ziggy ziggy:
so you want to legislate what and where people buy their good's?
No people can buy goods from where ever they desire, but it's the Governments duty is to tax goods being imported from low-wage countries that force employees to work under unsafe conditions and long hours. (or have no choice)
We are promoting countries to abuse the poor every time we buy cheaply made products.
If they want to sell goods in Canada, they should be forced to provide a standard wage and safe working conditions in their country.
It just seems a little selfish or greedy that Canadian's should enjoy a standard of life and not care about the conditions others are put through to provide cheap products for us.
At the same time we must also look to protect our manufacturing base from these companies that abuse this unbalanced trade situation, by making it expensive to import into Canada... again protecting Canadian jobs.
There is noting wrong with promoting buy Canadian made products 1st, it's just part of being a proud Canadian. (the same reason I would think you are on this web forum, because "Canada Kicks Ass.")
http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/#Wal ... ld%20Labor$1:
Wal-Mart violates Child Labor Laws
An internal Wal-Mart audit found "extensive violations of child-labor laws and state regulations requiring time for breaks and meals." [New York Times, 1/13/04]
One week of time records from 25,000 employees in July 2000 found 1,371 instances of minors working too late, during school hours, or for too many hours in a day. There were 60,767 missed breaks and 15,705 lost meal times. [New York Times, 1/13/04]
Wal-Mart agreed to pay $135,540 to settle child labor violation charges in January 2005 for allegedly breaking child labor laws in 24 incidents. [Wall Street Journal, 2/12/05]
Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell announced that the state found 11 violations in three Wal-Mart stores in the state and that 337 minors worked at the company's 32 Connecticut stores from 2003 to 2005. The probe came after the Labor Department in February said the retailer had similar violations nationwide. [Bloomberg News, 6/22/05]
Wal-Mart has also been fined $205,650 for 1,436 violations of child labor laws in Maine for the period 1995 to 1998. The settlement represents the largest number of citations as well as the largest fine ever issued by the Maine Department of Labor for child labor violations. [Bureau of Business Practice News]
Wal-Mart & Undocumented Immigrants
In 2003, federal authorities arrested 250 undocumented immigrants who were employed by janitor contracting services and hired by Wal-Mart in 21 states. Many of the janitors - from Mexico, Russia, Mongolia, Poland and a host of other nations - worked seven days or nights a week without overtime pay or injury compensation. Those who worked nights were often locked in the store until the morning. [Wall Street Journal, 11/5/05, CNN Money, "Wal-Mart pays $11m over illegal labor", 2005]
In March 2005, Wal-Mart agreed to pay $11 million to settle federal allegations it used undocumented immigrants to clean its stores. This was the largest immigration related fine ever levied. [CNN Money, "Wal-Mart pays $11m over illegal labor", 2005 and Wall Street Journal, 11/5/05]
Federal immigration officers, in November 2005, arrested 125 undocumented workers in a raid at a Wal-Mart distribution center under construction north of Philadelphia. The workers from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico were detained Thursday at the site. [Associated Press, 11/18/05]