So, How bad is it this situation in China??
According to year 2000 stats,
Wal Mart for example,at best estimate had over 1,000 contractors making the stuff Wal Mart sells to us manufactured in China.
By now it may be many more contractors.China hides some of these factories making them difficult to find and even more difficult to investigate. And it is even harder to find THEIR suppliers. Yet, tons of shipments without being inspected or tested for toxins, diseases,hazards still arrive from China to be sold to America regardless of the risks to the American people.
Wal Mart refuses to provide a list of the contractors to the U.S. government it uses in China that make the things people buy and use here in the US. Why??
They claim it is"proprietary information." !! What a Crock! , Walmart provides that information the US congress and citizens of the US wants to know, for public safety reasons, about which contractors Wal Mart uses to manufacture the products we use here in the US.. Yet..WalMart regularly gives that so called "proprietary information" to the authoritarian government of China!! No withholding.. Why? What will the authoritarian government ignore that the US won't?
The Chinese government that tolerates no workers having rights tolerates alot of bad shit that would disgust most of us. Could China be in partnership with Wal Mart? Why would they have access to Wal Marts proprietary information"?
A lot of outsourced U.S. companies also are loathe to reveal to the U.S government or U.S. customers where the things we buy that are imported from China or other countries come from.Like what contractors,and where their factories are located.
In China it says on the label which factory made the products sold in China. But the Companies like Wal Mart for American products simply put "made in China" on the label,so what are they ashamed of hiding or protecting? Slavers?
So, How bad is it this situation in China??
The assembly and factory workers in China are mostly young females.At age 25 all these women manufacturing the products are fired.Not retired, FIRED.
Why? Because the Chinese government mandates a woman get maternity leave and the contractors don't want to pay it,and they fear she might get pregnant..And because by age 25 the women working from 7:30 am to as late as 3:00 am some nights,7 days a week ,get used up and worn out from working so hard.
They are paid by the piece,so, their eyes and hands cannot drift from the task at hand for even a few minutes lest they not make the quota. If the workers don't make quota in time they are "fined" sometimes ten hours worth of wages and they work mandatory overtime until they make the quota.
The contractor plays cruel little number games and withdraws capricious fees and sets impossible quotas to keep the workers working longer on purpose.
Some of these factories the US companies use lock down workers at night and these workers share a dorm with 16 people to a room,sleeping on metal bunks like the ones in US prisons. Also they have 24 people sharing 1 bathroom.
Wal Mart in America has locked down workers..just like factories in China.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/18/national/18WALM.html?ex=1389762000&en=659ee9a0025b35de&ei=5007&partner=USERLANDhttp://reclaimdemocracy.org/walmart/workers_locked_in.htmlAnd the US having the biggest confined prison population in the world, do exploit,prison labor, It's almost like China there too.
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2005/octubre/juev13/42carceles.htmlhttp://www.yaleherald.com/archive/xxix/2000.03.31/opinion/p9jailsweat.htmlVf/H.H Culter's Ceo said this about the 28 cent wages paid to factory workers in Haiti..
"Well, The workers are alive aren't they? So they must be subsistence wages." Never let a wealthy greedy asshole determine how much you should have.Because the poisonous attitude is the mentality of every CEO and Republican moaning on about workers wages and those evil people on welfare.They have no shame.
Meanwhile what do these arrogant Ceo's expecting people in Haiti to live on 28 cents a day and people in China living on pennies pay themselves? David Pottruck of Schwab left with around $50 million, Craig Conway of Peoplesoft exited with a total package of more than $60 million. James Kilts of Gillette who walked out the corporate door with $165 million. Even more amazing was Steven Crawford, recent co-president of Morgan Stanley, who left after only three months of employment with $32 million—or a rate of pay of more than $10 million a month.
http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Apr2006/rasmus0406.htmlhttp://newint.org/features/2004/09/01/globalization/These James Kilts with grotesque payouts of numbers like 165 MILLION(American dollars) really do think, it is OK if a young woman in China sews a shoe wrong or solders a chip wrong her pay should be cut if she messes up a product worth much less than what we would pay for it? While block busters Ceo can lose millions and not even be reprimanded,and even worse be given MORE money for losing millions of company money??? WTF?
Wal-Mart, CEO H. Lee Scott got nearly $23 million in total compensation last year.For WHAT??!!I can guarantee you he wasn't spending 7 days a week 13 hours hunched over a sewing machine in a dismal factory with iron bars and guard towers outside the door was he? He wasn't standing for hours doing cashier or stocking shelves on an American Wal mart sales floor was he? Nooo.
So what did this twit do that was WORTH 23 fucking million dollars?? Schmooze? Scheme? Fire people? buy luxury items for himself and call it a business expense?Cook the Books? Look busy? No Ceo works as hard as the workers they exploit do.
They like to pretend they are so busy however but they don't work..
1 Ceo asshole gets $23 million in total compensation While American full-time Wal-Mart workers, who comprise only about two-thirds of Wal-Mart’s workforce, are paid an average $9.64 an hour.. Even at an hourly wage of $9.64, working 34 hours a week, a Wal-Mart employee earns only $17,043 annually, well under the $18,850 federal poverty guideline for a family of four in 2004.
And the CEO trash gets paid $23 million while a young woman worker in China gets 11 cents a day ??!!. WTF?
A worker in China living off 25 cents a day, who in her exhaustion may mess up a sneaker that will be marked up 430% or more beyond actual cost before it is sold to Americans, She loses maybe 5 hours of pay?? .. But if the precious CEO that loses 1.25 BILLION dollars for the company Not only he does NOT lose his job for being incompetent, his pay isn't docked at all, Nooo..he gets 50 MILLION dollars and a golden parachute when he decides to leave anyway?!! WTF?
If a Chinese worker is late,fails to work mandatory overtime,takes more than 8 minute bathroom break,or gets sick she pays the factory a FINE.. ,and there are many pointless countless deductions these factories make up to further pinch workers already pathetic pay into smaller wages to make them essen tally trapped and helpless until age 25 when she is fired. Where is HER compensation? Where is the Wal Mart's employees Compensation? Let me guess it's eligibility for food stamps?
Could these pampered psychopath unaccountable greedy Ceo's be forced to live and tolerate the working conditions, standards of 'quality' and pressure the young women in Chinese factories endure and the insane demands they face to produce? I wish there was a way to force them..
Could the Ceo of WalMart or any other company exploiting China's people deal with an asshole Section chief scolding him to tears with verbal abuse and threats just for standing up to ease a Charley horse after 10 hours of sitting,or for laughing? Some factories in China have iron bars on the windows like prisons and some will confiscate the workers papers and IDs. So if a worker while out trying to buy cheap food at the market during her 1 1/2 hour permitted time outside the factory compound, gets stopped by a cop,and he demands to see her papers and she hasn't got them on her, like they do in all authoritarian regimes,she is sent to jail.And I know her boss won't miss her just her labor.And she will be in debt to the company for missing labor when or if she returns to the factory.
Could pampered piggy Steven Crawford, who left his cushy "job"after only three months with $32 million in his pockets, could he stand being a worker in the fucking factories he contracts out in China? And would any Ceo EVER be fired at age 25 and get nothing for compensation? I would LOVE to send Every Ceo that exploits labor to a factory in China for a few years.I'd be glad to be his Section Chief..Bwahaha..Could this pampered pig take what he dishes out to workers? I don't think he'll ever see how his company is ruining other people's lives in China and of course he does not give a shit about the Workers employed over here living below the poverty line either.
The American people are still afraid of unionizing and pissing off the boss man and losing their jobs. This tolerance ensures workers are playing right into the race for the bottom these companies are doing.The enemy is not Chinese laborers or Mexicans crossing the border to get labor jobs or pick fruit.It is the psychopath Companies and the Ceo's that run them.THEY are the enemies of justice,equality, human rights.. Ceo's and Corporations are enemies of all humanity.
America? Today? Slaves? YES.
http://www.injusticeline.com/slave1.htmlhttp://www.ciw-online.org/slavery.htmlhttp://www.renewamerica.us/columns/kralis/060719The US is becoming more like China ,We are being raced to the bottom..The Ceo's are dragging us there.
Every company is like a little authoritarian regime if you think about it...They hate us for our freedoms so they threaten us with debt and pink slips poverty and getting sick and a huge hospital bill..Could you imagine living in the same place where you work at? In china they do it.In American prisons they do,At Walmart they lock employees in..with no key to get out.
Imagine having a bunk as your home, no entertainment, nothing to eat because what meals you get are served to you by the factory?
Could you imagine asking a supervisor permission every time you gotta pee at work?(Kids in School are treated to this permission asking public shame routine too. A few years back my cousin asked, to go,accused of lying by her teacher,she asked permission and was denied several times until she could hold it no longer and wet her pants in the class.).Authoritarians everywhere love to abuse power don't they?
For some perspectives on costs & wages to compare.Everything is translated into dollars to make it easier to grasp.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The legal minimum wage in Zhongshan City China. A law that is not enforced..stipulates wages be no less than $650.50 a year.
The "average" paid factory worker's take home pay: $161.16 a year.
The actual Wages of Chinese factory workers:
Wages at factories vary from $ 509.60 a year at the highest pay
to the 46% of factory workers that get paid nothing for their work.
Here are the some of the cost of living expenses in China.
And how many work hours it takes to get it:
A quart of milk 82 cents-
For a Factory worker that's over 21/2 hours wages
Liter of orange juice $1.45-
For a Factory worker that's five hours wages
Big Mac fries and coke( basically a value meal)$1.93 -
For a Factory worker that's 6 1/2 hours wages
One men's T shirt $2.41-
For a Factory worker that's 7 hours wages
New men's shoes $24.10
For a Factory worker that's 10-80 hours wages
A pair of Nike Sneakers(in China)$81.93 -
For a Factory worker that's nearly 51/2 weeks wages
A movie $1.81-
For a Factory worker that's over 6 hours wages
There are thirty-seven million Americans who live below the official poverty line.(like me and others even here on DU).
The Federal Poverty threshold in America is $10,210 a year for 1 person.
http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_707.htmlMinimum Wage in America: $19,164.06 a year. This wage is over the poverty line.
An average American Wal-Mart employee earns $17,043 a year. that's $2,134.49 ,under the Federal poverty line.
For Perspective...SSI disability pays $ 7,476 a year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile the average CEO pay is $11.8 million a year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Minimum Wage in America:
$19,164.06 a year
$5.85 an hour.
American cost of living Averages,
And how many work hours it takes to get it:
Movie $7.50-
For an American worker that's 1-1/2 hours of wages
1/2 Gallon of Milk: $3.95-
For an American Minimum wage worker that's about 30 minutes of wages
Orange Juice $ 5.00 a gallon (not a liter) roughly-
For an American Minimum wage worker almost an hour of wages
Modest dinner out: $10.00-15.00
For an American Minimum wage worker 2 to 3 hours wages
A big Mac Fries ,coke(value meal) around 4.95-
For an American Minimum wage worker a little less than 1 hour of wages
Mens T shirt $7.00 and up-
For an American Minimum wage worker 1 hour and 15 minutes wages
New Men's shoes(cheesy loafers)$ 60.00 and up-
For an American Minimum wage worker around 12 hours wages
Nike shoes $119.00-
For an American Minimum wage worker roughly 24 hours wages.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is a CRIME the average CEO pay is $11.8 million a year.
Including the failure Ceo's and asshole Ceo's that outsource to Chinese factories to avoid unions,paying fair wages and those workplace safety codes ,taxes,and regulations here in America..
http://www.faireconomy.org/press/2005/EE2005_pr.html~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is a disgusting story of a Chinese made 15 inch mini color TV coming to America..The true cost and the markup for US customers revealed.
Using US customs Dept.shipping documents available in the Piers database The National Labor Committee traced an Action brand 5 inch mini color TV set.It was made in the Action Electronics Factory in Shenzhen City in Southern China.
Was shipped to a Circuit City store on 14th street in New York City.It arrived on an Evergreen line vessel from China to Los Angeles . In the shipment,there were 2,000
of these TV's. The estimated customs value was $72,904 meaning Each TV customs value was $34.69.
That $34.69 represents the total cost of materials and labor to make and ship the product.
The 5 inch Action color TV (Model CAN5503- made in China)
That the NLC purchased at Circuit city,the price at Circuit City for that TV was $149.00!!
That is a 430% mark up over the total cost of the TV including Action Electronics' profits.
From what this looks like is
People in China are being brutally exploited, so we can be fleeced by the US companies marking shit up hundreds of times the actual cost... WTF?
How much is ENOUGH? Damn.
The Market is a Pyramid scam, Because it really IS one.Capitalism itself IS a pyramid scheme . Because the people on the very bottom like Chinese factory workers, Haitian workers, and others are stripped of rights,worked to death and paid pennies a day for 70 hours of grueling mind numbing, assembly work with no regard for safety occupational hazards.Sometimes these people are made to work even more hours.China has a state run yellow "union" that does nothing for the workers.Like the negotiation boards some companies create. These conditions exist simply to funnel wealth in one direction, up.Up and away from the people that need it to the Ceo's greedy well padded criminal hands.
We are not near the bottom..yet. If working people in America do not start resisting,don't start getting radical,start organizing labor,and getting some solidarity with poor people,homeless people,instead of looking down their noses at them, reach out to migrant workers and fighting for all our human rights together we will get to the bottom faster..
US Companies will always claim alot of bullshit.Bullshit about creating a middle class in whatever countries they exploit. Lou Dobbs is a dipshit...What this outsourcing and immigration non-issue is about is is a wage race to the bottom. American workers don't turn hostility on the Chinese workers and Mexicans and blame them for this.Blame the greedy American corporations and CEO's for causing their misery,because that is the true source of it, fight this disgusting system and the wealthy thieves that profit from it..
Americans I fear if they don't start fighting to be treated like people instead of disposable commodities soon,We all may become desperate enough and miserable enough to accept similar working conditions that Chinese workers or Mexicans or any other cheap labor pool endure that Companies exploit.Ooops..It's already happening here..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For where I got some of my info
The National Labor Committee, a book titled,Made in China
The role of US Companies in Denying human and worker rights rights.
http://www.nlcet.org
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