Jessie Lucas
September 10th
8:25PM
The Labor Department has issued a report containing information over fifty eight countries that use child labor. Although this report has been made public, it does not name the companies that use child labor. They do not want to put blame on the companies or to cause problems with trade. What this report is trying to do is to raise awareness about child labor to try and get US companies to be more active in assuring that their goods (specifically raw materials like cotton, sugar cane, coffee, rice, cocoa, and bricks) are not being produced by children. They also want citizens who buy products to be knowledgeable on the subject so that they will choose brands that make the effort to not use child labor. For years now people have been working to reduce child labor in Ghana and the Ivory Coast on cocoa farms. Two companies that are mentioned who work to try and make sure that their raw materials were not produced by children are Coca-Cola Co. and Levi Strauss & Co. Both of these companies have polices to monitor those who they get their supplies from to ensure there is no child labor involved. Levi Strauss went so far as banning its suppliers from using cotton from Uzbekistan once they found out that children were being used on cotton farms. The Labor Department is working to get the federal government from purchasing goods made by child labor. There is a new executive order that would prohibit the federal government from purchasing 29 products from 21 different countries.
First of all, I am amazed that with all the work that has been done to end child labor, it is still such a common practice and a real problem. It seems like most of the countries that do use child labor are the poorer countries where families need everyone to work so that they can survive (since it is nearly impossible to make a living wage). I am proud however of companies like those mentioned in the article that take measures to keep their products from being worked on by children’s hands. I wish more companies operated like that. I’m not so sure that this report will really do all that much to keep people from using and purchasing goods that have been produced by child labor anymore than knowing that many of the things people in our nation buy are made by adults who work in horrible conditions. People are still going to buy what’s cheap, especially when money is tight like it is for many people in the US today.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j7zVWw82PEtEIxHMr_vdt0BOCd_QD9AKAI3O0
2 comments:
REading your summary really informed me on the issue. I agree with you when you say that child labor will always be an issue in countries where parents dont make enough to live and need everyone in their families to work. Also, knowing that some companies are trying to stop this is helpful. But i believe that some companies just over look this at times or the supplier jsut hides the truth like in the movie we watched in class.
This is pure craziness, I would imagine most people have been buying these products for years and did not know these were child labor products. I know personally if I knew these products were made by children in forced child labor environments I would buy an alternative that was most definitely not made that way. My brand loyalties will definitely change now that I have seen this, as I would imagine most people's brand loyalties would change as well if they were to read this. We as a nation that promotes education for children should really look at this hard and see what there is we can do on our part to protest this and maybe even intervene and stop this. We should not import products from these people and I think as a huge power in this world our voice would definitely be heard. My eyes have really been opened buy this and from now on I will take extra time to make sure I am not supporting this in any way.
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