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June 1, 2005
Where DO all those little bracelets get made? In China. By Slaves.
In England a group of 400 charities launched a new entry into the horrific world of little rubber bracelets -- this time a white one to signify a desire to "Make Poverty History." Unfortunately, someone noticed that the little white bracelets were being made under conditions that violate Chinese law, let alone the elevated ethical standards indicated by wearing such tat.
Another audit at the Fuzhou Xing Chun Trade Company in Fujian province found workers were paid at below the local minimum hourly wage of 2.39 yuan (under 16p) and some as little as 1.39 yuan (9p).I always like the "We now see that . . . was a mistake" clauses in these public confessions of wickedness.The revelations have now caused infighting between the various charities, with Christian Aid claiming Oxfam failed to tell other charities that it had decided to stop ordering from the Shenzhen company.
A spokesman said: "If Oxfam had concerns about ethical standards it did not pass them on for a considerable time."
An Oxfam spokeswoman responded that they informed their coalition partners in January, but added: "We could have perhaps put it in writing to make it absolutely clear. We bought an initial 10,000 wrist bands from the Shenzhen company in November. We now see that purchasing this before we saw a full audit was a mistake."
Posted by CrankyProfessor at June 1, 2005 8:37 AM