They starved there maid

I think what often happens is the first thing these "bosses" do is confiscate their passports. In the Cebu scenario who knows why they stayed and endured that kind of abuse. I am sure they had a good reason.

 

Now that's another story. And, I have heard some pretty bad behavior from foreigners here towards their workers.

 

Biggest argument for organised international labour - then such practices would be stomped out. I see vile abuses of ofws virtually everywhere I go, in the west, in the east, the Middle East and I will bet a few places I haven't heard of.

(That should start a debate I hope)

C

 

Ok, I will go first. Where there are laws against these abuses, those should be enforced first before setting up a supranational labor commission, since the supranational labor commission would have to work THROUGH local law enforcement UN-LESS (hyphen intentional) you intend to have a supranational organization with police powers that supercedes those of the/any nation in which a violation occurs. Sounds like a moneypit big government boondoggle with a maximum effective range of zero meters. It's fairly difficult to get anything effective done about full scale genocide. Do you really expect something will be done for workers on a case by case basis?

I keep being surprised whenever I hear someone say there ought to be a law! Or, the Goobermint ought or will put a stop to it! But it won't. There are already laws on the books. It will just provide high paying jobs but not for the people it is meant to protect. It will also raise taxes on the rest of us.

Workers should not go anyplace where the laws are non-existent or not enforced. Workers should be warned just as US citizens are warned that parts of Mindanao should be avoided. In a free society you can't stop people from going where they will if the other country will let them in.

I would be more sympathetic to something attacking the other side of the problem. Why don't you advocate forcing countries to provide jobs for their population? Maybe embargo them until they come up with a public works project like Germany in the early 30's or the USA during the great depression. I would give forcing other countries to enact such programs very little more chance of working than what you suggest but a little more would be slightly better than nothing. Frankly, as a taxpayer I wouldn't be crazy about paying for either one to be implemented. We could start the Philippines embargo immediately we already have force in the area to deal with China. Philippines could be the test case.

 

Nah, you are starving her if you aren't offering rice. You could give her a full BBQ cow, fruits, veggies and anything else but rice and you would be starving her. No matter how much you feed her she would be hungry an hour later because she didn't eat her rice. It's like the reverse of what Chinese food does for Westerners.

Another great way to escape. Light the place on fire and then follow the fire escape signs. Instructions are everywhere.

 

Survival seems like a pretty good reason to me....see Maslow's hierarchy of needs. In poor countries, I think that drives a lot of the behavior we see.