Thread: Chinese Badger knots and sweatshops

Originally Posted by Leatherstockiings

Looking at our state hunting regulations (Missouri) yesterday I was surprised to see there is a season on badgers here.

Yep most of the US is open for hunting Badger..

Badger Fur for brushes is mostly from Asian Fur Farms and a few left in Finland, at least that is what my research over the years has yielded...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Yep most of the US is open for hunting Badger..

Badger Fur for brushes is mostly from Asian Fur Farms and a few left in Finland, at least that is what my research over the years has yielded...

I haven't researched it at all, but Simpson calls them "Manchurian" because that is where they are harvested AFAIK. I've heard that most knots come from China, or the Far East.

What I find interesting is the big outfits like Simpson, Plisson, Rooney &c get superior knots. The golden nib, or whoever just do not hold a candle to them. They cannot compare ..... IME.

As far as labor conditions ......... as of 2008 ;

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/bu...pagewanted=all

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I haven't researched it at all, but Simpson calls them "Manchurian" because that is where they are harvested AFAIK. I've heard that most knots come from China, or the Far East.

What I find interesting is the big outfits like Simpson, Plisson, Rooney &c get superior knots. The golden nib, or whoever just do not hold a candle to them. They cannot compare ..... IME.

As far as labor conditions ......... as of 2008 ;

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/bu...pagewanted=all

This article is a reasonable example about how complicated the problem can be. I am not saying that abuses don't happen but it is not always the big American business that is at fault. Some of the things cited are common but with further investigation you find things like:
The health benefits that employees were shorted - The health and what we would call social security system in China is province based. The migrant worker has pay deducted (like we do for social security) and it goes into a fund for that province. They are migrant workers and when they return to their home province they give up what they paid into the system. Many employees ask the factory to pay them that amount instead of deducting it.

Underage employees. Occasionally you might find someone really young and usually they are using a borrowed id card to get the job. More often than not you find people "underage" because of how you do math. In China it is calculated by year only. So if you are born on Dec 31, on Jan 1 you are though of as 1 year old. Legal age to work is 16. If you do math by day, month, year you often find people 15 years old and 6 months. Underage by our standards but legal by year only.
Here is the duality of the argument. I had an associate who worked for another company who found an underage person working the line in a factory. She was promptly let go by the factory. By the end of the week this associate saw the same girl working the corner by the hotel. She was the main wage earner for her family and they needed to eat. She was not allowed back at the factory so resorted to her only other option. That is what is known as unintended consequences.

The burnt hands or broken fingers. I hope the factory is providing personal protective equipment. If not, they are wrong. I would go into a factory where they cut fabric. Employees were given a metal mesh glove to protect their hands from the cutting blades. Every time when I would walk in and they saw me they reached under the table and put the glove on. When I left, they took it back off. Was easier to work without it on but was very dangerous.

The students working in the summer. There is a government sponsored program where students "learn a skill" over the summer. It is supposed to be like an internship kind of thing. I do not necessarily agree with this practice especially when they just end up working on the line like everyone else but the factory has a waiver for age when using the program.

The biggest issue is that the factories are 51% owned by the government and the government is the bank that funds the factory. So if the government is 51% and allows the factory to break their own laws, how will the American customer change anything?

Needless to say, I am glad that I don't have to do this anymore. Often there is no good answer to the issues.

Every issue has a good answer it's just that folks don't want to hear it for a variety of reasons.

Well to look at things from a different perspective. Everyone wants quality product, inexpensive prices and fair wages. Obviously we cannot get all that wrapped with a bow on it. We have to shop and decide where we will buy and what of those things is most important to us. Like the rest of life it is a balancing act. There are million of people primarily in Asia that work under terrible conditions producing second rate products for middle class people in developed countries. We all want the best for those people but don't want to pay for it, very few people even look for fair trade items. If we all suddenly decided that that is what we are going to do, there would be millions starving to death, because that is their only choice, slave labour and a meal or no labour and no meal. It's sad but true. I do believe that many manufactures have started to show that they are not involved in sweatshops in order to justify slightly higher prices, and it often works well. We need to migrate how we do business in this global market place in order to effect change for the betterment of all, in all countries. In the end we are but one race.