Posted on 11/17/2005 6:26:00 PM PST by wagglebee
The 'impossible quotas' technique is one I've experienced and seen used here in the U.S. by 3 different co.s where I've worked. After you fail to meet the impossible quota the mgt. illegally starts putting pressure on you to work thru your breaks or clock out at days end and keep working off-the-clock. That is slavery. Uncompensated time working is slavery.
Quick. Name the largest tire manufacturer on Earth.
I was suspicious of Roy Firestone, but never would have guessed this.
I have a friend who has visited third world plants, she says the misery is unimaginable. I can not understand why this is permitted. I can not understand why we have free trade with people who make face cream out of human skin (China).
Sorry-Liberia has a record of human rights abuses. Firestone does business there because of their record. They want to pay as little as possible...if Firestone doesn't know, it's because they don't want to know. Anyone with half a brain knows third world counties use slave labor and child labor. I don't get it. If American companies stay in the US, they will go bankrupt-no way you can compete with countries willing to murder and abuse their own people during the manufacturing process, but if
American companies try to cut costs and use third world countries to manufacture, they get sued. Why is no one suing Chinese companies?
Great, it's just so fabulous that American companies employing Americans must follow safety, pension, health etc regs, but they must compete with third world companies that at best pay $100 a month? Tell me again why free trade is good for American workers?
Nailed!
BTW, if these bleeding-hearts hold that "poverty" is forcing these people to work, shouldn't they be suing "poverty," rather than Firestone?
First I have ever heard of that. Didn't know it could be done and still don't see how.
Bump
Why is no one suing Chinese companies?
Chinas gov't says, Bugger off before we sue you. Human rights is not a top level concernover there.
ain't that the truth...
"Sorry-Liberia has a record of human rights abuses."
Huh, I guess you missed my post where I said this: Liberia isn`t exactly the shining example of a country that puts human rights in the forefront. Before you try and insult my intelligence, you should try reading all the posts first.
"Firestone does business there because of their record."
Huh, no. Firestone does business there because they have a huge plantation of "rubber trees". There are not too many places in the world you can harvest this product. And Liberia is one of the biggest exporters of rubber in the world.
"They want to pay as little as possible...if Firestone doesn't know, it's because they don't want to know."
Actually, the workers get paid more than they could if they were working in a labor market in other parts of their country. They make almost double the normal wage. So If Firstone wanted to pay as little as possible, they wouldn`t be paying these workers almost double the average wages of other workers in the country. Try again.
"Anyone with half a brain knows third world countries use slave labor and child labor. I don't get it."
People use slave labor, not countries. If companies approve the use of slave labor they should be brought to justice. Many of them are when they are caught. If Firestone is found to have promoted this type of thing, they will be held accountable in the market place, and in a court of law.
But slave labor markets are caused more by the consumers buying the products. Do your homework and don`t buy products that you feel come from slave or child labor. That is how you combat this kind of problem.
"If American companies stay in the US, they will go bankrupt-no way you can compete with countries willing to murder and abuse their own people during the manufacturing process, but if
American companies try to cut costs and use third world countries to manufacture, they get sued."
Again, do your homework and know what you are buying. Sometimes the cheap price is for a reason. I buy American made whenever I can. I will pay more to do so as well.
"Why is no one suing Chinese companies?"
If you don`t know why, then you need to do your homework.
"Great, it's just so fabulous that American companies employing Americans must follow safety, pension, health etc regs, but they must compete with third world companies that at best pay $100 a month? Tell me again why free trade is good for American workers?"
You obviously don't have the slightest inkling about how global economics works but feel free to continue to make a fool of yourself.
"Tire rubber is butadiene -- synthetic. It does not come from rubber trees. Nice try."
Unfortunately, you have no idea what you are talking about. Natural rubber IS used in tires:
"Another issue for synthetic rubber, particularly for polybutadiene and emulsion SBR, is competition with natural rubber, which can be substituted for polybutadiene in tire applications by 3 to 5% and up to 20% in other applications, according to Goodyear's Nelson. When natural rubber prices are low, tire makers change their formulations.
"Jack McLaughlin--head of Bayer's marketing unit for tires and high-impact polystyrene--says that five years ago, when natural rubber prices were very low, tire producers added more natural rubber to their formulations. Recently, natural rubber prices have climbed significantly, although tire makers have not yet switched back to synthetic rubber."
From this source:
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/8115/8115rubber.html
Firestone started this plantation decades ago. It was vital in WWII as Malaysia was lost to the Japanese.
Then again, maybe you have superior knowledge about tires, runbber and chemistry than Goodyear, Bayer and the American Chemical Society.
Three to five percent? That's it??!! Here's a little math for you, jerk: if three to five percent of tire rubber is natural, that means 97 to 95 percent IS SYNTHETIC. Maybe where you come from, 5 percent outweighs 95, but here in the real world, it doesn't.
I stand corrected in that not ALL tire rubber is synthetic. But I suspect you could have made your case -- as weak as it is -- a little less abrasively.
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