I don't mean to obsess about this, but I think it is important to keep in mind that the recalls can be tied both to terrible conditions for Chinese factory workers and to our own insistence on low-priced goods.
From CNN.com:
Report attacks China toy factories
HONG KONG, China (Reuters) — A U.S.-based workers' rights group said it found "brutal conditions" and labor violations at eight Chinese plants that make toys for big multinationals, and called on the companies to take steps for better standards.
China Labor Watch said in a report issued on Tuesday after several months of investigation that the manufacturers — which served a handful of global players, including Walt Disney, Bandai and Hasbro — paid "little heed to the most basic standards of the country."
"Wages are low, benefits are nonexistent, work environments are dangerous and living conditions are humiliating," it said.
...
"Corporate codes of conduct and checklist-auditing are not enough by themselves to strengthen workers' rights if corporations are unwilling to pay the real price it costs to produce a product according to the standards in their codes."
The group said it saw quality problems as "a result of multinationals' single-minded pursuit of ever-lower prices and neglect of other considerations."
7 comments:
I agree with "O for Obsessive". Americans as a whole love a good bargain. If its made in China, you can bet that the price tag is right. Unfortunately, each time we buy one of these products we contribute to the poor working conditions of the Chinese laborers. If we boycott Chinese made products, we make their living conditions even worse. What is the solution?? Do we demand higher quality products or look the other way?
dspThanks for the details and your sincere feelings, for that matter. But the real problem is called world trade.
Remember, by buying this stuff, the poor consumer is , simply put, buying his or own joblesness and financing another de-stabilising world-power. Remember; China is not a democracy yet and worse far from it. World trade is lying itself in the face. With commodities such as oil and steel being traded on a fixed global market; what other factors then cheap labor and inferior raw materials could justify the price difference with a locally manufactured product?
Ad to that the cost of the so-called "most precious asset" (energy!) and the fact that all of these products are shipping from China for weeks on end and the facts are clear: we are fooling ourselves...
It's true, there aren't easy answers. I think a good start is to make informed consumer choices, to understand the consequences of where we put our dollars, and to hold companies accountable.
Anon, good point about the energy costs of products from China.
As a cook who's been trying to make informed choices, I gotta say it's a freaking pain in the sphincter. Case in point: I picked up a couple egg rings for making Egg Mcmuffins at home and damn if they weren't made in China and damn if they didn't start flaking "nonstick" coating after one freaking use. So I'm thinking "maybe I don't want Chinese Teflon in my food" and by "Teflon" I mean "spray-on powdered lead." So out they go in the trash.
I used to think that one day, our appliances would rise up and make us their slaves in a kind of Bladerunner distopia except with spice grinders in place of replicants. But now, I'm pretty sure the decades of toxic Chinese junk has rotted our brains to the point where we'd actually welcome an Asian invasion so long as it was on sale at Target.
Good luck finding a pot, pan, bowl, or knife that isn't made in China. I'll probably break down end end up buying these only to find that they're made of recycled nuclear waste by UFO abductees on the alien slave camps on the moon.
It's the market place at its competitive Wal-Mart worst. People I once respected tell me they refuse to stop shopping at WM because they can count on finding the best price (these people are educated and not low income). My point: without a direct, compelling reason for people to change their buying habits, the WM effect will continue and intensify. If an assault on our children and our pets is not enough, I am flummoxed as to what it will take. Meanwhile I am telling sales clerks (gotta start somewhere) and catalogue order desks and anyone who will listen that I want goods made in USA of materials produced in USA. And yes, I admit, sometimes I get home from the store with something labeled Made in China and I feel totally frustrated.
Oh yeah, and the chopsticks that came with the Chinese carryout? They probably have plague.
?!! Oh holy hell.
"We'd actually welcome an Asian invasion so long as it was on sale at Target." HA HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Hoo. .. It's funny because it's true.
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