Chinese

[Ric Brekne]

Hi Mark

Thats what they told you eh ?

Well,,, what do I know ?  Lets see tho... China... post maoistic period, 
half a big toe in the capitalist world the rest mired firmly in 
communist thinking .... workers get a better deal then they do in 
virtually every western country ?   All this and the net result of such 
a work-force aggreement yeilds a highly qualified group of craftsman 
that can put out a product at 1/10th the price as workers elstwheres in 
the world ?  I'm sure this kind of worker treatment is common over all 
of china and explains why their economy functions on a level that allows 
a westerner to come in with one months pay and live like a king for at 
least a year. 

Something doesnt add up here with this rosey picture Mark.  Either Pearl 
River employees are several hundred times better off then the average 
chinese factory workers... or they showed you the garden path in your... 
how long did you say you were there ?... stay there.  I've been in 
eastern asia too... and I know.  The poverty levels apparent in some 
places make theTiaJauna slums look like the Plaza Hotel.

Understand me correctly tho Mark.  I make no direct accusations relative 
to any specific factory.  I just know that groteske worker abuse is 
rather rampant in much of Eastern Asia and that westerner consumers and 
interests have  fantastic capabilities in classic denial imaginable.  
Makes the proverbial three monkeys look like Saints Peter, Patrick, and 
Petrocia. 

Cheers
RicB


-----------------

I don't know what the conditions are at other Chinese factories but at 
the Pearl River factories they work an eight hour word day, 240 days a 
year, about what we work here in the USA.  Plus free medical, mid-day 
meal, transportation to and from work, paid vacations, and retirement.  
The average worker has the same purchasing power of a worker doing 
similar work here.  The actual dollar amount is less, but the everything 
is a LOT cheaper in China.  Any worker that wants to is free to seek 
work somewhere else, nobody forces anybody to work where they don't want 
to. 
I've been there, and I know.


Mark Wisner
(A grateful employee of Pearl River Piano)