Slavery is a business reality, and it’s up to companies to stop it

Toronto Globe And Mail ^ | Oct. 29 2014, 1:59 PM EDT | (Reuters)

[Olog-hai]

There are more slaves now than at any point in history, and companies need to look closely at their supply chains to ensure their products or services aren’t coming from operations that force people to work with no pay, a U.S. writer and private-equity executive said during a recent financial and risk summit in Toronto hosted by media and information firm Thomson Reuters. […]

People often think of slavery as a thing of the past, but today there are an estimated 27 million slaves worldwide—most of them toiling for nothing more than a meager daily meal, (Benjamin) Skinner said. He plotted on a map where most of these slaves can be found today: India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. […]

But slavery isn’t restricted to countries on other continents, Skinner said. It’s also a problem in North America, especially among people in marginalized communities who may not speak English or French and who don’t have the proper documents to live and work in the United States or Canada.

Slave labor is a business reality, he said, and it often becomes part of a company’s supply chains either because it has failed to do the proper due diligence on its vendors, or worse, because it has willfully turned a blind eye to the problem. …

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Yes.

The company usually owned the houses as well.

Anybody who moved in to provide competition would be "encouraged" to move along. Usually with fire and ax handles.

The funny thing is that the liberals were in favor of such arrangements. You worked and you were provided with food shelter and basic medical care. This was to your advantage as, according to the liberals, you might just spend your money foolishly if you were allowed to do so.

[RipSawyer]

“The going rate for “day labor” around here is fifteen bucks an hour. Hardly a “slave” wage.”
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Not a great wage either, in terms of necessities like food it buys less than the one dollar and a quarter an hour minimum wage of 1963.

[RipSawyer]

Yes, it all sounds rather like what Stefan Molyneux calls human farming (workers being treated like draft horses or mules).

[GeronL]

true, their definitions are way off

Are all those unpaid Huffington Post scribes slaves?

Are all those Linux programmers slaves?

[Terry L Smith]

Dear princess,

re: When I get the shopping at Walmart (making groceries here)is socially unjust crowd, I remind them that Walmart will hire anybody and some people need to prove that they can show up and on time for six consecutive months. The ones that take advantage of the time there probably don’t stay at minimum wage for long.

Thank you, and I agree. The potential of an employee needs to be examined on the clock, as well as on the employment application-with the HR notes attached.

[Terry L Smith]

dear EBH,

I started working at the age of 14 at the base commissary, with my parents’ written permission, when we were living on-base, those many years ago.

While in high school, and lettering in Cross country, I had jobs at a locally owned department store (obviously way before Walmart), a hospital, and finally a supermarket near the house. All part time jobs, all minimum wage. When I graduated high school, my draft number was 3, so I started earning my full time wage, by enlisting in the Air Force, continuing the family line.

So, as the pussification of America continues, and those who still live im mummy’s basement whine about their measly wages, I just stand there and tell them to get off their duffs and prove they can do more, and better than they are, by enlarging their education in a trade, instead of a college paper to add to the roll in the bathroom, or k.m.a.!

[PieterCasparzen]

There’s another group, tens of millions of Americans who had 15, 20, 30 year careers, making 70k, 100k, 150k+ per year, who now are working at Home Depot, unemployed, scratching by in startups, etc.

They look for work and all sorts of opportunities, but since the 1990’s boom ended, it’s been downhill ever since.

And then there was this little corruption thingy where the Oval office bailed out wall street with authorization to spend or low-interest lend $700 billion taxpayer dollars.

And people are selling homes for half price just to get out from under real estate taxes.

It’s not everyone, many are still working, but many out of work are not lazy and not kids and not stupid.

[PieterCasparzen]

The town of Franklin, NJ and a couple nearby towns were mining towns famous for zinc. Nowadays they’re pretty much just towns like any other.

It was known in the 1800s that lead in paint was dangerous, and the company marketed zinc-based paint as a safer alternative.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsehead_Corporation

http://www.mindat.org/article.php/113/The+Mines+of+Sterling+Hill,+Ogdensburg,+New+Jersey

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_Taylor

[JimRed]

Not a great wage either, in terms of necessities like food it buys...

Agreed, but it still beats the heck out of the seven and change current and all the proposed raises! But those guys EARN it; slackers don't get a second day of work.

[Terry L Smith]

Dear pc,

I did not say ‘lazy’. Complacency has become the new norm of American touted life, from the queer-in-charge, down. “I don’t need to go git that, ‘cause somebody’s gonna git it for me.”

You overlooked one other facet of the work force: ‘temporary employment services’. They practice another bugaboo, age discrimination.