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slave labor

Labels for slave labor produced goods (a.k.a., Wal Mart's worst nightmare)

jakethorn's picture
posted by jakethorn on January 8, 2008 - 6:34pm

What if on every product produced in factories that pays their workers two cents an hour or something, there was a label on the packaging that said, “Inspector general’s warning: This product may have been produced by slave labor.”?

Like the same deal as with cigarettes, except it’s a public service for a moral, not a health issue. It'd be like giving a scarlet letter to all the companies treating people like shit.

Products that rise above a certain standard would be allowed to not have the label. For example, most American-made products wouldn’t have to carry it because the majority of our workers are not mistreated. Where the line could be drawn is debatable, but it's just be nice to have an explicit, obvious way to identify the worst offenders.

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