: : The US went through it's own period of Sweat shop evolution as part of it's transition to a level where most, and I emphasise most, of the masses have some level of comfort and security to their lives. I have spent many years in third world counties and I can tell you that most of the workers in these situations prefer it over the alternative;;; starvation for themselves or their families. It is easy in this situation to take advantage of the workers but in many cases the prosperity the "company"/country sees from these shops forces them into the international world and forces them to apply a level of worker rights. This is going on today in Korea. Labor unions are now in a position to work out problems with work conditions, benefits, salaries, etc. But it wasn't long ago that they all worked for nothing in conditions you cannot even imagine.: This is such crap: because American Workers worked in sweatshops generations ago, its OK for others, too. I think that we as a species have evolved beyond this to the point where we can say no to exploitation. In addition, one of the main reasons people in the Third World are starving in non-sweatshop conditions is because of western people (misssionaries, as well as multinationals) insisting that the only way for 'these people' to improve their conditions is to develop a western economy. I think all the failure of the World Bank have proved that this is not the case. Western economies are not the answer for all the people of Earth; some cultures and societies would be better off remaining traditional, tribal, or otherwise non-westernized.
: : As far as MDs use of sweat shops for a fast buck... this is where you show your short-sightedness in economics. MDs is at a level of high scrutiny and makes enough on everything else they produce to avoid taking on the international liability of known forced labor manufacturing in China. I am not saying that this could not happen. Big business never surprises me, but I get tired of people like yourself making conslusions with little or no data.
The latest sweatshop connected to McDeath is in Vietnam, where workers are being paid just six cents U>S. an hour while a basic rice meal costs up to 70 cents U.S.-in other words, if you bring a bag lunch, you lose money. There also was an incident where acetone fumes spread through the shop, sickened 200 workers, and could have blown the whole factory up because someone was too cheap to install a ventilation system! Acetone always carries warnings about "use with adequate ventilation-vapor extremely flammable."
If McD's really worried about their high profile, they would still operate in a sweatshop area but would try to be one of the least objectionable in the area-instead of helping promote the "race to the bottom."
