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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 12:49 am
by Suggers
as title really - anything heard Tony?
Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:58 am
by Tony McC
Yes - I heard from Chris on Thursday of last week. He's back in Britain, knackered, but glad he made the trip. He was full of apologies for not being able to keep the blog going as originally planned, but he had problems with internet access and then with his laptop, and then the photos wouldn't download...all-in-all he had a lot of bad luck with IT but has managed to get a number of taped interviews with suppliers and is putting together something that we can post on the site later this month.
It's disappointing that the "live blog" idea didn't work, but we always knew it was at the mercy of the ether and we might try someting similar again at a later date. For me, that is how the web should be used.
From an ethical sourcing of products point of view, Chris (and David) had an eye-opening experience that I don't want to pre-empt, but suffice to say they were pleasantly surprised. As soon as I get the copy from Chris, I'll post it to the blog and leave a message here.
Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:08 pm
by Stuarty
Its good to know people take an interest in where and how things other than foodstuffs and shoes etc come from. Im sure it will be an interesting read 
Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 3:57 pm
by Tony McC
The first instalment of Chris's blog is now live. Comment is wlecome (and encouraged)
Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:39 pm
by danensis
I'm very surprised that he didn't see women working in the quarries, and also at the remark that the work was too hard for women. When I was in India most of the workers lifting and carrying things on building sites seemed to be women - usually carrying bricks and mortar in woven baskets balanced on their heads, climbing up rickety ladders resting against equally rickety wooden scaffolding. The men just seemed to idle about on street corners smoking disgusting smelling cigarettes.
Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 9:44 am
by squire
Interesting Blog. It's good to see that there does not seem to be any child labour involved. The Health and Safety issues seem to be a bit of a problem and I'm surprised at how low the accident ratios he was quoted are. How accurate can they be?
Can you imagine a site, let alone a quarry, in this part of the world where you could wear sandals, have no ear/dust protection, no high vis clothing and not even a hard hat. Not that a hard hat would protect you with 30Tn of slab being hoisted by a dodgy looking crane with one sling over your head?
PPE is available "if they want it". Did he ask if they have to pay for their own PPE or is it freely available? How hard would it be for the employer to implement a "No PPE, no work"rule? It might be difficult for the workers to get used to but we all had to do it and now I wouldn't consider entering a work area without the relevant safety equipment.
If there were "zero"fatalities on these quarries over the last few years then I'll eat my newbie hat.
Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 10:30 pm
by lutonlagerlout
as i have said before squire,we cannot really impose our western standards onto a third world country
most of these people are happy to be able to work and eat,just not starving is a big bonus to them
now every life is precious,but if i have a choice of starving to death,being mutilated for begging,prostitution,or working 10 hrs a day in a quarry
then the club hammer and the pitcher for me
IYKWIM
LLL
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:29 am
by squire
I didn't catch the genesis of this blog but I assumed it was to assess if child/women labour was being used in the production of paving. If child labour was discovered would the buyer have refused to buy the paving? Isn't that imposing western standards on a third world country where people work to survive? Maybe I'm mistaken on the purpose of the trip, it's not clear from the blog.
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 2:45 pm
by Tony McC
There's more to come from the blog, but my understanding of it, and my agreement with Chris and David when they went out there, was for a 'running commentary' of their trip the purpose of which was to visit the few quarries/factories/shippers that supply Chris's company, and to check out the working standards therein.
They never intended to visit each and every quarry/factory in the sub-continent, and I know for a fact it is not their intention to produce a definitive statement on the presence or absence of child labour/dodgy working practices/ wages/ anything else. It was, and is, a commentary on the very few sites that feed into Chris's (and therefore David's) supply chain.
Chris wanted to reassure himself that, as far as he could ascertain, his supply chain was ethical and free from anything unpalatable to our western sensitivities. Having discussed this issue with Chris for the last 3 years or so, I know he doesn't deny the existence of "problems" in some quarries/factories, but his purpose was to check out just those supplier with whom he deals.
More this weekend, if he gets the next instalment completed.