07 August 2008 Economics - World Marketplace

Thursday, August 07, 2008
Economics - World Marketplace
Thursday Night in Thailand

Tomorrow I will commence my trip to the USA to testify in a civil lawsuit in California.

I will start my journey at 13:00 Thursday in Thailand. I will overnight in Bangkok and leave for San Francisco on Saturday at 06:30. I am scheduled to arrive in SF at 10:30 AM - after a flight of 18 hours. I will return home starting on Thursday afternoon. The trip from SF to Bangkok will last 21 hours.

Last night we went to the club where I had my birthday party on 28 July. Duang's brother is now working at the club. He will get 10,000 baht ($300 USD) A MONTH!! He will perform about 4 hours a night so he will be making about $2.47 an hour.

In Thailand skilled pipe welders make about $4.25 an hour. In San Francisco they make $50/hour

With gas at 38 baht per liter ($4.26 USD/gal), Thais are being squeezed like Americans by the high price of oil. Thais do have an advantage in that there is a good public transportation system that is affordable. In addition most Thais drive motorbikes.

The availability of fuel for motorbikes is not an issue. In addition to normal gas stations, Thais have a cottage industry for supplying gasoline to motorbikes. There are many, many people who will set up a metal rack with whiskey bottles half filled with gasoline. They charge 25 baht for a half bottle (1/2 liter) so they make $0.36 a liter gross profit).

These pseudo gas stations are located in front of sidewalk restaurants, vacant lots, in front of 7-11s, hardware shops, in front of rice paddies - anywhere that an enterprising Thai believes that they can sell the gas. The Thais fill a fifteen to twenty liter container at a normal gas station and bring it to the selling point where they fill the bottles by hand. Whiskey bottles are always readily available so there is no problem there. Today on one of our songtell rides out to remote village we stopped and picked up a woman with her jug of gasoline.

Other Thais earn a living or rather survive by sewing. This is a cottage industry harkening back to the early days of industrialization in the USA. I have purchased hand tailored suits in Thailand just like so many other tourists and falangs. I used to brag about how little that cost - about $200 USD for jacket, TWO pairs of pants, two ties, and a custom made silk shirt.

On one of our trips to Bangkok last year, Duang told me that we would visit some of her friends that she worked in Brunei with. Duang had worked in a big factory in Brunei sewing garments. She made 9,400 baht ($285 USD) a month for 6 days a week working 15-18 hours a day depending on the status of finishing orders. Room (16 to a room) and board (3 meals a day) were provided by the employer(?). However, the workers had to pay their own air fares to and from Brunei.

After grabbing a taxi from the bus station we drove into a typical Bangkok neighborhood. Her friend's met us on a main street and we walked back into the interior of the neighborhood. We stopped at what looked like a normal house but I quickly realized that it was more than that. The front of the house had a covered entrance somewhat like a patio at the back of a house in the USA. In side this sheltered area was a large work table. Along the sides of the area were many different bolts of cloth. A middle aged man was busy cutting cloth.

After crossing the front entry way we found ourselves inside of the "living room". This room had four industrial style sewing machines where Duang's friends work. The entire operation was supervised and owned by an older woman. The "workers" live in the house. There they make between $364 to $725 a month depending upon the availablity of orders.

There was no air conditioning and the women have to buy their own food. I realized that my suits were most likely made by people in similar situations and circumstances - a sobering thought.

These are garments produced in Thailand with Thai wages and conditions. I can only imagine what wages and conditions are in the "favored" producer nations such as Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Two weeks ago we visited Duang's friend outside of the village. Duang had worked with the woman for two years. The woman lives in avery small village on a narrow dirt road. Her house has no glass in the windows - wooden shutters provide security and weather protection. The house is a very small single story cement block structure with a sheet metal roof. The shelter was obviously made by people other than trained or experienced professionals. The floor was bare concrete. The woman and her husband were very friendly and nice but embarassed by their living conditions. It is sad for any working person to be embarassed about the conditions in which they find themselves. Weren't we brought up to believe that all anyone had to do was to work hard and they could have anything that they wanted? A sleeping area was formed by creating a room using wardrobes with a cloth draped entry for privacy and access. In the main area was a work table, a sewing machine and a hemming machine. Bundles of pre-cut cloth were stored against the wall. An ironing board and iron were also located in the area.

Duang's friend assembles and finishes school and work uniform blouses for a large company. In addition to sewing them together and adding the buttons, she has to iron the finished product. She gets paid $0.36 for each completed blouse. She stated that she can complete a blouse in 10 minutes. Sometimes to meet deadlines she will not sleep. Duang, to support herself and family, used to share the workload with her friend. Unfortunately Duang took 20 minutes to complete a blouse - $1.08 an hour earnings.

I share these stories in order that others may realize how fortunate they are and realize the plight of so many other people throughout the world.
Think about this ... that shirt or blouse that you most likely paid $25.00 USD for because it was imported from some third world country cost much less than $1.00 in labor to produce.

The local people get screwed with low wages and poor working conditions, the consumer still gets screwed with prices not in perspective with actual costs. The Waltons and their ilk only get richer.

It appears that the local workers could easily recieve better wages and conditions without the American consumer having to pay more for the same product.

It is either that or the Walmarts and othe king pins of the merchandising world could share, at the expense of third world workers, their greed with the consumers and cut prices to be more in line with actual costs.