Gap, Mattel, Speedo, Wal-Mart Products Linked to Child&Sweatshop Labor in China&India
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Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the National Labor Committee, discusses recent scandals linking children's products to sweatshop labor. National Labor Committee recently found forced labor of up to 90 hours a week and pay as low as 46 cents an hour in Chinese factories linked to Mattel. [includes rush transcript]
The clothing company the Gap has announced it's cut ties with a subcontractor found to be holding children in slave-like conditions in India to make clothing sold by Gap Kids. The London Observer revealed Sunday that children as young as ten years old have been subjected to work long hours without pay and regular threats and beatings. Gap began auditing its labor conditions in 2004, years after reports of abusive conditions at its factories first emerged.
The Gap expose is only the latest scandal linking children's products to sweatshop labor. Earlier this year the toy giant Mattel recalled some 21 million China-made toys found to contain lead paint easily swallowed by children. Last week the National Labor Committee in Support of Human and Worker Rights released three reports documenting the conditions for workers making those toys. The reports found forced labor of up to 90 hours a week and pay as low as 46 cents an hour. Aside from Mattel, other companies using the factories include Wal-Mart, McDonald's and the swimwear manufacturer Speedo.
Today on Demacracy Now an incredible story on how our major American Corporations use contractors in Asia who abuse workers to no end. These workers startearly from age 10 working 17-20 hour days with absolutely NO RIGHTS!
Here's the article and interview Listen/Watch/Read
Child and Sweatshop Labor in China and India.
Peace
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*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
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*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
.....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti
*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
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From the interview:
AMY GOODMAN: Should the factory -- should these companies in this country, like Speedo, like Mattel, should they just shut down their factories in China?
CHARLES KERNAGHAN: No, but they should respect the laws of China. But, as a matter of fact, when there was a recent move to improve the labor law in China, guess who fought it. US companies. So here’s an authoritarian regime; they were finally going to strengthen their labor laws a little bit, and guess who came in to oppose it: Wal-Mart and all the multinationals came in and said, “No, if you improve the labor laws, we’re leaving the country. You’re going to lose investments.” So they’re in China because they know they can work with an authoritarian government. They know the workers have no real unions. There’s no real human rights organizations. They can do whatever they want, and they can pay these pitifully low wages. They’re going to fight to the end to maintain that.
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Would it be inaccurate to say that the US, since it's inception, has grown on the backs of slaves? Come to think of it....don't all empires?
I'm stressed out. i need to avoid the Moving Train for a few days. You people depress the hell out of me.
And it's all very easy to generalize a system of corruption without the names of the players.
We don't often see who those players are, and here is a story that brings some of those names to light.
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Wouldn't it be more fun to fight?
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Does anyone know of a website that shows all or most of these names? There has to be some kind of responsible consumer organization or something, right? I would like to know which corps have outsourced their manufacturing to asia....hmmm...maybe it would be easier to show me the ones that haven't.
(:D - why do I ask questions while sitting in front of a computer - http://www.responsibleconsumer.net/ )
We're talking about kids here. 10 years old.
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no! i can't beat 'em so im joining 'em! where's my suit and tie? Get to work little children, daddy needs new shoes!
well, the good thing is, they get to retire at 30...
not a bad deal at all!
life's not so bad right? this place sure is full of sad depressing doomsdayers....never understood why.
Interesting sentiment.
How is guilt involved in this?
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if guilt had no place - this story wouldn't be news ... we'd simply ignore it like everything else ...