starlaugh wrote:
What is it with Chinese toys being recalled all the time?
There was actually a big debate on this in Singapore amongst the Chinese and various other SE Asian nations, the bosses of the Chinese companies were saying they don’t actually want to make low quality goods for the West but they are pressurised to cut costs to win the contracts…
Even if labour costs are cheap (and they are rising due to the effects of local activism, NGOs fighting the workers corner and the Chinese becoming more skilled), there are still constant overhead costs such as plant and machinery, factory rent – to make profits corners are cut and cheaper materials used same as in other nations.
When our country did stuff like this (even when I was a toddler there were dodgy unsafe toys from British companies) regulations were passed to stop it. The companies disagreed with the regulations because of extra costs, and took the work from us and gave it to nations like China because they needed the work and were prepared to kowtow to the demands of the market..
The bloke who made the last load of dodgy toys hanged himself from a beam in the factory, but before he did so he made sure (despite the firm being about to go bust) as many workers got their final pay packets as possible, and some managed to get paid to help close down and clear the factory
The entire workforce turned out for his funeral. They weren’t made to do so by soldiers and cops, they did so of their own accord..
