New York Manhole Covers, Forged Barefoot in India

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

Eight thousand miles from Manhattan, barefoot, shirtless, whip-thin men rippled with muscle were forging prosaic pieces of the urban jigsaw puzzle: manhole covers.

Seemingly impervious to the heat from the metal, the workers at one of West Bengal’s many foundries relied on strength and bare hands rather than machinery. Safety precautions were barely in evidence; just a few pairs of eye goggles were seen in use on a recent visit. The foundry, Shakti Industries in Haora, produces manhole covers for Con Edison and New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, as well as for departments in New Orleans and Syracuse.

The scene was as spectacular as it was anachronistic: flames, sweat and liquid iron mixing in the smoke like something from the Middle Ages. That’s what attracted the interest of a photographer who often works for The New York Times — images that practically radiate heat and illustrate where New York’s manhole covers are born.

When officials at Con Edison — which buys a quarter of its manhole covers, roughly 2,750 a year, from India — were shown the pictures by the photographer, they said they were surprised.

“We were disturbed by the photos,” said Michael S. Clendenin, director of media relations with Con Edison. “We take worker safety very seriously,” he said.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/26/nyregion/26manhole.html?hp

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Shameful. It's past time for internation worker and pay standards!

[Maq]

1. Recycle cast iron foundry in Boston

Mechanic Iron Foundry Co.
P.O. Box 543
Roxbury, MA 02119
Phone: [phone]

Manufacturer of Manholes, Ductile Iron Castings
Employees 10 to 49

SOURCE: http://www.thomasnet.com/heading.html?cov=EM&what=Mechanics+Iron+Foundry&heading=12040804&searchpos=16&cid=403475&navsec=products

[Captain Hilts]

4. I think they still make some in Manitowoc. nt

[Captain Hilts]

2. and Washington, DC, and Toronto....nt

[HughBeaumont]

3. The Greatness of "FREE TRADE" in One Stunning Photo:

[RamboLiberal]

5. Great photo that explains the situation

Is that from China?

[HughBeaumont]

7. I think it's from Taiwan.

Yeah, great labor and safety standards them American corporations don't need to care about anymore.

[Psephos]

35. What the photo actually shows

is that the welder is using the paper as a shield against ultraviolet radiation, not sparks. That's an arc welder. The sparks thrown off from that aren't incendiary.

Still, your point is spot-on.

[kurth]

6. “By God’s will, it’s all fine”

i.e. "The workers are completely disposable, anyway."

[hedgehog]

8. It's a problem for the people running a lot of American companies.

Do safety rules stop at the water? How responsible are companies for the safety standards of their suppliers? My son works for a company with branches in India. They had a problem with work boots because so many guys would sell them and then come to work barefoot. On the other hand, a lot of European workers consider safety glasses optional. Heck, when I was a maintenance supervisor, I spent a lot of my time making guys wear their safety glasses and ear plugs.

One possible solution: Companies that are registered with ISO have to document their processes and prove that their suppliers are also ISO certified. If ISO made safety part of its standards, we might get somewhere.

[RamboLiberal]

14. But the employer can enforce safety standards

No boots, no work. No glasses, no work. Etc. It's shameful that we buy goods that are processed by labor standards that make the late 1800's look good all to save $$$$$s and reward the big wigs of the U.S. companies and government entities!

[Alcibiades]

9. Patricians have always favored slave economies

And we are all slaves to our bellies, so, in a globalized economy, it's a simple matter to find the hungriest people (I know India feeds itself, I mean poorest) and get them to do the hardest work. No worker can be free so long as some are in chains of want.

Republicans measure civilization by the wealth of the wealthiest. The more extreme the wealth, the more progress civilization has made. This is where this strange coalition of Any Rand followers, Christians who hate the poor, and macho men insecure about their thingies has led us.

Anyway, whenever someone brings up John Edwards' house or his haircuts, I always say it does not matter, because he remembers where he is from. Whoever sourced these products in India simply does not care.

[yardwork]

10. I've noticed that the manhole covers in my town say "Made in India."

I'll forward this article to the mayor.

[XemaSab]

11. This was quite the article.

:(

[Doremus]

12. It's a damned shame.

One, that people are forced to work in these conditions.

Two, that because of this attention these workers will soon be out of work.

Life does indeed suck.

[Audio_Al]

17. deleted by poster

[madrchsod]

13. i worked in two steel forging plants

and in all departments of a steel mill,and i really feel sorry for these guys and gals in that foundry in india. i know they take great pride in what they do and they take pride in the product they make. we are in the same brotherhood of guys and gals who work hot steel no matter where we live.

[WheelWalker]

15. Dirty Deeds, Done Dirt Cheap. k&r

[Orwellian_Ghost]

16. That's fuckin' crazy

This system is vile.

Here's the main pic:



And then further on we get:



It's all connected.

K&R

[RamboLiberal]

18. Geez check the photo NY Times didn't have when I posted article

Workers in Haora, India, have few protections while making manhole covers for Con Edison and some cities’ utilities.

My god, imagine working with molten steel dressed in almost nothing! I wonder how much the ahole director of this company makes? From OP article:

“We can’t maintain the luxury of Europe and the United States, with all the boots and all that,” said Sunil Modi, director of Shakti Industries. He said, however, that the foundry never had accidents. He was concerned about the attention, afraid that contracts would be pulled and jobs lost.

Some labor activists in India say that injuries are far higher than figures show. “Many accidents are not being reported,” said H. Mahadevan, the deputy general secretary for the All-India Trade Union Congress.

At the Shakti Industries foundry, “there are no accidents, never ever. Period,” Mr. Modi said. “By God’s will, it’s all fine.”

Photo journal posted here: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/11/21/nyregion/20071126_MANHOLE_FEATURE.html#

[trof]

25. That photo journal is a keeper.

I'll send that around.
Thanks.

[truthisfreedom]

19. If you asked these workers how they feel about their working conditions, what would they say?

And if action is taken that deprives them of their jobs, what will happen to them?

It's the endless drive for profit that leads to such conditions. And it's our culture that has driven that profit motive.

Honestly, it's all about how the workers feel about it. If they're receiving more compensation doing this job than others, being deprived of this job is a bad thing.

Consider, there are a million other ways to suffer in India. Working barefoot and shirtless in a foundry when the outside temperature is 100 degrees is probably the only way they can physically survive.

There are so many other evils in the world that need to be addressed... certainly not men working. They aren't being poisoned. They aren't being subjected to filth or forced to work as slaves. They're hard-working men who love their jobs. How is that bad?

One more thing to think about. Wearing safety gear gives you a false sense of safety. Working when you're almost naked makes you really worry about your fellow man, not to mention your own skin.

[JCMach1]

20. Molten Metals stop at nothing

You are correct.

[liberation]

21. Stupid statement of the week winner:

"Wearing safety gear gives you a false sense of safety. Working when you're almost naked makes you really worry about your fellow man, not to mention your own skin."

I take you have never had any sort of menial job esp in a hazardous environment, eh?

In any case, the rest of the red herring argument to excuse inhumane labour practices wasn't any better, but those lines were "special" *sigh*

Also, I am tired of having everything blamed on "our culture." Sure, it is our culture that loves profits, but it is also their culture that tolerates the pervasiveness of these inhumane conditions.

It takes two to tango, and I am about having it with blaming everything on whatever it is that Westerners do. There are money grubbing assholes everywhere and in every culture, period.

[truthisfreedom]

22. You missed everything I said.

I don't admire your smug self-righteousness.

[Zhade]

24. Niiiice sarcasm.

Almost got me - I was about to call you a heartless fucking bastard!

[Vinca]

26. How do you know they aren't being poisoned?

How do you know they "love" their jobs? Was the entire response supposed to be satire?

[RamboLiberal]

28. Gee Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Carnegie would've loved you

Some of the same arguments the robber barons of the 19th century and early 20th gave in industrial America.

[Zhade]

23. NAFTA, and its every supporter, enables evil.

NT!

[dbackjon]

27. What does this situation have to do with NAFTA????

[Zhade]

30. Missing worker protections. Duh.

All thanks to NAFTA... all thanks to the turncoats who betrayed the American AND overseas worker.

[dbackjon]

32. NAFTA doesn't cover India - duh

[galledgoblin]

33. true, but

NAFTA reinforces worker abuse and lowers standards world wide.

[Historic NY]

29. Corcraft NY Prision industries also makes manhole..........

cover and rings which they sell to local governments. Corcraft.org has the ablility to make make things and the prisoner make money, bide time and learn a trade. They are competitive if not cheaper.

[Lance_Boyle]

31. Con Ed needs 2750 NEW manhole covers per year?

Do they old ones break or something? And aren't they called "personnel access holes" now, anyway?

[dysfunctional press]

36. they get stolen for scrap...or as a conversation piece.

nt

[MilesColtrane]

34. Obviously a plot by Hinduofascists to terrorize New Yorkers with exploding manhole covers. n/t