June 7, 2010
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Disney and modern slavery
When things are going well I'm sad that I'm mortal. When things are going poorly I'm sad that I'll probably live to 90. For the majority of world it's more blessing than curse that our lifespans are limited.
I'm in a class on global leadership and we've been watching happy films. But seeing as I described them as "happy" you should probably assume I was being sarcastic...because I am. To summarize what we were watching, Walmart and Disney are douchebags to put it nicely. They keep their foreign workers on starvation wages - 7 to 14 CENTS an hour.
American cash goes a long way but guess what those wages buy you in Bangladesh? A shithole made of cardboard and scrounged metal and wood and one meal a day. There days are 14 hours long as a rule and sometimes they're forced to work 24 and then not paid overtime (or at all) for those extra 10. If the workers complain they're fired, beaten, and then JAILED.
Most of the workers are females between the ages of 13 and 24 and they fire anyone who reaches 35 without quitting or being jailed. Why 35? Because they're "used up." They get 2 bathroom breaks in a 14 hour day and 1 meal break that last 15 minutes. They inhale fabric fibers the entire day and the rooms they work in can reach 100 degrees during the day - no fans either.
They're paying their labor so little that there is no cost of labor in manufacturing the clothing they sell for $19.99 back here. Both companies could still make a good profit exporting their labor to Bangladesh even if they paid their workers a living wage. A buck an hour would probably be plenty - a freaking DOLLAR.
Walmart love to roll things back - especially wages and human rights. Disney's house wasn't built by a mouse but by slave labor.
Comments (11)
Yaaaaay.
Yeah, I have tried to avoid shopping at Wal*Mart if at all possible. I don't really shop Disney but I will continue to not give money to them, for certain.
A friend of mine awhile back had an idea to create a label system for clothing based on how well they were produced, based on things like sustainability, free trade, and child labor. The idea is that fewer people will opt for the cheaper product if they see a red label on it telling them a child is working 24 hours in Bangladesh for 15 cents, and hopefully that the bad PR resulting from this would encourage companies to reform their acts. I don't know if it would work, but I feel like it's a good idea, and definitely worth a try.
I love this post. My hatred for WalMart knows no bounds, so I really appreciate another person bitching about their many human rights violations. (I might not agree with everything you post, but the things in this post needed to be said.)
I'm not American and I don't frickin damn care about Mickey Mouse and his cartoon cronies, but I sure hate human rights violations and human slavery.
@XndraXstz - most people hate it which is why big corporations hide their misdeeds in poor, oppressive countries. When they get caught they swear they'll fix it and then pack up and move the operation somewhere else, leaving the poor they exploited to starve. A recent survey said that most Americans would be willing to pay a few more bucks per item to know that the people who made them were taken care of.
@SuperEvilPopTart64 - I was aware of some shady dealings WalMart had here in America but I was unaware, until last week, that their foreign workers were also mistreated. Disney and Nike I'd heard of before but people have largely forgotten their misdeeds. I'm not sure about Nike but Disney is still abusing foreign workers. Although I wrote about Bangladesh, they are exploiting workers in Haiti as well.
@CallMeQuell - several surveys have found that Americans are willing to pay more if it means foreign workers aren't being abused. The problem is that the companies aren't really concerned about their buyers so much as their investors - high profit margins raise stock prices. They hide the human cost of those profits so people just feel rich instead of FILTHY rich.
Your blog is very well written, I am moved, I learn from you, I Huichang Lai's
What are some websites that investigate these labor atrocities further? I'd love to read more about it, and then tell my family not to shop there.
Hahahahahah $19.99! I assume you're referring to Walmart in that statement, because Disney wouldn't sell a SOCK for that.
Great. Now how am I supposed to enjoy the beach house?
@eowynnabeeowyn - that was about Walmart, yes. I've long considered Disney to be evil...and now my paranoia proves true!
@tenshii_rage - when I see my professor tomorrow night I'll ask her for any web resources she can point me to and I'll post them.
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