VO Imports will be attending the Taipei Cycle Show next week. Chris asked for some feedback a few weeks ago on his blog:
http://velo-orange.blogspot.com/2009/02/taipai-cycle-show-wish-list.html
Some of the suggestions are good. Others, like the Ti lugged fixed 650b rando with Roller cam brakes and a flickstand, are not realistic. That Tom guy is a jokester...... Anyway, it would be interesting to see what VO Imports readers would tell us to research and develop for future Velo Orange stuff, as there are more bike shops looking at this site than the Velo Orange blog.
We will also be taking a trip to Taichung- the epicenter of Taiwan bike manufacturing- to visit some of our current factories and to review new companies for some upcoming projects. This gives us an opportunity to talk about the environmental and working conditions while at their manufacturing facilities. I've visited some of these places before and it's always good to see the year to year improvements. None were ever dirt floor factories. Many of them (Tektro, Alex, SRAM, Kalloy, KT) are better run and cleaner than the machine shop across the street or the boat builder next door.
Most of the factories we work with- family run enterprises with a small staff- have much of their raw materials sourced from Taiwan, with fabrication in house, in their own facility. Nothing is offshored to China or Vietnam. There will be some exceptions, but overall, it's Made In Taiwan because that is honestly descriptive of its origin. How much of your GM 'made in America (North America)' car is actually sourced locally, domestically- from raw materials to sub assemblies and final product- and not off shored or outsourced?
Taiwan has a nationalized health care system, minimum 3 weeks legislated paid time off, 6 months paid maternity leave for mother AND Father. Environmentally, Taiwan has improved by leaps and bounds. All these changes are due to increased investment in Taiwan infrastructure.
With the exception of gloves made in central Asia, there is no precedent for establishing 'fair trade certification' for the heavy and light industry that typically produces our bike parts. I mention the gloves because there are some factories making gloves and soccer balls(...) that are fair trade certified (for Patagonia, North Face, Nike, Gucci, etc). They only do it for those labels and the product that fall under that certification. It is not a 'factory' or product line wide certification.
Some companies are addressing these issues, but it's a patchwork of often duplicated effort. Some just want to out horrible practices without giving the market a broader perspective of manufacturers doing the right thing for the right reasons. I'd like to do something better.
The last bit of this blog is a lot of work. I'm not sure where it can or should go. Your thoughts and direction would be helpful. I can tell you in my experience that XX factory is clean and has good working conditions, but what do YOU want to see? What questions would you be asking??
Image found on: http://dailybubbletea.wordpress.com
7 comments:
Well so long as you periodically check up on them and verify the conditions and environment, then I have no problem with Made in Taiwan parts. I wish that we could make more parts in the USA, but that is not likely.
Keep up the good work.
Agreed. I think it's important to do as much as we can, realistically, to make this place a better one. The fact remains that we can't change everything overnight. Thoughtful and honest dialogue combined with subtle encouragement is really the only thing that might help manufacturers implement more progressive policies.
thanks for the posts. what are the more couragaeous points to make with all this?
I've been to Taiwan/Taichung many times. Factory conditions vary considerably. I suggest periodic unannounced visits to ensure yourself that what they show you when you visit is maintained when you are away. You might be surprised at how different things can be when no-one is watching. I know I was.
Thank you very much for this. Fairtrade/ethical shopping is very important to me, but my biggest "luxury" spending (cycling) I have little/no information about. While I am interested in allowing workers to form unions, using renewable resources and vegetarian alternatives my main points would have to be:
* Wages that allow workers children to go to school.
* Schools available for workers' children (in Taipei I expect this is not an issue, but I don't know)
* Healthcare for family of workers (you covered this in your post)
* Maximum working hours of 12/day and no more than 6/week (sounds harsh, but that's about what I put in as a high school teacher in the UK).
It would help if the producers outlined their policies online or responded to emails, I know I have tried to contact manufacturors (Exustar most recently) and never got replies.
Thanks for the replies and suggestions. I'll make another posting soon.
Good to see others are asking the same questions. While most Taiwan factories appear to be compliant with local regulations and even compared to western standards regarding environmental they still lag on the social end of things. Most large scale factories, including those in the bike business import workers from lower cost nations such as Thailand Indonesia and the Philippines. The reasons for this are two-fold. One, it is work that pays less than what a Taiwanese worker is willing to do and two, while regulated it is possible for factories to skirt around lax regulations on foreign workers. Lastly, most Taiwanese companies, while assembling in TWN get most of their raw materials and components from China. Most also have significant operations in China where social and environmental laws exist but are not enforced as strictly.
I have not yet been successful leading a charge for full social and environmental disclosure across the industry because frankly, most of the industry is not willing to peel back the layers. Yet. The OIA is light years ahead of us as an industry.
Open to new ideas on how to address this in the bikebiz.
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