Season Of Reflection: Jingle Hell......

First of all, I really hope you're enjoying your Xmas today, entertaining guests, laughing and spending time with your loved ones, tasting delicious food prepared with the greatest care and sharing fond memories, new and old, and making the best of this time off to relax, recharge and re-energize.

I was preparing for the holidays as well, getting caught up in the Xmas rush, the hustle and bustle, the madness, the insanity of buying everything on my list, when I saw the picture above.

Sometimes a story causes us to have an immediate emotional reaction, literally stop us in our tracks and take notice.

The picture above, as well as several others in the story, appeared in an article I read today that started with: "Santa's Real Workshop", in The Guardian publication.

At first glance at the photo, what did you think?

• New artist hits red canvas with his next work?
• Did you think this guy works in a quarry or mine?
• Maybe you thought he worked in a meat processing plant?

Those thoughts crossed my mind too, until I saw a few clues, hinting to a Xmas connection:

Inside the ‘Christmas village’ of Yiwu, there’s no snow and no elves, just 600 factories that produce 60% of all the decorations in the world."

Why do you think the world sends over half of their Xmas decoration jobs to this part of China?

The simple answer is: cost and allows many of our cheap, lower quality tinsel, lights and decorations to flood our homes each year.

Many will get broken, lose favor and be thrown out, or be boxed back up for another year. This is the majority of the inventory that swings into dollar stores, gets lined up on their shelves, and offered for sale by retailers.

We save a bit of money, smile as we bag up our purchases, never thinking of the journey our brightly sparkled trinkets and baubles have had to take and the human cost, the laborer that put it together for us..

You will never meet Wei, a 19 year old who "together with his father, ...works long days in the red-splattered lair, taking polystyrene snowflakes, dipping them in a bath of glue, then putting them in a powder-coating machine until they turn red – and making 5,000 of the things every day." He goes through "at least 10 face masks each day, trying not to breathe in the cloud of red dust".

Our yuletide myth-making might like to imagine that Christmas is made by rosy-cheeked elves hammering away in a snow-bound log cabin somewhere in the Arctic Circle. But it’s not. The likelihood is that most of those baubles, tinsel and flashing LED lights you’ve draped liberally around your house came from Yiwu, 300km south of Shanghai – where there’s not a (real) pine tree nor (natural) snowflake in sight."

What you find in these factories, are low wages, minimal (if any) benefits, low safety standards, poor ventilation, bosses that couldn't care less, long hours, and expectations for high output to meet Western Market demands.

The “elves” that staff these factories are mainly migrant labourers, working 12 hours a day for a maximum of ￡200 to ￡300 a month – and it turns out they’re not entirely sure what Christmas is."

What has Xmas become, other than an over-commercialized business?

Is this a job that someone in Canada, the US or Western civilization would do? Unlikely, because we have different standards, laws and rules on how companies operate and are governed.

There are whole streets in the labyrinthine complex devoted to artificial flowers and inflatable toys, then come umbrellas and anoraks, plastic buckets and clocks. It is a heaving multistorey monument to global consumption, as if the contents of all the world’s landfill sites had been dug-up, re-formed and meticulously catalogued back into 62,000 booths."

Workers in these factories are replaced if they die or can't do the job anymore, because they've gotten sick, being exposed to the toxic chemicals their employer parks them in.

_____________ !!!!! _____________

You may also remember another story back in October 2012, when a plainly written letter was found inside a box of Halloween decorations in Oregon, desperately hidden for someone to find. The writer was kept captive at the Masanjia Labor Camp in Shenyang, China.

The note started with: "If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here who are under the persicution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever."

"People who work here, suffer punishment 1-3 years averagely, but without Court Sentence (unlaw punishment). Many of them are Falun Gong practitioners, who are totally innocent people only because they have different believe to CCPG. They often suffer more punishment than others."

What Is A Survival Job Anymore?

When we in North America talk about a survival job, we mean employment, to cover basic expenses, while waiting for something more ideal to come along, a McJob.

Most of us have certain expectations, standards and things that we would not put up with, certainly not tolerating any of the atrocities we read about taking place in these two stories as well as many more that are not covered by the media, to manufacture cheaply produced stuff, we then purchase at our end of the world.

It’s somehow unlikely that those on the other end of the production line, consigned to dipping snowflakes in red-swamped workshops for us to pick up at the checkout for 99p, feel quite the same way."

When we say survival job in places like Yiwu, the survival term is twofold, because yes, the job is a desperate effort to bring in some money for the worker and their immediate family, but at what cost for their basic survival if they can live through the toxic chemicals they are exposed to minute by minute.

Many chained to a job that many of us would not even look at, a job that likely leads to lowered life expectancy, health problems and a lack of any basic human rights protection.

During this Yuletide season, say a little prayer, take a conscious pause, or take a moment to think about the factory workers in Yiwu, as you're either decorating your tree and surroundings, or having a cup of hot chocolate with your family, around the fireplace.

Think of all the quiet elves in China sacrificing their lives, for your enjoyment and low priced painted stars, LED lights and fibre-optic trees and felt Santa hats.

Think of them ,and hope for peace in their lives and a way out of their tortured lives and basic existence to risk their lives every day, to support their families.

Steve.

Merry Xmas To All And To All A Good Night................

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2014/dec/19/santas-real-workshop-the-town-in-china-that-makes-the-worlds-christmas-decorations

https://www.oregonlive.com/happy-valley/index.ssf/2012/12/halloween_decorations_carry_ha.html

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Stephen J Landry, is a Bilingual Employment Coach, Global Labor Market Analyst, Connector, Influencer, Workshop Presenter and Facilitator, Public Speaker, Active Community Volunteer, and Government Customer Service Professional.

He is a motivated, active LinkedIn Group Manager, Top Contributor and LinkedIn Connector, who resides in Ottawa, Canada. His goals in 2015 include increasing his Career Coaching experience, LinkedIn Publications and have his work featured in several Career Development publications. He will be in attendance at Cannexus 2015.

He can be reached at the email addresses on his LinkedIn profile. He has an expanding connections network of over 4k, extremely dedicated career management consultants, employment services and coaching professionals who readily share knowledge, insights, resources and advice.

He is also President of CareerFocusConsultants.ca and [email protected], both currently in Development at this stage.

Please feel free to comment below and share your thoughts and insights. I appreciate your time and feedback.

Regards

Stephen J Landry