dont get cheap " NIKE" and the like, was it the victorians that stopped kids going up chimneys? seems like not much has changed exept the country.:cool:
 
BERNADETTE said:
I don't think the bargain is passed on to the consumer, the retailers use the cheapest labour and then bump up the cost before passing it on to us:(
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I mean our perceived idea of a "bargain". What I'm thinking is that most of our retailers know how far they can push the public on pricing issues. They will always make a profit we know this, some profit margins can't be justified.

Even if the largest part of the profit was passed on to us, we would still clamour for a better deal and they would still attempt to deliver by whatever means. I think we know this too.

Hence my suggestion that maybe we are not all that bothered about sweatshops ( Just my own thoughts )
 
Really don't think we can do anything about the sweat shops until the leaders of the countries involved sort it out. As long as they let kids work there is little we can do about it!!
 
if a dress is £50, and then it is £25 in the sales,,who is making a fast buck in the first place,,not the customer,,,:rolleyes:
 
BERNADETTE said:
Really don't think we can do anything about the sweat shops until the leaders of the countries involved sort it out. As long as they let kids work there is little we can do about it!!
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Well with a lote of hope and aide from richer countries, sometime in the future 3rd world nations may cease to exist. I just wonder who will become the abused in order to maintain our needs with having a BOGOF sale or whatever.
 
grannyclaret said:
if a dress is £50, and then it is £25 in the sales,,who is making a fast buck in the first place,,not the customer,,,:rolleyes:
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The retailer makes a fast buck, we make a slower buck and some poor soul makes a bowl of rice in order for us to have the slow buck :rolleyes:
 
Bonnyboy said:
The retailer makes a fast buck, we make a slower buck and some poor soul makes a bowl of rice in order for us to have the slow buck :rolleyes:
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Agreed but if the adults would use contraception the poor souls might not need to work to keep the family!!!
 
BERNADETTE said:
Agreed but if the adults would use contraception the poor souls might not need to work to keep the family!!!
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I would imagine that being part of a 3rd world country would equate to poor (if any eduaction) I say education because that's what is really behind the contraception issue. I dont think they actually have the luxury of popping down to the local clinic for free condoms and such.

The main point is that children get used. We all know it, it just seems we are not all that bothered. I'ts complaicency but what drives that complaicency, is it our own greed?
 
Come on BB we all know the education has been taken to these countries plus the free condoms, they just won't use them.
 
is slave labour publicity going to stop the majority buying these goods? is it hell as like, not very palatable but true.
 
It's a whole strata of the British high street that is using cheap labour in order to give us relatively cheap priced clothing.

Even supposed ethically aware stores like Gap, have been using child labour, though they now say they've stopped...after being uncovered.

If we want children's school uniforms for under a fiver, someone has to pay for it. Sadly in some cases it's a child working in poverty.

It's economics at it's purest form. Supply and demand, and will only be changed if the demand for low cost clothing ceases.

War On Want : General Press Releases : Bhs, Peacocks, Matalan ‘shamed’ on sweatshops
 
BERNADETTE said:
Really don't think we can do anything about the sweat shops until the leaders of the countries involved sort it out. As long as they let kids work there is little we can do about it!!
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Sorry Bernie , have to disagree with you on this , its not the fault of '3rd world leaders who are responsible for the exploitation , I my opinion the folks responsible are the sleezeball political leaders of the 'western' world who create markets and who allow cheap imports into the country in the first place at the expense of local industries and workers, lowering the standard of living down of thier own constituancys, (another time and place these folks would have been put on trial and punished for economic sabotage ).
Its all well and good thinking that by buying cheap imports we are helping raise living standards in poorer countries , but I prefer to think it is more akin to what is happening in local schools where instead of the class morons being raised to the level of the brightest kids the brightest kids are being dumbed down to the level of the class morons....that way the PC correct politicians can say we are all equal and on a level playing field .....:rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
BERNADETTE said:
Come on BB we all know the education has been taken to these countries plus the free condoms, they just won't use them.
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Well it certainly should have been taken to these countries, theres been enough aide sent, yer spot on Bernie. Billions of pounds in aid sent. They say that lots of the cash is creamed of by the leaders of such countries ( bet some is creamed off here before it ever reaches them )

Whether they have many children is not the issue. A family anywhere cannot become a target for abuse of anykind on the basis that they dont know how to use contraception. I know you are not suggesting that Bernie, just trying to see whereby if they dont use contraception, then its ok for them to be abused
 
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