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Most of the goods we consume are made by "slave" labour in little more than concentration camps. Just a hard reality of a global marketplace.
You can take a moral stand & not purchase their products & only buy products that are ethically & sustainably sourced or you can not care & buy them anyway.
Rank 10 - Admin
Forcing a cultural change from this dependency that western/developed countries have of the poorer countries cheaply produced goods, is something that will take time, but can happen.... just see how we now have things like "free range" (a response to caged animals), and "ethical" coffee, tea and chocolate (a response to western corporations taking advantage of the desperate impoverished people in developing nations, who's governments use them as mere commodities instead of as citizens or people).
Rank 10 - Admin
The competing Global fan forums probably don't want to highlight it or front-page it as news, in case Hasbro cuts them off, and they are then at a disadvantage to the other sites.Originally Posted by Robzy
I was reading through the comments on TFW2005, and there was talk about it not being Hasbro's fault (as in, it is okay to be blissfully ignorant of what goes on in factories they don't own, as long as they get their product in the end), as well as justifying it as being in the best interests of those being exploited (because they have a job, no matter how bad it is).
Both are true, but the point people are making here (and are most disgusted by) is that Hasbro are making $500 million profit each year, with its Exec earning $23million, but don't want the people creating that profit, earn anything more than a $1 an hour, or make sure that they have clean living & working conditions.
Yes, a lot of those workers are desperate for any employment, and would be worse off without the factory job, but should we be happy with squalled living & working conditions, or question why their own government would allow its people to be exploited... not to mention, leaving western corporations unchecked, to employ people in a manner that they wouldn't be allowed to in their own country.
Conversely, for all we know, Hasbro/Tomy have made sure that those working & living conditions are actually better than other factories. It may not be worth boasting about, but unless we find out that this is normal or worse than other Chinese factories, we may just have to give Hasbro/Tomy the benefit of the doubt on this. (remember, Hasbro uses Tomy to find and contract these chinese factories - so Hasbro aren't as directly responsible as Tomy or the factory owners are)
Ultimately, the whole concept of outsourcing (or privatisation, when the government does it) causes these problems. Companies or entrepreneurs bid to win a contract, so the lower they go to win the contract, means less to spend on resources and employees.
In this case, we have factories in China & Vietnam bidding for these big toy contracts, and if one had to quote (say) $2 per Deluxe toy just to win the contract, then that is the rate that the factory owner is paid - and that's all the factory owner has available to spend to produce those products, as well as to end up with their own profit.
So if Hasbro were using a factory that was quoting $3 per unit, and another one said they could do it for $2 per unit (because they weren't wanting to pay their employees as much or provide good working conditions), what do you think the "bonus driven" execs would want to do to boost their own pay packet.
I'd much rather see companies share the success to all employees, not just the elite at the top of the pyramid... after all, if a business is successful enough to give the execs a double-digit percentage pay rise, it's a double standard to only give other people within the business (the lower level workers) a 2-4% pay rise that most get these days. The reverse would be worth asking as well - if execs claim to only be able to afford an extra 3% to their employees during wage negotiations, then they should be held to that same "affordability rate".
Yeah I know, it'd never happen. I guess I'm just too idealistic...
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Also remember that living and working conditions/standards are different from the Western world. Looking at those photos, they just look typical of how a lot of places in China look like... I've seen worse. I've also seen better.
So while I'm not disagreeing that worker conditions should improve, we need to be careful not to use Western standards as a measuring bar... look at what conditions exist in an average Chinese factory and get them to lift their bar up to the standard for their country. I think that is a far more realistically achievable and sustainable goal.
And I hope that Hasbro pays for this through reducing their substantial profit margins and not passing the cost onto consumers. Corporations like Cadbury made a decision to use non-slave labour and absorbed the costs themselves for their Dairy Milk chocolates - choosing not to increase the cost of their products and passing the additional cost to consumers. I hope that Hasbro follows suit with this.
I don't even see how that's relevant... this notion/suggestion that just because Hasbro's factory may be lacking in work standards, that it justifies stealing from them?? (either in a physical sense, such as toys from factories, or intellectual sense) That's like saying, "That man underpays his workers. I'm gonna break in and steal his TV... justice!!" <---what?!
Stealing from Hasbro or encouraging stealing from Hasbro doesn't help improve working conditions for their factory workers. If you really want to take action you can do something like boycott their products (admittedly I can't do this), sign a petition, contact Hasbro directly and let them know how you feel (e.g. letter, email etc.) -- take more positive and/or proactive measures.
The idea of using the lack of standards in HasTak's factory to justify purchasing stolen or counterfeit goods seems utterly illogical and nonsensical to me.
I honestly don't think that was HasTak's motivation for basing their manufacturing in countries like China... the reason would be because of the very cheap labour costs. And this is something that China encourages, because it's a big source of their economic prosperity.
I've seen no evidence to show that HasTak were actively aware of the conditions in their Chinese factory -- even when they do inspections it's too easy for the bosses to cover things up. And to Hasbro's credit they have said that they are investigating these allegations -- which I think is a reasonable act at this stage.
Pretty sure it's the same factory.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Unfortunately all this is a reality of modern consumerism and the global economy. Economically the world is now one big nation with some countries serving as the factories and labour force and others as the raw resource providers and end consumers.
From this system, exploitation is bound to happen as not all nations place value in enforcing human rights and corporate culture is all about money not the morality of how that money is obtained.
It is a horrible amoral system but unfortunately the world now runs and depends on it and even if you actively choose not to support it by boycotting Hasbro, you are probably still contributing to the system by buying mundane things like shopping, tools and other products made in China. The only way not to contribute to it would be to give up society and go and live in the bush and of course that is not an option for most.
When it comes to the people in the international boards being apathetic or excusing Hasbro, that is to be expected. A lot of people have been brought up in very a centric consumerist culture and are very insular in their way of thinking. If working conditions were found to be like that in their own nation, they would be in uproar.
Last edited by kup; 23rd December 2011 at 02:26 PM.
Rank 9 - Board Staff
Certainly says A LOT about the integrity of those US sites doesn't it?!!
Goes to show that they're exactly like many media outlets... they edit their news and only give out info they think we need to know (or only what they want us to know). Another reason why I don't interact on those sites anymore; it's pretty pathetic tbh.
I'm glad this site is not like that!
Similar (but not the same) as what's going on in our own country... take a look at QANTAS for example! I don't know how many of these CEOs justify the money they earn, let alone doing it on the back of "slave labour".
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
^ This. I guess we'll wait and see what Hasbro reports back after their investigations.
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Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Yeah, thanks for telling it like it is @Griff.
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