Guest 725- Registered: 7 Oct 2011
- Posts: 1,418
Why single out one particular sector of the economy?
Thousands of people die in many different working environments.
Fire fighters, those involved in mining coal and precious metals, construction industry, forestry workers, those in the wind turbine industry, office workers who suffer from problems associated with sedentary lifestyles - the list goes on and on.
So according to those who want something done here's the scenario:
Clothing retailer insists that overseas workers are paid more (double or triple what they now receive?)
Manufacturer says "Sure Johnny but the clothes we make for you will cost more"
So the clothing retailer has a choice. Does He increase the price of his goods to cover the increased cost of manufacturer and therefore disadvantage himself because the retailer down the road makes no such move or does He take the hike in manufacturing price on the chin?
And where does this leave the manufacturer? So He doubles or triples the wages of his workers for that retailer but, and it's a big but, He has to demand a larger price for his goods to other companies that He supplies.
So the other companies who were buying His goods decide to take their business elsewhere where the wages of the workers are lower.
So in the end the manufacturer will tell the original retailer to bog off or else risk going bust.
This is why when newspapers like the Andrex and Independent get on their high horse, wring their hands and say "Something must be done" they are merely fulfilling a role which is to make their readers feel better and have a good old winge about how unfair the World is.
A bit like climate change really.
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
To cut a long story short, Philip, textile and many other forms of manufacture imported into Britain at rubbish prices and following abhorrent production methods, is nothing different to the deportations of Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English people to colony plantations from the days of Oliver Cromwell onward.
And nothing different to the slave labour introduced and practiced in the Americas.
And nothing different to the worst times of mining and factory conditions during the Industrial Revolution in Britain.
Full Stop, Philip.
Guest 705- Registered: 23 Sep 2010
- Posts: 661
What I found somewhat harrowing, was the boss of the ill fated factory (filmed I believe before the collapse) insisting that the cracks evident around the building were not structural -just cracks in the plasterwork!
How can anyone illegally add two or three stories to a building without anyone in authority noticing. There was obviously collusion with and backhanders going to local officials.
I imagine they will be held to account as well as the factory owners.
Never give up...
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
And so they should be Richard
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
It's a half certainty that the Cabinet UK will some day come out and make a case out of it: how Conservative values cannot tolerate cheap-labour imports paid for at scum wages.
A week or three later Ed Miliband will wake up and say the same thing.
It's an accident waiting to happen.
It will have political consequences, there will be a half-convincing spin to it, and it will fall under election time, perhaps a looming GE. There isn't really anything else a party could campaign for, is there?
It will be the introduction to a "pull your finger out" campaign, and "get the Great back in Britain".
A campaign promising millions of lost jobs for Britain.
Well dash, I must be ruining the game for our inept politicians in London, having seen through the only big election campaign they really have to convince the electorate.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
That may well be a conservative way
the Great in Great Britain has long gone
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
its now dubbed as dull Britain plc.
Guest 705- Registered: 23 Sep 2010
- Posts: 661
Great Society will prevail.
Never give up...
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
"Bangladesh has urged the EU not to take tough measures against its economically crucial textile industry after the collapse of a factory which killed 550 people."
"Four million people work in the country's textile industry - making it the second largest clothing exporter after China. Some earn as little as $38 (£24) a month."
"The collapse was the third deadly incident in six months that raised questions about worker safety and labour conditions in Bangladesh."
From Sky News.
Gideon and Cameron have not said anything in public about this.
Ed Millyband has not said anything.
Nick Clog has not said anything.
And yet all we get is unemployment, trade deficit, and High Street chain stores importing merchandise at scrap prices from sweat factories.
Yes this thread is still hanging around like an unwanted smell.
I suppose we are still too far away from the General Election for a Tory political leader to stand up and proclaim that the High Street must change its policies and start buying British.
Forget Ed Millyband the Labour-socialist, who is gazing at the stars waiting for an inspiration to wake up and make a speech.
That's the problem with voting: people vote once every four or five years and then think that we must leave everything to the politicians.
If people want to get involved, they have to do so on an everyday basis and keep coming back haunting Society with home-truths.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
alex,the home truth is that people like you and me want to buy clothes at a reasonable price,hence the cheap labour market in india and china.
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
Brian, a home truth is that top international brands sell clothes at rip-off prices, but produced at scrap prices.
From Sky News:
"The tragedy has sparked protests about the poor working conditions of workers who toil for as little as £25 a month to produce clothing for top international brands."
The prices paid for in Britain for top international brands would be too high even if these same clothes were produced in Britain at £10 an hour NET.
We get mass unemployment owing to Industrial Revolution style greed policies and a string of ConLab government policies that initiated with M. Thatcher and her hatred of Unions and workers' rights.
"The death toll from the collapse of a textile factory complex in Bangladesh has reached more than 620 after dozens more bodies were pulled out from the wreckage."
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
the disney corporation have been exposed in the past for their attitude and greed.
at one time they were selling sweat shirts for 75 quid that they were paying about 7 pence each for.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
I would never pay 75 quid for a sweat shirt,not evan if it had gold thread through it.[24 caret that is]
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
The fact is, Brian, top brands are making heaps of profit. they are paying a mere fraction - literally - for the merchandise they sell. They could easily produce in the West and still make a huge profit without having to increase the prices.
But even trousers sold at £10 a pair here, therefore nothing to do with top brands, could be manufactured in Britain and sold for that same price, leaving a reasonable profit for producer and retailer.
The clue is in the use of machinery, which does most work nowadays.
But even in sweat shops in the Far East, machinery is used, indeed it is ultra modern machinery invented in Britain and the West in general, and probably produced here too.
Unless the blueprints were sent to China and the machines produced there.
So what we get is mass production of textiles from the Far East using machines and people, these paid at sheer rubbish wages, just so the top brands can make even more profit, even though they could have made a reasonable turnover by continuing to manufacture at home.
But our trade deficit is unsustainable on the long run, and our Country's liabilities to benefits for unemployed people is also unsustainable on the long run.
But it is all so that a few can earn massive profits, and these few do not care either for us, or for the people they employ in the Far East.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
Im sure if there were such big profits for british industry they would have done so a long time ago
Sadly it's cheaper produced in other countries, many like we see in the fire and the sweatshops
more profits and cheap labour and greed by the owners
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
Keith, I fail to see your point (your first phrase in 35).
Britain did produce textiles and electronics until M. Thatcher started closing down the industry and sending it abroad to cheap labour out of hatred towards workers' rights in Britain.
Major and T. Blair followed on and finished our industry off.
When we were producing in British factories, a part of the money spent on the purchases of the products obviously went to British workers.
My mother worked at AVO in Dover, and at that time there were many, many hundreds of people working there. It was an electronics factory producing mainly meters.
How do you think we would have lived, Keith, if my mum and dad had not worked?
All we get now are Company chief executives earning top salaries and giving themselves bonuses on top of it after closing down our industries and using £25 a week cheap labour.
That's how they get their top salaries, Keith, and their massive bonuses.
Because before then, a part of the profits went on salaries to British workers.
All we get now is mass unemployment and private debt and home eviction.
And a bankrupt State to boot.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
Alexander
You seem to think i'm unaware of the damage Maggie did to the country not just in textiles,
Having worked at Tilmanstone colliery, and rail and a few other industries i'm fully aware of the damage.
I'm also aware of bosses and there greed(thats why elite pigs thread was started)
So please don't get on your high horse, being heavily involved at the time in trade unions and helping others i saw it all
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Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
Then I fail still further to understand your point, Keith, as mentioned above.
It wasn't that long ago when the Tories and Labour dismantled the British industry and transferred it abroad, lock, stock and barrel.
These two parties despise British workers' rights, they both went and splashed Britain's economy headlong into the world banking sector, and Britain's banking system went bust within not many years.
The Tories and Labour had imagined that all British workers would be working as bank employees, so they packed the industry off to the Far East. Instead British workers ended up working in charity shops and pound shops or signing on.
And the banks went bust, and we have the Public Debt bill to pay still because of it all!
Good night, Keith!
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
A nd then back in the real world,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,894
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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