[Jewelry making - Article 01221] - Re: [Orchid] Suggestions for Lapidary Journal

[Gerry]

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>          Talking about Sri Lanka we have effective labour, mining and
>     child protection laws (along with institutions that enforce these
>     laws) that have evolved over a period of over seventy five years
>     and are often in line with current international thinking on these
>     matters. In my own lapidaries I do not employ child labour. We
>     provide reasonable wages (by Sri Lankan standards) and also
>     reasonably comfortable working conditions. We also contribute an
>     additional 18% of the monthly wages received by the workers to
>     Social Benefit Funds and held in security by the Central Bank of
>     Sri Lanka with annual interest added till they reach retirement
>     age of 55 years. 

Mr. Iqbal,

    Your response is just what is needed in the USA.  Most people in the
    USA are not at all like the stereo type Westerners visiting your
    country.  In the USA we have our problems with child labor and unfair
    labor practices. We are going through a nationwide struggle right now
    with illegal immigration used by numerous employers to keep down the
    costs of labor and benefits paid to a citizen worker, while
    maximizing the profits they put into thier own pockets.  By the way,
    the costs of goods produced does not go down, just the cost of
    production decreses.  In the USA we also have to contiuously be vigil
    as humans are smuggled into the USA in bondage to labor or work as
    prostitutes.  We fight these labor practices in the USA and we need
    to fight them outside the USA. People in the USA are very much in
    need of on site knowledge of the conditions in each country.  In the
    USA I find my knowledge from news organizations, people who have
    traveled to the countries I am interested, people who were born in
    the country I am interested in, and traveling vendors. 

    Please, help improve our knowledge of your societies laws and
    traditions. For instance in a current US Labor Department assessment
    of child labor in Sri Lanka it is reported that bonded (sold into
    slavery) child labor, usually 5-10 year olds, is widely used mining
    gemstones.  Is that true?  It is also reported that enterprising
    employers have found ways to legally avoid the labor laws.  Is that
    true? What do you mean by the phrase  " protection laws (along with
    institutions that enforce these laws) that have evolved over a period
    of over seventy five years and are often in line with current
    international thinking on these matters."  I am unaware of any
    International Agreement that set standards for Child Labor  Please
    give me a reference of this International Agreement. 

    I have been treated somewhat like you treat your workers .  Paid
    only the reasonable wages by the Jewelry Industries standards for my
    work.  For instance in the USA if you do not take home from your work
    at least $40,000 a year you do have a growth in your economic
    stature.  You are in survival living from paycheck to paycheck.  I
    have been told by the industry professionals when I present them with
    bills for my labor - that $10 -$15 per hour is way too much to pay a
    gemstone cutter.  I have also been told to not park my truck in thier
    parking lot when making deliveries as it does not fit in with the
    Mercedes, Cadillacs, etc thier clients drive.  Also, do not linger in
    the store to wait for payment.  We do not want a worker amongst the
    floor people.  We will pay you when we get ready to make all our
    payments.  I no longer work for these people.  This carries over to
    anyone that I do business with.  I will not buy from you or do
    business with you unless you can give me assurances that your current
    way of doing business is slowly changing.. 

    Here is a suggestion for you.  SriLanka has a gemstone dealer
    association. Get the association together with the US Consulate and
    have a report of the current conditions filed and a reconmmendation
    from the US Consulate on which businesses are making progress in
    human standards.. 

    Why do I act like this?  It is my firmly held belief that the only
    way wars will ever stop is if humans all have equal opportunities.
    Equal opportunities bring achievement and a feeling of individual
    worth and allows groups to form that oppose internal radicalism.  We
    have radicals in the USA, plenty.  They are kept in check by the rest
    of us that use our collective power to keep them in check. In the USA
    we have too much to lose to let the radicals ever take over. Other
    countries can do the same.  That way at the worlds bargaining tables
    less and less military might will be needed.  Humans would have a
    need to sit down and bargain in good faith as they would have a lot
    to lose personally if they let the suituation degernerate into war. 

Gerry Galarneau
gggemswcr AT cox.net

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