WALMART and 112 Dead Factory Workers

How many more tragic disasters await so multinational corporations can offshore jobs, exploit deplorable working conditions overseas, and continue filling the corporate-consumerist troughs?

112 Bangladeshi workers perished in a factory fire last week - the cause is still under investigation. And as the tragedy made its way across international news headlines, it quickly became clear the factory was producing clothing for mega-retailer WalMart in the United States.

Image: (Getty Images) The price others pay for American consumerism. Walmart claims it didn't know the factory was still producing goods for its stores. It also claims it will work to improve conditions for overseas workers - but if this were true, and overseas workers were working with similar wages under similar "acceptable" conditions found in America, why outsource jobs in the first place? Clearly Walmart is just paying lip service.

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Associated Press (AP) reported in their article, "Walmart Admits Bangladesh Factory Was Making Clothing For Retailer Before Fire," that: 

The garment factory in Bangladesh where a weekend fire killed at least 112 people had been making clothes for Wal-Mart without the giant U.S. retailer's knowledge, Wal-Mart said.

The report also stated: 

"Today, we have terminated the relationship with that supplier," America's biggest retailer said in a statement Monday. "The fact that this occurred is extremely troubling to us, and we will continue to work across the apparel industry to improve fire safety education and training in Bangladesh."

Regarding the conditions of the factory, AP reported: 

Survivors of the weekend fire said an exit door was locked, fire extinguishers didn't work and apparently were there just to impress inspectors, and that when the fire alarm went off, bosses told workers to return to their sewing machines. Victims were trapped or jumped to their deaths from the eight-story building, which had no emergency exits.

However, what Walmart hopes the public never figures out is that if ever the mega-retailer manages to bring standards and wages up to what the West would consider "acceptable," their offshore supply chain would no longer benefit them and their profit margins - jobs would be better off kept on American soil, where they began in the first place. Clearly Walmart has no intention of "improving" anything except perhaps better obfuscating their supply chain from the general public. 


Additionally, the mega-retailer's alibi that it "didn't know" the factory was still producing clothing for their stores is both irresponsible and unacceptable. In order to circumvent safety concerns and liability, Walmart may have just as easily "known" and set up the arrangement to maintain plausible deniability while maintaining its profitable supply chain. Walmart is responsible for its supply chain, and if is difficult to keep track of factories scattered across the planet to fill stores in America, then that's all the more reason to bring the jobs back home.

Don't Just Boycott Walmart - Replace it Permanently 

Walmart's questionable supply chain is not a new topic, it is simply back in the news because of a particularly tragic repercussion of its habitual disregard for human life. Campaigns to force Walmart, or Apple, or any other large multinational corporation to reform their behavior has only caused them to bury their abuses deeper, further from necessary oversight. It is only tragedies like the fire in Bangladesh that momentarily bring the truth of Walmart's continued, willful negligence to the surface

SPOKES PERSON FOR CAPITALISM AND THE AMERICAN DREAM ... FOX NEWS

COACHLOADS OF SLAVE LABOUR BROUGHT IN TO WORK UNPAID FOR JUBILEE AUSTERITY QWEEN OF UK

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Austerity Jubilee: Unemployed Workers 

Tricked Into Being Jubilee Stewards, 

Denied Toilets, Left to Camp in the Rain

'Long-term unemployed workers say they were bussed to London to act as stewards for the Queen's Jubilee, told they would be paid for the work and cared for while in town. When they arrived, they were told they wouldn't get paid (this was "work experience" not a job), and were made to strip down and change into uniforms in public, pitch tents in the rain, sleep under a bridge, and left without toilet facilities for 24 hours. They were told that if they didn't accept this "training," they wouldn't be considered for work during the Olympics.'

A spokesman said the unpaid work was a trial for paid roles at the Olympics, which it had also won a contract to staff. Unpaid staff were expected to work two days out of the three-day holiday...

A 30-year-old steward told the Guardian that the conditions under the bridge were "cold and wet and we were told to get our head down [to sleep]". He said that it was impossible to pitch a tent because of the concrete floor.

The woman said they were woken at 5.30am and supplied with boots, combat trousers and polo shirts. She said: "They had told the ladies we were getting ready in a minibus around the corner and I went to the minibus and they had failed to open it so it was locked. I waited around to find someone to unlock it, and all of the other girls were coming down trying to get ready and no one was bothering to come down to unlock [it], so some of us, including me, were getting undressed in public in the freezing cold and rain." The men are understood to have changed under the bridge.

The female steward said that after the royal pageant, the group travelled by tube to a campsite in Theydon Bois, Essex, where some had to pitch their tents in the dark.

Unemployed bussed in to steward river pageant

Coachloads of jobless people brought 

in to work unpaid on river pageant 

as part of Work Programme

A group of long-term unemployed jobseekers were bussed into London to work as unpaid stewards during the diamond jubilee celebrations and told to sleep under London Bridge before working on the river pageant.

Up to 30 jobseekers and another 50 people on apprentice wages were taken to London by coach from Bristol, Bath and Plymouth as part of the government's Work Programme.

Two jobseekers, who did not want to be identified in case they lost their benefits, said they had to camp under London Bridge the night before the pageant. They told the Guardian they had to change into security gear in public, had no access to toilets for 24 hours, and were taken to a swampy campsite outside London after working a 14-hour shift in the pouring rain on the banks of the Thames on Sunday.

One young worker said she was on duty between London Bridge and Tower Bridge during the £12m river spectacle of a 1,000-boat flotilla and members of the Royal family sail by . She said that the security firm Close Protection UK, which won a stewarding contract for the jubilee events, gave her a plastic see-through poncho and a high-visibility jacket for protection against the rain.

The woman said that people were picked up at Bristol at 11pm on Saturday and arrived in London at 3am on Sunday. "We all got off the coach and we were stranded on the side of the road for 20 minutes until they came back and told us all to follow them," she said. "We followed them under London Bridge and that's where they told us to camp out for the night … It was raining and freezing."

A 30-year-old steward told the Guardian that the conditions under the bridge were "cold and wet and we were told to get our head down [to sleep]". He said that it was impossible to pitch a tent because of the concrete floor.

The woman said they were woken at 5.30am and supplied with boots, combat trousers and polo shirts. She said: "They had told the ladies we were getting ready in a minibus around the corner and I went to the minibus and they had failed to open it so it was locked. I waited around to find someone to unlock it, and all of the other girls were coming down trying to get ready and no one was bothering to come down to unlock [it], so some of us, including me, were getting undressed in public in the freezing cold and rain." The men are understood to have changed under the bridge.

The female steward said that after the royal pageant, the group travelled by tube to a campsite in Theydon Bois, Essex, where some had to pitch their tents in the dark.

She said: "London was supposed to be a nice experience, but they left us in the rain. They couldn't give a crap … No one is supposed to be treated like that, [working] for free. I don't want to be treated where I have to sleep under a bridge and wait for food." The male steward said: "It was the worst experience I've ever had. I've had many a job, and many a bad job, but this one was the worst."

Both stewards said they were originally told they would be paid. But when they got to the coach on Saturday night, they said, they were told that the work would be unpaid and that if they did not accept it they would not be considered for well-paid work at the Olympics.

Tens of thousands of people jammed the streets of London to take part in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. There were street parties, a church service and the usual concerts. "But it all turned out sour when some of the Stewards were unemployed people who were forced to take part for nothing or lose their benefits and they had to find their own accommodation, which given their impoverished state, was likely to be a park or under a bridge and often it was," says George Galloway.

On Tuesday, the Queen greeted Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa whose troops are accused by the United Nations of killing thousands of Tamil civilians in the closing stages of the 30 year civil war. Britain has an extremely lopsided relationship with the United States when it comes to the law and particularly extradition treaties. There have been several high profile cases of Britain extradited to the US, alleged crimes committed in this country, but targeted at America but not one American citizen has been extradited to Britain for alleged defenses committed on US soil.

APPLE ... iPAD iPOD ... iSLAVE

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While enthralled with the vast array of very cool electronic gadgets coming out of Apple, how many of us ever stop to think how these products are made?

With Apple being the darling of corporations in the U.S., I think we may all ASSUME that it is a leader and they are on the forefront of labor rights and employment oversight to ensure workers are treated MORE than fairly. 

This expose' seems to indicate differently... 

I can only imagine the demands made of Foxconn by Steve Jobs to meet production schedules and keep costs down, while producing superior products. If this was an expose of Exxon-Mobil or Bank of America, Americans across the nation would be OUTRAGED! 

Where is the outrage? 

Could it be that we selectively choose who we want to hold responsible? 

Will we holder Apple accountable for the leadership they have extolled over the years in the human rights area?

END GAME ...BLUEPRINT FOR GLOBAL ENSLAVEMENT

What can one say ......GUILTY

The waiting is over, the anticipation can now finally be realized ....

The rulers of the world are maniacally obsessed with controlling, dominating and enslaving humanity, wielding ferocious power for power's sake, centralizing authority into a ruthless world government system, and ultimately enacting their "final solution" of global population reduction.

How will this tyranny unfold is highlighted in the message of the mysterious Georgia Guidestones, purportedly built by representatives of a secret society called the Rosicrucian Order, which call for a global religion, world courts, and for population levels to be maintained at around 500 million, over a 5.5 billion reduction from current levels.

The stones infer that humans are a cancer upon the earth and should be culled in order to maintain balance with nature.

The new elite that seek to capitalize on this blueprint for global enslavement are merely the latest generation in a long line of tyrants and their empires that have sought world domination throughout human history.

The fact that powerful people have always attempted to expand their authority and rule over others is a manifestly provable historical truth, but one that is often forgotten in today's world of mindlessness, self-obsession, entertainment and distraction.