Date of publication: June 30, 2008
Source: GreenBiz.com
Author: Conrad MacKerron
Can it be that our green heroes Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt care about the cachet of owning a Prius but not about the abused workers making these feel-good cars?
A report from the National Labor Committee released earlier this month alleging abusive working conditions in Japanese Toyota Prius plants provides a much needed jolt to the environmental and business communities about the danger of viewing environmental concerns as separate from human concerns.
Supervisory workers in Japanese Pruis assembly plants are overworked to the point of exhaustion, and sometimes, death, the report said. One-third of assembly line workers are poorly paid temp workers. Its parts supply chain is "riddled with sweatshop abuse," including trafficking of tens of thousands of foreign guest workers, sometimes working 16-hour shifts. The report tweaks celebrities for endorsing the Prius without considering the human capital aspects behind the way they are produced...