Last year, I wrote about the BBC exposing the lies of Primark, a UK high street retailer and how there are similar lying organisations in Cambodia.
At that time, Primark apologised and sacked three of its suppliers. Well, here they are again, up to their old tricks. This time the BBC caught a Primark supplier paying immigrant workers in the UK, 40 per cent less than the minimum wage.
The supplier is TNS Knitwear Ltd, based in a former Victorian mill in Manchester, which supplies clothing to several high street fashion chains.
A BBC reporter went undercover and was paid £3.50 an hour, and not £5.73 an hour, which is what the law dictates and what Primark's own code of conduct promises: that workers are paid a living wage. In addition, workers had to work in the bitter cold in their coats as TNS Knitwear provided no heating.
"This is the importation of third world working conditions into Europe and in this case into the UK," Neil Kearney, of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation told the BBC. "There's no such thing as cheap clothing; somebody has to pay and in this case it's the workers in Manchester who pay."
Following this latest BBC expose, Primark was forced by ETI (Ethical Trading Initiative) to remove its branding from Primark stores and websites.
You can read the full report and watch the programme on the BBC's website here and you can click here to find out more about Primark.
Showing posts with label ethical consumerism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ethical consumerism. Show all posts
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Setting up a Workers' Cooperative in Cambodia
Me (front left) and the Bloom team. This is an interview I gave to Singapore-based www.adevelopedworld.com. Currently in Singapore there is a flurry of interest and activity (some state-sponsored) in social entrepreneurship--there is even a "Social Entrepreneur of the Year" competition. I'll write more on Singapore and this "sexy" topic (to use a term from my journalist days) in another post.
1. Tell me about your organization Bloom and how it addresses problem(s) you are trying to solve in Cambodia.
Bloom is a social enterprise set up in September 2006 to provide jobs for poor Cambodians, especially women. I first came to Phnom Penh for a holiday with my friend Dale Edmonds, who runs Riverkids Project (www.riverkidsproject.org) and during that trip I witnessed an impoverished mother trying to sell her new-born baby for USD100. The woman was subsequently jailed and I decided there and then I would start a business that would provide good wages for single mothers--may they never know such desperation.
2. Coming from Singapore where social entrepreneurship is still poorly understood, what was your inspiration to establish Bloom?
I am not so concerned with social entrepreneurship. From day one I have been aiming to set up a workers' cooperative. A workers' coperative is a cooperative owned and democratically controlled by its employees. There are no outside owners in a worker cooperative -- only the workers own shares of the business. This is why I have rejected cash offers in exchange for equity--I want Bloom to remain in the control of our workers.
In a workers' cooperative, workers own the business, govern and grow it. They control the resources and determine the work processes and the prices of their products and services. Before Bloom can get to the stage of a workers' cooperative though, our Cambodian team needs to learn business skills so the cooperative will be viable. As well, they need funding. These are the areas where I can play a part. This is the reason why I am completely transparent with the workers about Bloom--if the cooperative is to work, they will need to know *everything* about running the business. If you really want to know more about workers' cooperatives, you can find out more from Spain's Mondragon Cooperative Corporation. The MCC is Spain's seventh largest corporation and the largest in the Basque Country. In 2006 the MCC contributed 3.8% towards the total GDP of the Basque Country.
3. What were the initial challenges you faced (e.g. cultural differences, red tape, personal sacrifices etc.) ? How did you overcome them?
Language is a big challenge. The people I hire are poor with little education. Some are illiterate, so the only way to communicate with the team is to learn to speak Khmer. Other problems especially for a Singaporean is the initial shock at how lawless this place can be--you need to adapt fast and play many things by ear or you won't survive. You need to be clear what your ethics are--do you, for instance, pay a bribe so you can continue with your work or do you think you're thereby feeding a corrupt system? Do you keep your head down and avoid trouble or do you speak up when you see injustice? When you move to a new place, you need to figure out the rules governing that particular society.
3. How do you get the community involved in supporting your efforts?
Which community are you referring to? I work with the community of ethical consumers through guerilla marketing. I have no advertising and marketing budget, so I have to spread the word about Bloom creatively. I have a Facebook group with more than 200 members and Amnesty International ordered a lot of bags from us after stumbling across my blog. Bloom's customers are largely ethical consumers--in that way we are somewhat preaching to the converted, but I hope through this group of "opinion leaders" (to use a marketing term) other consumers will realise there is a way we can shop without hurting other people. As I say in the Bloom Manifesto, "We believe if you know the truth, you would not be an accessory to the exploitation of workers." I genuinely believe that most people would not want to be involved in something, much less buy it, if they know that someone else was hurt in the making of that item.
4. What is your greatest source of inspiration?
To see justice for working people all over the world, and by justice I mean fair wages and fair working conditions. I watched a fascinating movie the other day starring Vanessa Redgrave and Angelina Jolie. It's called "The Fever" and it tells of a posh English woman who has never thought about things, specifically economic relations, as she swans through life, buying white linen sheets and collecting art. She realises, quite out of the blue, that the coat she wants to buy from a shop did not just materialise from nowhere. The coat has a history--the culmination of all the work that went into the making of the coat, the people who made them and how much they were paid and the conditions under which the people made them. This determined the value of the coat, not some arbitrary price set by the department store. But modern day consumerism detaches consumers from all this. We see a coat and we only think, "I like that coat; it's not expensive" without thinking further how the coat came to be and why it is priced what it is.
4. What is your greatest achievement so far? Tell us about an incident which has made your sacrifices worthwhile.
Getting the order from Amnesty International. Amnesty is an amazing organisation and if you have watched JK Rowling's speech to this year's graduating class at Harvard, you will know she talked about how life-changing working at Amnesty was for her. You can watch the speech on youtube or read it here: www.harvardmagazine.com
This is what she said and I am repeating it because I find it powerful:
"Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s minds, imagine themselves into other people’s places.
Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.
And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.
I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that brings its own terrors. I think the wilfully unimaginative see more monsters. They are often more afraid.
What is more, those who choose not to empathise may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it, through our own apathy."
As for sacrifice, I don't see any of what I am doing as a sacrifice. If you believe strongly in something, you will take steps to achieve it. The hardest thing is living your life truthfully and not making excuses.
6. What is your vision for the future?
The future of Bloom? For it to be a successful workers' cooperative.
7. What do you see as the greatest challenge that lies ahead, in reaching your goals?
So many. Mainly the organisation of the workers' cooperative. People are so different, with different motivations that it is impossible to get them to cooperate without conflict. The role of the manager can also be confusing for workers, if they see themselves to all be on the same level. Also, people have to put aside their own self-interest for the sake of the cooperative. One scenario for example, is the workers wanting to keep all the profits instead of reinvesting it into the business. I am taking things one thing at a time though. The first step is to ensure the workers are also good entrepreneurs in addition to being good employees. Workers have to be helped and trained so that they understand their duties as a boss as well as those as a worker.
8. What are some of the ways in which people from around the world can help you achieve them? (this could be in volunteering, funding, advocacy, contributing specific skills etc.)
Be conscious; be aware of the economic relations that exist between people. Take time to think about important matters. As an educated person, you really have a responsibility to lead your life consciously.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Coffee and adoptions
I've said this before: I love working at Bloom because I meet so many interesting people. Among the more memorable ones is Marianne, the vet to the king of Bhutan. A super cool French lady who is dedicating her life to animals in that closed kingdom.
Today, I met Kristina, who is from the US. Well, actually I met Kris a couple of weeks ago when she first bought a Bloom bag. Today is the third time she's been back for a Bloom bag and today we actually got to talk! I found out she and her husband, who have been teaching English in Korea, grew up in families that work for the Salvation Army in the US so are very socially conscious.
Kristina told me she would like to adopt instead of having her own biological children because there are so many orphans in this world already, so why produce more kids if you can help those already in this world and looking for a family?
She then told me about her cousin's project, called Gobena Coffee. It is an incredible story. Kris's cousin Danae had travelled to Ethiopia last year to adopt a baby. They found a daughter in an abandoned little girl who had been rescued by a 71 year old Ethiopian man and his wife (see picture). The man's name is Gobena, hence Gobena Coffee.
Gobena Coffee is based in Illinois in the US and the organisation says that 100% of the proceeds go to an Ethiopian program for orphaned and at-risk children. Check it out here on Gobena.org.
Today, I met Kristina, who is from the US. Well, actually I met Kris a couple of weeks ago when she first bought a Bloom bag. Today is the third time she's been back for a Bloom bag and today we actually got to talk! I found out she and her husband, who have been teaching English in Korea, grew up in families that work for the Salvation Army in the US so are very socially conscious.
Kristina told me she would like to adopt instead of having her own biological children because there are so many orphans in this world already, so why produce more kids if you can help those already in this world and looking for a family?
She then told me about her cousin's project, called Gobena Coffee. It is an incredible story. Kris's cousin Danae had travelled to Ethiopia last year to adopt a baby. They found a daughter in an abandoned little girl who had been rescued by a 71 year old Ethiopian man and his wife (see picture). The man's name is Gobena, hence Gobena Coffee.
Gobena Coffee is based in Illinois in the US and the organisation says that 100% of the proceeds go to an Ethiopian program for orphaned and at-risk children. Check it out here on Gobena.org.
Sweatshop comic
I received an email from artist Matt Bors a while ago in respond to my post about the Nike sweatshop found in Malaysia. Matt is a nationally syndicated editorial cartoonist living in Portland Oregon and has his own blog (with more great comics!). Visit Matt's blog for more great comics.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Cambodian sweatshop
My Australian friend and I visited a workshop in Phnom Penh last weekend. We were told about this place by a young Khmer woman who told us her parents worked there cutting pieces of cloth to be made into shirts that are sold in the Olympic Market. They are paid 100 riels (2.5 cents US) for each shirt they cut.
We could not believe it and asked to be taken there. The workshop is housed in a typical Khmer terrace house, a p'tyair l'wairng that has grilles all around its compound (this is typical in Cambodia because robbery is so common). It is near the Russian Market on a street that is nondescript and dead quiet (at least in the afternoon when we visited)--there is no way of telling the house is a sweatshop where young people from the provinces, all teenagers, work for USD25 a month--for up to 19 hours a day.
We entered the house and it was bright and airy. There was a Lexus parked in the driveway and framed photographs of the Khmer family that owns the house and the workshop adorned the walls. There were even certificates--one of which said "Certificate of attendance for Workshop on the WTO agreement".
Upstairs is where the workers work and sleep. They live and eat and shower with the Khmer family that owns the place. This family also owns a shop in the Olympic Market, where the shirts made by the workers are sold. The owners were not there when we visited and we met nine people, and except for the young woman's parents, the others were all teenage boys and girls. We asked what time they work and were told 5am to 12am. I could not believe it and asked again. I asked, "Why don't you go to bed at 10pm, how will your boss know?" They told me the boss sleeps at 8pm every night in the same house and when she wakes up in the middle of the night for a pee, she will kick and beat them if she finds any of them sleeping. The boss wakes up at 5am every day and gets them up to start work.
One of the girls was ironing the shirts with a traditional iron. It is not electric and is filled with coals and is extremely heavy. She looked like she was going to fall asleep and I kept thinking how dangerous it was if she fell asleep and burnt herself. She looked really, really miserable, and I said to my friend after that how such work is absolutely soul destroying. That girl made me think of the term "the living dead".
These kids end up in shitty jobs like these because they come from the provinces and don't know any better and cannot even get a job working in a garment factory because they don't have any experience. They get sent by their families who figure it is cheaper for them to have fewer mouths to feed. In this particular workshop, the workers have no holidays except 3 days each for Khmer New Year and Pchum Ben. That means they work 359 days out of 365 a year. My friend wondered aloud how they'd have time to go shopping, or to the dentist or do anything. It's simple--they don't.
The pajamas, office shirts etc this group makes are sold to Cambodians at the Olympic Market. These range from USD3-6 an item. You go do the maths and figure out how much this Cambodian couple is making at the expense of their fellow Cambodians. Obviously enough to own a house, a Lexus and dine at fancy restaurants.
What this family is doing is illegal, since Cambodian labour laws spell out a minimum wage of USD50 for a 48 hour work week. Overtime pay is 1.5 times the normal, and 2 times should you require workers to work on Sundays and public holidays. Although illegal, no one believes the police will do anything because the rich employers can pay them off. I believe such small exploitative private businesses are common.
I have discovered Cambodians are among the worst bosses and exploiters of their own people. There is a popular Khmer-owned restaurant on Pub Street here in Siem Reap that docks USD1 from staff's pay if they are even 3 minutes late. USD1 when the average pay is USD2 a day--why even bother to turn up if you're late, I wonder? This same restaurant cuts staff's monthly pay to make up a USD100 deposit, which will be returned to the worker when he or she works for at least a year with the restaurant. If not, he/she loses the deposit. Another Khmer-owned one on Pub Street pays its waitresses USD50 a month for 9 hours a day, 7 days a week. In fact I have just offered a young waitress at this pub a job at Bloom at double the wage because I think this particular young woman deserves better. Then there are the expat owned businesses, usually co-owned with a Khmer wife, that treat staff similarly.
This is why I think there is no way for Bloom to compete in Cambodia--we need to sell our bags overseas as well. Say I opened a pub on touristy Pub Street and paid my staff double what everyone else pays. My food and drinks prices will still have to remain competitive (USD3-5 for a meal and USD 0.75 for a mug of beer) in order to attract patrons. With the higher costs, how can I be as profitable as the other pubs on Pub Street? Of course I can't. Can I be even just a little bit profitable? Perhaps, but it will take patience and commitment, not to mention deep pockets.
Of course, some customers will support us if they were told the truth, but honestly, I believe most customers will not care. They just want to stretch their dollar while on holiday. They may even justify their patronage by telling themselves that USD50 is enough for a Cambodian to live on ("It must be, right? Since they do"--Well, yes they do, but it's literally living hand to mouth in cramped quarters). This is if customers even think about it. Most people don't. They go on holiday and they pay whatever prices they find.
How can we make more people understand and care? I don't know. I think about this all the time: Why do people not care more? I have come up with a few theories:
1. Most people think: I work hard for my money, and I want bargains so I will have more money left over to pay for my house, kids' education etc.
2. Most people have hard lives themselves, hard in the emotional sense, and think "Everyone has problems; I'm certainly not responsible for theirs (the Cambodians, Burmese, Haitians etc). I'm here on holiday, to relax; not to get stressed over human rights issues."
3. Most people do not want to feel ripped off, they want to pay fair prices and to them fair means what everyone else pays, what is market rate--even if market rate prices appear fair to the customer and the shop owner, but not fair to the worker.
4. Most people are so brain-dead from their dead-end and demoralising jobs, they don't think.
Anyway, if you have any ideas on how to change consumer behaviour or even to help me understand why people spend money the way they do, please do let me know. Tell me how you behave when you go into a shop. What do you think about and why?
We could not believe it and asked to be taken there. The workshop is housed in a typical Khmer terrace house, a p'tyair l'wairng that has grilles all around its compound (this is typical in Cambodia because robbery is so common). It is near the Russian Market on a street that is nondescript and dead quiet (at least in the afternoon when we visited)--there is no way of telling the house is a sweatshop where young people from the provinces, all teenagers, work for USD25 a month--for up to 19 hours a day.
We entered the house and it was bright and airy. There was a Lexus parked in the driveway and framed photographs of the Khmer family that owns the house and the workshop adorned the walls. There were even certificates--one of which said "Certificate of attendance for Workshop on the WTO agreement".
Upstairs is where the workers work and sleep. They live and eat and shower with the Khmer family that owns the place. This family also owns a shop in the Olympic Market, where the shirts made by the workers are sold. The owners were not there when we visited and we met nine people, and except for the young woman's parents, the others were all teenage boys and girls. We asked what time they work and were told 5am to 12am. I could not believe it and asked again. I asked, "Why don't you go to bed at 10pm, how will your boss know?" They told me the boss sleeps at 8pm every night in the same house and when she wakes up in the middle of the night for a pee, she will kick and beat them if she finds any of them sleeping. The boss wakes up at 5am every day and gets them up to start work.
One of the girls was ironing the shirts with a traditional iron. It is not electric and is filled with coals and is extremely heavy. She looked like she was going to fall asleep and I kept thinking how dangerous it was if she fell asleep and burnt herself. She looked really, really miserable, and I said to my friend after that how such work is absolutely soul destroying. That girl made me think of the term "the living dead".
These kids end up in shitty jobs like these because they come from the provinces and don't know any better and cannot even get a job working in a garment factory because they don't have any experience. They get sent by their families who figure it is cheaper for them to have fewer mouths to feed. In this particular workshop, the workers have no holidays except 3 days each for Khmer New Year and Pchum Ben. That means they work 359 days out of 365 a year. My friend wondered aloud how they'd have time to go shopping, or to the dentist or do anything. It's simple--they don't.
The pajamas, office shirts etc this group makes are sold to Cambodians at the Olympic Market. These range from USD3-6 an item. You go do the maths and figure out how much this Cambodian couple is making at the expense of their fellow Cambodians. Obviously enough to own a house, a Lexus and dine at fancy restaurants.
What this family is doing is illegal, since Cambodian labour laws spell out a minimum wage of USD50 for a 48 hour work week. Overtime pay is 1.5 times the normal, and 2 times should you require workers to work on Sundays and public holidays. Although illegal, no one believes the police will do anything because the rich employers can pay them off. I believe such small exploitative private businesses are common.
I have discovered Cambodians are among the worst bosses and exploiters of their own people. There is a popular Khmer-owned restaurant on Pub Street here in Siem Reap that docks USD1 from staff's pay if they are even 3 minutes late. USD1 when the average pay is USD2 a day--why even bother to turn up if you're late, I wonder? This same restaurant cuts staff's monthly pay to make up a USD100 deposit, which will be returned to the worker when he or she works for at least a year with the restaurant. If not, he/she loses the deposit. Another Khmer-owned one on Pub Street pays its waitresses USD50 a month for 9 hours a day, 7 days a week. In fact I have just offered a young waitress at this pub a job at Bloom at double the wage because I think this particular young woman deserves better. Then there are the expat owned businesses, usually co-owned with a Khmer wife, that treat staff similarly.
This is why I think there is no way for Bloom to compete in Cambodia--we need to sell our bags overseas as well. Say I opened a pub on touristy Pub Street and paid my staff double what everyone else pays. My food and drinks prices will still have to remain competitive (USD3-5 for a meal and USD 0.75 for a mug of beer) in order to attract patrons. With the higher costs, how can I be as profitable as the other pubs on Pub Street? Of course I can't. Can I be even just a little bit profitable? Perhaps, but it will take patience and commitment, not to mention deep pockets.
Of course, some customers will support us if they were told the truth, but honestly, I believe most customers will not care. They just want to stretch their dollar while on holiday. They may even justify their patronage by telling themselves that USD50 is enough for a Cambodian to live on ("It must be, right? Since they do"--Well, yes they do, but it's literally living hand to mouth in cramped quarters). This is if customers even think about it. Most people don't. They go on holiday and they pay whatever prices they find.
How can we make more people understand and care? I don't know. I think about this all the time: Why do people not care more? I have come up with a few theories:
1. Most people think: I work hard for my money, and I want bargains so I will have more money left over to pay for my house, kids' education etc.
2. Most people have hard lives themselves, hard in the emotional sense, and think "Everyone has problems; I'm certainly not responsible for theirs (the Cambodians, Burmese, Haitians etc). I'm here on holiday, to relax; not to get stressed over human rights issues."
3. Most people do not want to feel ripped off, they want to pay fair prices and to them fair means what everyone else pays, what is market rate--even if market rate prices appear fair to the customer and the shop owner, but not fair to the worker.
4. Most people are so brain-dead from their dead-end and demoralising jobs, they don't think.
Anyway, if you have any ideas on how to change consumer behaviour or even to help me understand why people spend money the way they do, please do let me know. Tell me how you behave when you go into a shop. What do you think about and why?
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Blood, sweat and T-shirts - BBC documentary
If you are still not convinced it is unfair that there are human beings who work hard to earn pittance, this BBC show will open your eyes. Six Brits experience what it is like working in India to produce the clothes that they buy all the time in the UK, without a thought as to who makes them and how they are made. Here's what they concluded:
"I know that I personally, would be happy to pay a little bit more for whatever I'm buying, to know that it hasn't been made in horrible conditions, getting paid next to nothing." (6:34)
"A safe working environment where you are not going to die of disease, is not a lot to ask for" (8:24)
"Brands that get clothing made in places like this should be quite ashamed of themselves." (8:29)
"I know that I personally, would be happy to pay a little bit more for whatever I'm buying, to know that it hasn't been made in horrible conditions, getting paid next to nothing." (6:34)
"A safe working environment where you are not going to die of disease, is not a lot to ask for" (8:24)
"Brands that get clothing made in places like this should be quite ashamed of themselves." (8:29)
BBC Panorama: Primark on the Rack
While on the topic of sweatshops, watching this BBC expose on Primark, a British high-street retailer, about a month ago made me so angry I posted it on my facebook profile. Here it is for readers of this blog. Primark claims to make clothes ethically but the excellent Panorama team traced its supply chain to refugee camps in India where children as young as nine make clothes for as little as 1 pence (2 US cents) an item.
And it's not just Primark. I know of online retailers who claim to buy "fair trade" products from "women's cooperatives" in Cambodia and it is just bullshit. These so-called "women's cooperatives" pay piece rate and the women have to work like mad to make a living wage, because there is no base salary. Or you have organisations that pay minimum wage base salaries of USD50 and make the women work overtime piece rate to make up the rest of the wage. It is outrageous that consumers are lied to on a constant basis. These retailers DO NOT CARE how the things are made. I really believe many times they know workers are being exploited but they choose to look the other way. Or they make it a point NOT to investigate.
In Cambodia, the same thing happens with aid money. I was told just today that a large NGO here in Cambodia does not bother to speak with actual beneficiaries in the provinces. They speak only with the village chief who submits the names of his relatives or those who bribe him as candidates for the donation. It's so easy to cheat donors' money.
These NGOs and retailers have such an easy way out--they can always blame the next guy along the chain, the village chief or the supplier. "It's not our fault, we were misled too!" they will exclaim indignantly. Bullshit. It *is* their fault. These organisations can do much more if they wanted to. Indeed, it is their obligation to do due diligence and not pass on the lies to customers/donors.
If you want to be a responsible consumer, please do not take retailers' written policies at face value: talk is cheap. Ask yourself how you can buy a top for 3 pounds (USD6) and yet producers are paid a living wage. How is that possible? (On the flip side, be aware that just because a ricebag is sold for USD40 does not mean workers were paid fairly for making it).
I know people want to save money when they purchase things, but surely not at the expense of someone else's suffering. Other people do not exist as machines that churn out cheap things, just so we can save our money for buying more stuff. Please, don't be an accessory to the exploitation of workers. Please, be more conscious of what you are paying for.
And it's not just Primark. I know of online retailers who claim to buy "fair trade" products from "women's cooperatives" in Cambodia and it is just bullshit. These so-called "women's cooperatives" pay piece rate and the women have to work like mad to make a living wage, because there is no base salary. Or you have organisations that pay minimum wage base salaries of USD50 and make the women work overtime piece rate to make up the rest of the wage. It is outrageous that consumers are lied to on a constant basis. These retailers DO NOT CARE how the things are made. I really believe many times they know workers are being exploited but they choose to look the other way. Or they make it a point NOT to investigate.
In Cambodia, the same thing happens with aid money. I was told just today that a large NGO here in Cambodia does not bother to speak with actual beneficiaries in the provinces. They speak only with the village chief who submits the names of his relatives or those who bribe him as candidates for the donation. It's so easy to cheat donors' money.
These NGOs and retailers have such an easy way out--they can always blame the next guy along the chain, the village chief or the supplier. "It's not our fault, we were misled too!" they will exclaim indignantly. Bullshit. It *is* their fault. These organisations can do much more if they wanted to. Indeed, it is their obligation to do due diligence and not pass on the lies to customers/donors.
If you want to be a responsible consumer, please do not take retailers' written policies at face value: talk is cheap. Ask yourself how you can buy a top for 3 pounds (USD6) and yet producers are paid a living wage. How is that possible? (On the flip side, be aware that just because a ricebag is sold for USD40 does not mean workers were paid fairly for making it).
I know people want to save money when they purchase things, but surely not at the expense of someone else's suffering. Other people do not exist as machines that churn out cheap things, just so we can save our money for buying more stuff. Please, don't be an accessory to the exploitation of workers. Please, be more conscious of what you are paying for.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Nike sweatshop found again-this time in Malaysia
Hytex is reputedly the largest T-shirt manufacturer in Asia and it also manufactures for Nike. The factory is in Kepong, an hour's drive from KL in Malaysia. They exploit workers from Bangladesh, Vietnam and Burma who work 6 days a week for 45 Australian dollars (about USD40). Watch how these men live in appalling conditions while earning a monthly wage that is less than the cost of a Nike T-shirt in Australia. Expose by Australia's Channel 7 news.
Here is Nike's response
What is interesting to me is Nike has been in business for what, 30 years? And it *still* has problems managing its suppliers. Isn't it time Nike focuses on being the manufacturer of sporting goods instead of being just a brand that outsources the manufacture of its products? It's big enough, has deep enough pockets to do its own manufacturing in-house, yet chooses over and over, to outsource to unreliable partners that disappoint them and their customers. Its a sign surely that Nike only wants to commit to those aspects of business where the big bucks are - branding, marketing, media- and not the actual making of goods.
Here is Nike's response
What is interesting to me is Nike has been in business for what, 30 years? And it *still* has problems managing its suppliers. Isn't it time Nike focuses on being the manufacturer of sporting goods instead of being just a brand that outsources the manufacture of its products? It's big enough, has deep enough pockets to do its own manufacturing in-house, yet chooses over and over, to outsource to unreliable partners that disappoint them and their customers. Its a sign surely that Nike only wants to commit to those aspects of business where the big bucks are - branding, marketing, media- and not the actual making of goods.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
China Blue
I was motivated to post this comment on the entrepreneurs.com.sg site after someone said he wondered about minimum wage in China, when I pointed out what it was in Cambodia (USD50 for 48 hours a week):
Thanks for all who wrote encouraging things about Bloom. I really appreciate the kind words.
Re the comment about China's workers. You can easily Google the minimum wage in China. A June 07 report from Reuters: "The highest current minimum wage in China is [USD]$106 a month in the southern business center of Shenzhen. The lowest is $35 a month in the eastern province of Jiangxi. Shanghai, one of the world's most expensive cities, raised its minimum monthly wage by $7.80 to $98 a month last year."
Whether factories pay is another matter. If you've watched the documentary "China Blue", which follows the lives of a teenage factory worker and her boss, you will understand factories in China that try to treat and pay workers fairly simply cannot survive. They need to compete for the business of your Wal-marts and the like. These latter companies drive prices down because a) they need to sell clothes at the low prices demanded by customers and/or b) because they want to line their pockets and those of their shareholders.
I face the same challenges at Bloom. Many, many customers bargain with us, or try to drive prices down because they think, as a business located in the third-world, we should be priced like a Chinese factory. If I disagree, they take their business elsewhere. This means Bloom suffers. But I stick to my guns and tell these people (politely, of course) to piss off, because a) I am not running a Chinese factory and b) I believe strongly people should be paid fairly for their work, and I am not going to screw Bloom (which belongs to the workers) and c) Bloom invests in quality, which I believe is worth paying for.
At the end of the day, let us not kid ourselves and take the easy, unthinking, way out of blaming the factory owner and other people along the supply chain. The buck lies squarely with consumers, with people like you and me. Workers all over the world get exploited because we persist in buying things at a bargain, without understanding, or caring to understand, real world prices (the actual cost of a product, if workers were paid fairly) and we persist in buying branded goods, whatever the prices, again, not giving a thought as to how they were made.
It requires effort, certainly, to make an informed judgement about our consumer purchases, but don't you think it is worth it, to know that a teenage girl and her friends were not kept up 20 hours straight to produce x pairs of jeans, for which they were paid pittance, just so you can enjoy wearing a label on your backside? As a consumer you can make your voice heard. Vote with your wallet.
You can read more about the excellent "China Blue" here:
http://ruafrica.rutgers.edu/global_initiative/events/media/cb_synopsis.pdf
Diana Saw
Update from my last blog entry: Today, China has jailed yet another person for giving 2 interviews and writing 5 articles. Hu Jia is 34 years old and is a well-known human rights activist. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7327763.stm
Another person, Yang Chunlin, who called for human rights to take precedence over the Olympic Games, was sentenced to five years in jail in late March. Meanwhile, veteran dissident languishes in Beijing Number 2 Prison, where 5 inmates have died from illness in 2007 alone. Human Rights in China alleges that inmates have been deprived of meat, fresh vegetables, and adequate outdoor exercise for an extended period of time. http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/press?revision%5fid=48283&item%5fid=48281
Do people need more reason to boycott the Beijing Olympics?
Thanks for all who wrote encouraging things about Bloom. I really appreciate the kind words.
Re the comment about China's workers. You can easily Google the minimum wage in China. A June 07 report from Reuters: "The highest current minimum wage in China is [USD]$106 a month in the southern business center of Shenzhen. The lowest is $35 a month in the eastern province of Jiangxi. Shanghai, one of the world's most expensive cities, raised its minimum monthly wage by $7.80 to $98 a month last year."
Whether factories pay is another matter. If you've watched the documentary "China Blue", which follows the lives of a teenage factory worker and her boss, you will understand factories in China that try to treat and pay workers fairly simply cannot survive. They need to compete for the business of your Wal-marts and the like. These latter companies drive prices down because a) they need to sell clothes at the low prices demanded by customers and/or b) because they want to line their pockets and those of their shareholders.
I face the same challenges at Bloom. Many, many customers bargain with us, or try to drive prices down because they think, as a business located in the third-world, we should be priced like a Chinese factory. If I disagree, they take their business elsewhere. This means Bloom suffers. But I stick to my guns and tell these people (politely, of course) to piss off, because a) I am not running a Chinese factory and b) I believe strongly people should be paid fairly for their work, and I am not going to screw Bloom (which belongs to the workers) and c) Bloom invests in quality, which I believe is worth paying for.
At the end of the day, let us not kid ourselves and take the easy, unthinking, way out of blaming the factory owner and other people along the supply chain. The buck lies squarely with consumers, with people like you and me. Workers all over the world get exploited because we persist in buying things at a bargain, without understanding, or caring to understand, real world prices (the actual cost of a product, if workers were paid fairly) and we persist in buying branded goods, whatever the prices, again, not giving a thought as to how they were made.
It requires effort, certainly, to make an informed judgement about our consumer purchases, but don't you think it is worth it, to know that a teenage girl and her friends were not kept up 20 hours straight to produce x pairs of jeans, for which they were paid pittance, just so you can enjoy wearing a label on your backside? As a consumer you can make your voice heard. Vote with your wallet.
You can read more about the excellent "China Blue" here:
http://ruafrica.rutgers.edu/global_initiative/events/media/cb_synopsis.pdf
Diana Saw
Update from my last blog entry: Today, China has jailed yet another person for giving 2 interviews and writing 5 articles. Hu Jia is 34 years old and is a well-known human rights activist. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7327763.stm
Another person, Yang Chunlin, who called for human rights to take precedence over the Olympic Games, was sentenced to five years in jail in late March. Meanwhile, veteran dissident languishes in Beijing Number 2 Prison, where 5 inmates have died from illness in 2007 alone. Human Rights in China alleges that inmates have been deprived of meat, fresh vegetables, and adequate outdoor exercise for an extended period of time. http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/press?revision%5fid=48283&item%5fid=48281
Do people need more reason to boycott the Beijing Olympics?
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Interview with entrepreneur.com.sg
Singapore’s Social Entrepreneur Diana Saw makes things BLOOM in Cambodia
Posted by GingerFebruary 21, 2008
http://entrepreneur.com.sg/wordpress/?p=219
[Please visit the URL above to see pic]
The picture shows Diana Saw (on the far front left) working with the Bloom team in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. They are adding sequins to some of the bags which they will sell at the Bloom Shop. Read on to find out how you can help not by donating, but by being a discerning consumer.
(1) You started Bloom in September 2006, how long was that after your Cambodia holiday which shocked you into action?
The decision was swift as it was simple: move to Cambodia to provide jobs for poor women. I first visited Phnom Penh in April 2006 and was back the next month to look for a house. My partner and I relocated to PP the following month, in June. Not knowing anyone or anything about business in Cambodia, it took me three months before I started Bloom.
(2) What in particular did you see that made you want to do something? (We’re wondering if you’ve gone to other 3rd world Asian countries and seen similar? If yes, what was different about Cambodia?)
My first visit to Cambodia was with Dale Edmonds, who runs Riverkids Project, an anti-child trafficking NGO. I accompanied Dale as she successfully intervened in a attempted sale of a baby by her mother. I felt pity for the impoverished mother who was subsequently jailed. So where RK helps children, a laudable job in itself, I decided I would help poor women–may they never know such desperation.
(3) How did you start the BLOOM social enterprise? Did you have a local partner? Was there a lot of red-tape? What were the toughest challenges?
I approached the job placement arm of an NGO in Phnom Penh (PP). There are many NGOs who train poor Cambodians, but what this country needs is jobs. You can train people all you like, but if no one employs them, you’ll have frustrated skilled people who are unable to use their skills. Or you may end up with a situation like the Philippines, where university graduates have to become domestic helpers in foreign countries.
I didn’t have a local partner. It is easy for foreigners to start a business in Cambodia–hardly any red tape. Just pay USD260 a year for a business visa. Then you have to apply for a business licence and pay various taxes. People can worry or complain about the corruption in Cambodia, but it is no more than a nuisance.
CHALLENGES:
1. language
2. cultural misunderstandings
3. lack of infrastructure (internet is hugely expensive and the post and telephone networks,
unreliable)
4. lack of proper healthcare
5. for a social enterprise operating in Cambodia, the challenge is taking on the many NGOs (who get donations) on the one hand, and capitalist (profit-obsessed, so with lower costs) businesses on the other.
(3) Apart from hiring and training locals, have you considered setting up cooperatives/micro-financing like those done by Muhummad Yunus in Bangladesh?
Bloom has a savings plan for staff. Every month staff are encouraged to put away a percentage of their income which goes towards buying a sewing machine. Bloom will then subsidize the cost of the machine. With the machine, workers will be able to become small business owners, supplying bags not only to Bloom, but to other sellers, like small shops in the tourist markets.
(4) Have you considered selling your designer bags in Singapore or via online? Would Phnom Penh have the postal facilities for this?
My friends are really sweet, organising Tupperware type parties for Bloom bags. You can also buy them from www.riverkidsproject.org, and all profits Dale makes goes towards RK. The biggest hindrance to our growth is the high courier charges from Cambodia. (USD14 a kg to Singapore for a parcel below 10kg). Having said that, we do have customers who buy bulk, in SG, US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and France, who find it worthwhile to pay for courier charges.
(5) Many schools in Singapore are moving towards CIP (Community Involvement Projects) themed overseas trips instead of the usual tours. Is there any area they can help you in? (Off the top of my head, they can help you a lot with publicity about the café and your bags and possibly sell some of the merchandise back here in Singapore)
I think those are good ways to help, but the main thing is to spread awareness about workers’ rights and what it means to be an ethical, or intelligent, consumer. Young people should not simply purchase things but give a thought as to where those things come from and who made them and how were the workers treated when they made them. I really doubt anyone wants to be an accomplice in the exploitation of workers. At garment factories in Cambodia, for instance, workers are paid a minimum wage of USD50 a month, for a 48 hour work week. How much did you pay for your branded T-shirt that says “Made in Cambodia” on its label? How much did the teenage girls who made the shirt get paid?
*******
If you want to follow how Diana & BLOOM are doing, she blogs about how things are progressing here: www.cambodiacalling.blogspot.com
If you’re in Cambodia, visit the:
BLOOM Workshop at No. 29B, St. 163.
BLOOM shops at #808, Russian Market, Phnom Penh and on Pub Street,
Siem Reap (above KHMER PLACE and beside GOODYSAURUS restaurants).
Posted by GingerFebruary 21, 2008
http://entrepreneur.com.sg/wordpress/?p=219
[Please visit the URL above to see pic]
The picture shows Diana Saw (on the far front left) working with the Bloom team in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. They are adding sequins to some of the bags which they will sell at the Bloom Shop. Read on to find out how you can help not by donating, but by being a discerning consumer.
(1) You started Bloom in September 2006, how long was that after your Cambodia holiday which shocked you into action?
The decision was swift as it was simple: move to Cambodia to provide jobs for poor women. I first visited Phnom Penh in April 2006 and was back the next month to look for a house. My partner and I relocated to PP the following month, in June. Not knowing anyone or anything about business in Cambodia, it took me three months before I started Bloom.
(2) What in particular did you see that made you want to do something? (We’re wondering if you’ve gone to other 3rd world Asian countries and seen similar? If yes, what was different about Cambodia?)
My first visit to Cambodia was with Dale Edmonds, who runs Riverkids Project, an anti-child trafficking NGO. I accompanied Dale as she successfully intervened in a attempted sale of a baby by her mother. I felt pity for the impoverished mother who was subsequently jailed. So where RK helps children, a laudable job in itself, I decided I would help poor women–may they never know such desperation.
(3) How did you start the BLOOM social enterprise? Did you have a local partner? Was there a lot of red-tape? What were the toughest challenges?
I approached the job placement arm of an NGO in Phnom Penh (PP). There are many NGOs who train poor Cambodians, but what this country needs is jobs. You can train people all you like, but if no one employs them, you’ll have frustrated skilled people who are unable to use their skills. Or you may end up with a situation like the Philippines, where university graduates have to become domestic helpers in foreign countries.
I didn’t have a local partner. It is easy for foreigners to start a business in Cambodia–hardly any red tape. Just pay USD260 a year for a business visa. Then you have to apply for a business licence and pay various taxes. People can worry or complain about the corruption in Cambodia, but it is no more than a nuisance.
CHALLENGES:
1. language
2. cultural misunderstandings
3. lack of infrastructure (internet is hugely expensive and the post and telephone networks,
unreliable)
4. lack of proper healthcare
5. for a social enterprise operating in Cambodia, the challenge is taking on the many NGOs (who get donations) on the one hand, and capitalist (profit-obsessed, so with lower costs) businesses on the other.
(3) Apart from hiring and training locals, have you considered setting up cooperatives/micro-financing like those done by Muhummad Yunus in Bangladesh?
Bloom has a savings plan for staff. Every month staff are encouraged to put away a percentage of their income which goes towards buying a sewing machine. Bloom will then subsidize the cost of the machine. With the machine, workers will be able to become small business owners, supplying bags not only to Bloom, but to other sellers, like small shops in the tourist markets.
(4) Have you considered selling your designer bags in Singapore or via online? Would Phnom Penh have the postal facilities for this?
My friends are really sweet, organising Tupperware type parties for Bloom bags. You can also buy them from www.riverkidsproject.org, and all profits Dale makes goes towards RK. The biggest hindrance to our growth is the high courier charges from Cambodia. (USD14 a kg to Singapore for a parcel below 10kg). Having said that, we do have customers who buy bulk, in SG, US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and France, who find it worthwhile to pay for courier charges.
(5) Many schools in Singapore are moving towards CIP (Community Involvement Projects) themed overseas trips instead of the usual tours. Is there any area they can help you in? (Off the top of my head, they can help you a lot with publicity about the café and your bags and possibly sell some of the merchandise back here in Singapore)
I think those are good ways to help, but the main thing is to spread awareness about workers’ rights and what it means to be an ethical, or intelligent, consumer. Young people should not simply purchase things but give a thought as to where those things come from and who made them and how were the workers treated when they made them. I really doubt anyone wants to be an accomplice in the exploitation of workers. At garment factories in Cambodia, for instance, workers are paid a minimum wage of USD50 a month, for a 48 hour work week. How much did you pay for your branded T-shirt that says “Made in Cambodia” on its label? How much did the teenage girls who made the shirt get paid?
*******
If you want to follow how Diana & BLOOM are doing, she blogs about how things are progressing here: www.cambodiacalling.blogspot.com
If you’re in Cambodia, visit the:
BLOOM Workshop at No. 29B, St. 163.
BLOOM shops at #808, Russian Market, Phnom Penh and on Pub Street,
Siem Reap (above KHMER PLACE and beside GOODYSAURUS restaurants).
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Singapore Culture Shock
I'm writing this in Singapore. I came back for a visit last Tuesday. My friend Swee, whom I've known since college days, came specially to see me in Phnom Penh and I decided at the spur of the moment to follow her home. My friends are so sweet. Swee bought a breadmaker for my soon-to-be-opened cafe, and loads of lace and trimmings for Bloom bags from Arab Street in Singapore while Jimmy gave me an expresso machine, so I've got real coffee! Yay!
Anyway, the first day I met up with my friends at Plaza Singapura (PS) and I suffered a bit of culture shock. I've only been away in Cambodia for 7 months but I had forgotten how affluent Singapore is. My friends were updating me on all the new malls that have opened since I'd been gone, the biggest being Vivocity at Harbourfront. At PS I was quite upset seeing the teenagers with their arms full of shopping bags. I suppose I was depressed that we're a nation of excess and waste, that most Singaporeans exist just as consumers, earn money in order to spend money on things we do not need.
Who am I to judge them? I was like that too. I returned to my room filled with clothes and shoes and CDs and books and felt so disgusted with myself. How could I have lived like that? Some of the clothes and shoes even had tags on! But I know why. When I was working like a fiend in my corporate job, I had little time to myself. Free time was spent channel surfing or shopping. I had no hobbies and retail therapy became my hobby. Any free time I had, I would shop. It was the act of shopping that relaxed me, not the purchase, for oftentimes, I would not even open the package.
Since coming to Cambodia I have not bought a single thing for myself. It is amazing. I had brought about 10 tops and 5 bottoms and found they were more than enough. Actually I loved having so few clothes, because there was little clutter and I did not have to think about what to put on. Conversely, the clutter in my room makes me irritable and upset. I packed so many clothes and shoes to give to Bloom's workers.
I was asked at an interview recently what happened? How did I snap out of living like this? I don't know either. It was as if someone had removed my blinkers. I think what had happened was I had reached a point in my career where the next stage would have been to just work harder for the firm in order to earn yet more money. But I had been high up enough at the firm to realise that corporate life was just a game: it was all about forecasting budgets and beating them; creating shareholder value but often little real value. At that point, it would take a lot of money to keep me at the job. And so I asked for a lot more. The firm counter-offered but we could not come to an agreement. So I walked. Everyone was shocked because we were doing well and were destined to do even better. The other people at the firm were asking me, why? Why, when everyone wants your job? The reason is because of the sense of exploitation. I resented working so hard for the firm, and demanded what I think was fair. It wasn't like I needed the extra money--I was already very well paid. I demanded the money because I wanted to be fairly compensated for my work.
And so, that's why Bloom pays our workers well above market rate, and has profit sharing. I have been criticised by organisations in the same industry for overpaying Bloom's workers. I got into an argument with the GM of an NGO who insisted that "Cambodians are only worth USD45. Even if you pay them more, they will only do USD45 worth of work or less."
Well-meaning friends advise me to pay market rate because they are concerned for the business's viability. But many still say "USD1 a day is a lot for Cambodians! You don't have to pay them so much."
That's like saying "SGD900 a month is a lot for a Singaporean!" To me, there's some racism in comments like that. For some reason, many people think that because Cambodia is a poor country and Cambodians are poor, they don't need what we need, all they need is a little bit. It's complete bullshit.
The cheapest house you can rent in Phnom Penh (and one that I visited) is USD10 a month, and that is a wooden shack with thatched roof that is about 60sq feet. There is no door and no running water and no electricity. If you earn USD45 a month, it's almost a quarter of your salary spent on rent (so that's why the SGD900--the cheapest room you can get in Singapore is SGD200 in a government flat).
That leaves about a dollar US a day for everything--transport (taking the moto can be expensive, that is why almost all of Bloom's workers cycle to work--a bicyle costs USD30), water, food, toiletries, candles etc etc. So it is complete bullshit to say USD45 a month is enough for workers in Phnom Penh. USD45, by the way, is the minimum wage for the garment and shoe industries, according to Cambodian labour law. To get this USD45, workers have to work a 48hour week, i.e., 8 hours a day for 6 days a week. For the record, Bloom's workers are paid between USD70 and USD120 for a 40 hour week (they were paid between USD45 and USD85 at their previous jobs), plus profit sharing.
As for how I stopped my consumer lifestyle? I stopped shopping soon after quitting my job, partly because I needed to be more sensible about money now that I had no income, but mainly because I had time to do the things I really enjoy, like reading, watching movies, spending time with Alan, my family and my friends.
I also made a decision not to simply throw money whenI encountered a problem, but to try to solve it creatively first. I also finally invested my money--after years of making money for other people, I was finally thinking about making money for myself.For the first time in years, I was thinking again about what I wanted in life. I simplified my life and focused on answering the question "How should one live?". For me, the answer would take me to Cambodia.
Anyway, the first day I met up with my friends at Plaza Singapura (PS) and I suffered a bit of culture shock. I've only been away in Cambodia for 7 months but I had forgotten how affluent Singapore is. My friends were updating me on all the new malls that have opened since I'd been gone, the biggest being Vivocity at Harbourfront. At PS I was quite upset seeing the teenagers with their arms full of shopping bags. I suppose I was depressed that we're a nation of excess and waste, that most Singaporeans exist just as consumers, earn money in order to spend money on things we do not need.
Who am I to judge them? I was like that too. I returned to my room filled with clothes and shoes and CDs and books and felt so disgusted with myself. How could I have lived like that? Some of the clothes and shoes even had tags on! But I know why. When I was working like a fiend in my corporate job, I had little time to myself. Free time was spent channel surfing or shopping. I had no hobbies and retail therapy became my hobby. Any free time I had, I would shop. It was the act of shopping that relaxed me, not the purchase, for oftentimes, I would not even open the package.
Since coming to Cambodia I have not bought a single thing for myself. It is amazing. I had brought about 10 tops and 5 bottoms and found they were more than enough. Actually I loved having so few clothes, because there was little clutter and I did not have to think about what to put on. Conversely, the clutter in my room makes me irritable and upset. I packed so many clothes and shoes to give to Bloom's workers.
I was asked at an interview recently what happened? How did I snap out of living like this? I don't know either. It was as if someone had removed my blinkers. I think what had happened was I had reached a point in my career where the next stage would have been to just work harder for the firm in order to earn yet more money. But I had been high up enough at the firm to realise that corporate life was just a game: it was all about forecasting budgets and beating them; creating shareholder value but often little real value. At that point, it would take a lot of money to keep me at the job. And so I asked for a lot more. The firm counter-offered but we could not come to an agreement. So I walked. Everyone was shocked because we were doing well and were destined to do even better. The other people at the firm were asking me, why? Why, when everyone wants your job? The reason is because of the sense of exploitation. I resented working so hard for the firm, and demanded what I think was fair. It wasn't like I needed the extra money--I was already very well paid. I demanded the money because I wanted to be fairly compensated for my work.
And so, that's why Bloom pays our workers well above market rate, and has profit sharing. I have been criticised by organisations in the same industry for overpaying Bloom's workers. I got into an argument with the GM of an NGO who insisted that "Cambodians are only worth USD45. Even if you pay them more, they will only do USD45 worth of work or less."
Well-meaning friends advise me to pay market rate because they are concerned for the business's viability. But many still say "USD1 a day is a lot for Cambodians! You don't have to pay them so much."
That's like saying "SGD900 a month is a lot for a Singaporean!" To me, there's some racism in comments like that. For some reason, many people think that because Cambodia is a poor country and Cambodians are poor, they don't need what we need, all they need is a little bit. It's complete bullshit.
The cheapest house you can rent in Phnom Penh (and one that I visited) is USD10 a month, and that is a wooden shack with thatched roof that is about 60sq feet. There is no door and no running water and no electricity. If you earn USD45 a month, it's almost a quarter of your salary spent on rent (so that's why the SGD900--the cheapest room you can get in Singapore is SGD200 in a government flat).
That leaves about a dollar US a day for everything--transport (taking the moto can be expensive, that is why almost all of Bloom's workers cycle to work--a bicyle costs USD30), water, food, toiletries, candles etc etc. So it is complete bullshit to say USD45 a month is enough for workers in Phnom Penh. USD45, by the way, is the minimum wage for the garment and shoe industries, according to Cambodian labour law. To get this USD45, workers have to work a 48hour week, i.e., 8 hours a day for 6 days a week. For the record, Bloom's workers are paid between USD70 and USD120 for a 40 hour week (they were paid between USD45 and USD85 at their previous jobs), plus profit sharing.
As for how I stopped my consumer lifestyle? I stopped shopping soon after quitting my job, partly because I needed to be more sensible about money now that I had no income, but mainly because I had time to do the things I really enjoy, like reading, watching movies, spending time with Alan, my family and my friends.
I also made a decision not to simply throw money whenI encountered a problem, but to try to solve it creatively first. I also finally invested my money--after years of making money for other people, I was finally thinking about making money for myself.For the first time in years, I was thinking again about what I wanted in life. I simplified my life and focused on answering the question "How should one live?". For me, the answer would take me to Cambodia.
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