Reply #33: Not 'free', part of their wages... [View All]

[Hobarticus]

It's part of a compensation package.

It's the difference between getting paid $4 and day and getting a dorm, or getting paid $7 a day and having to dig up your own housing and food, for example. The dorms are on the factory property in our case, so they don't even need transportation.

Free dental? Most likely, but I don't know for sure. If so, then it's pretty lousy free dental.

I guess they're happy in the sense that they believe that they're better off than if they'd stayed back home in rural areas. Most factory cities rely on a steady stream of educated young people from the countryside. Our translator says she gets home once a year, during Chinese New Year. It's not an easy life in a Western sense, but they're making money for themselves and for their families, and the economy's growing like gangbusters. Plenty of work, and if they don't like their job, they can find another pretty quickly.

I can't speak for Wal-Mart's facilities and vendors, but it's gotten much better. Simply put, when factories aren't using up-to-date technology and falling apart, they can't get the best clients and make money, and with plenty of jobs to be had, workers have choices. So it's in the best interests of vendors to run the best factory possible, so to speak.