And all of the companies that use Chinese forced labor say "We are aware of the conditions and are working on ways to improve them".
BULLSHIT!!! First of all, a product like Nike tennis shoes that sells from $75 to $200 in the U.S. and made for less than $10.00 in China should be a good sign that things aren't quite right, but yet they keep on selling them. They've known this for years and years, but yet they are still made in China by forced labor. They don't give a shit, their bottom line is $$$$, to hell with everything and everyone else, including human rights, or lack thereof.
If they REALLY want to put a stop to this crap, move the factories back to the U.S. and take a little less profit. You know the Chinese government isn't going to allow us to do inspections, at least not surprise inspections. And if they did allow scheduled inspections, they would make everything really nice only for those inspection days. Payroll records are just too easy to spoof, just keep two sets of records, one for the inspectors and one for the real slave labor records. The only way they will EVER put a stop to this is to move the factories back to the U.S. where they know they can't get away with it.
But we all know this will continue as long as people keep buying their products.....
-Tinman57
+1
let's face it -
we are the consumer - with the influence
It can unfortunately be hard to find information, but
if people express an interest and follow up on any info that is out there, things will get better.I know I've avoided and supported products depending on their reputation with regard to their factories. I presume it would have been better if I let the relevant companies know this, but I'm afraid I'm not
that motivated...
One concrete example (unfortunately it's a bit dated; and the PDF is only a summary with few relevant details, and it's in German): there's a PDF link on this page to a review of 19 running shoes (2009)
here (stiftungwarentest.de).
results were:Adidas, Reebok, New Balance all come out well.
Nike, Brooks, Asics - all refused to give any info - draw your own conclusions (I did).
I've read that Nike have done some related PR work since then - as to whether they've improved in any way, I have no idea.
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