Chinese Slave Labor (was Re: say no to urban skydiving Re: AW: AuntiBehringer)

[Douglas Baldwin <coyotelk@optonline.net>]

    I know this is way off topic, and I'll accept e-mails privately rather
than fill up the LD group with this thread, but... Does anyone know how 
many
of China's workers are in fact slaves and how many are willingly seeking
factory work because it offers a step up from the feudal farming system 
they
have suffered under for centuries? My sister-in-law works for a jewelry
company with factories in Beijing and Seoul, she goes to these cities
several times a year, and her perception of their conditions is that it's
difficult - long days, spartan living conditions, low pay - but better than
the feudal farming system that has existed for centuries in the rural 
areas.
She tells me that the vast majority of workers come willingly to work
because the possibility of saving up some money of their own spells "hope"
to these people who for centuries owned nothing.
    My perception of the media and public voices who use the term "slave
labor" is 1) They are people who are pissed that we are losing jobs to
offshore labor, 2) They are right wing and often overtly fundamentalist
Christian, and/or 3) They equate lower costs with lower quality.
    I'd like to hear (off list) from those that might support the term
"slave labor" with facts and as much direct experience as possible.
Douglas Baldwin, coyote-at-large
coyotelk@optonline.net

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Suit & Tie Guy" <erwill@suitandtieguy.com>
To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 7:44 PM
Subject: Re: say no to urban skydiving Re: AW: Aunti Behringer


> On Jan 18, 2005, at 11:49 AM, mungenast@earthlink.net wrote:
> > in China? If I am going to buy something made in a Chinese slave labor
> > facility, it is going to be something I can't get elsewhere, something
> > unique, like the Alesis ModFX series, or Behringer's
>
> considering how much Mackie stuff is made in China now i don't feel bad
> about the idea of buying Uli Behringer's stuff.
>
> i wish there was that mackie ad which showed everyone at the factory
> standing outside waving (i remember it from a few years ago), but
> edited so the text ran "Why are these Mackie employees smiling with
> pink slips in hand? Because we fired a hundred americans and moved
> production to china to bring you LOW LOW PRICES!!!"
>
> ---
> Eric Williamson
> www.suitandtieguy.com
>