article on shopping habits and the Bangladesh factory fire

[pinkytoe]

I have been thinking a lot about the horrible way in which the Bangladesh factory workers died recently. And then to read this article saddens me further:
http://news.yahoo.com/shoppers-habits-not-changed-garment-plant-fire-050552713--finance.html

[SteveinMN]

I saw some hopeful signs in that article. As they said, more people are taking a stake in how their food was produced. I read an article recently (in the New York Times?) describing how some Christmas shoppers were looking specifically for gifts made in the U.S. I think the ship of consumerism is changing direction, but it's a huge ship and it will take a while. And there will be some passengers on board who just won't participate because they simply don't apply any moral components to business.

I think the article also makes a valuable point in that it is hard to know where all the pieces of an item are sourced. I read labels for almost everything -- frozen shrimp at the supermarket, the location of the factory where my refrigerator was made, etc. -- and those labels can tell you only so much. Even the diligent can find themselves unwittingly supporting working conditions (and pollution and financial malfeasance) that we'd rather not.

I'm sorry to say that I don't know of a convenient and surefire fix for this. I am hopeful that changes will come as the scope of the problem becomes more widely known.

[Mrs-M]

Saddens me, too. Yesterday, a news report stated that the factory (building) did not have a secondary exit (emergency exit).

[peggy]

Saddens me, too. Yesterday, a news report stated that the factory (building) did not have a secondary exit (emergency exit).

I saw that too. Apparently the owner said he didn't know there was a need for fire exits! Another bonus of living in this 'nanny state' country with all those pesky labor/safety laws and regulations.

But, along this same topic, I saw where President Obama was going to a tinker toy factory to talk about his budget plans.
Wait! What? Tinker toys are made here? whoo hoo! I know what the wee ones in my family are getting this Christmas!

[jp1]

It has happened here too. Just not recently: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire Hopefully the people of Bangledesh will be as successful as New Yorkers were in the aftermath of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in implementing labor laws and safety regulations to help prevent another such tragedy. Unfortunately I think the reality is that people in the US won't be able to effect major changes for labor elsewhere as long as we continue to benefit from the resulting cheap products.

[bunnys]

jp1--I was just thinking @ Triangle when I read that article about Bangladesh.

But what really makes me mad is what's going on with the NY strikes against the fast food industry as well as the Black Friday walkout of workers @ Mart-Mart. As a hard-working, tax-paying American, I'm sick and d@mn tired of subsidizing Mart-Mart's employees with food stamps and Medicaid because Mart-Mart is too d@mn cheap to pay a livable wage. Why should I pay for Mart-Mart's employee benefit package?

[pony mom]

So many expensive designer clothes, such as Tommy Hilfiger are made there. And he tries to be so all-American.