Not For Sale: End Human Trafficking and Slavery » Japan http://www.notforsalecampaign.org Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:41:51 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Toyota Prius: Solution for the Privileged, Slavery for the Vulnerable http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/news/2008/07/04/toyota-prius-solution-for-the-privileged-slavery-for-the-vulnerable/ http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/news/2008/07/04/toyota-prius-solution-for-the-privileged-slavery-for-the-vulnerable/#comments Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:33:29 +0000 Kique Bazan http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/?p=355 Toyota PriusBetween 70,000 and 93,000 workers go each year into Japan as guests and temporary workers. These workers are mainly from Vietnam, China, the Philippines, and Brazil. The National Labor Committee reports that these temporary workers are cheated, afraid, and forced to work for Toyota Prius:

  1. They are stripped from their passports.
  2. The first year they are not even covered by a Japanese labor law, and they end up working at least 16 hours a day, 7 days a week (112 hours a week).
  3. They end up getting paid 1/3 of the legal minimum wage, and they have to live in assigned housing where they are charged extraordinary amounts of rent.
  4. If they try to move, change factories, or complain, they are deported.

The concern for the environment has to go hand in hand with concern for people’s freedom and rights.

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