If a management philosophy increases worker stress by 500% but increases widget production by 5%, then companies that implement that philosophy will outperform, outcompete, and devour companies that don't. If one of out ten workers suffer a life debilitating injury but you can reduce the cost of that worker's injury to you to effectively zero (at least, to an amount much smaller than the additional profit you make), then you're still running a sound business.
In theory public outrage might punish companies that do mistreat their workers, but, let's be real: the vast bulk of the market prefers unethically produced widgets to ethically produced ones that are 10% pricier. And even a company that sells itself on being ethical is, as likely as not, just using that as a marketing campaign to hike up profits while still treating workers terribly.
In any case - it's horrifying. I know that the US can't do much about mandating working conditions in factories in other countries. And we can't do much (this is in reaction to a comment ITT asserting that the shareholders shouldn't get their return until this is taken care of) about companies that are not headquartered (nor traded) in the US. (LG is, as you know, not an American company)
That said - this is one of those things that the company's liability insurance should be for. I don't know the mechanics involved, but it seems as if as a condition of importing a product into the US for retails sales, then one could ask for an annual report of claims: Number of factory workers, # of injuries; # of claims; # of settlements; amounts (in number of year equivalents of their normal salary). This could probably be avoided by shell company arrangements, so it may be both bureaucratically onerous and hard to enforce fairly.
It's no coincidence that China is a manufacturing capital of the world, and all independent unions are banned.
In Mexico, where this woman had her hands ripped away from her, unions are theoretically allowed to organize and participate in strike actions. In fact, though, all worker activism has to be approved by the local government, which is more often than not in a corrupt alliance with local businesses.
Maybe if enough people do this, the remaining countries pay attention and try to improve the conditions.
It is a kind of utopian dream, but better than pretending that the shiny TV isn't a product from slavery.
In fact, a recent Mexican law fordibs "people grouping together".
And outsourcing is now legal btw, thanks to another new law. So, any benefits mexicans had they are gone too.
And good luck living with a settlement of USD 1,200 (unique payment)
The logic of raw capitalism concerns private ownership of the means of production. That's all. I can give many examples of state-owned enterprises over the years treating their employees in just such an abominable way.
I've had to metaphorically chisel plenty of nuts from a solid block of metal because of some instruction from an engineer somewhere.
"Why do we have to learn this? I'm studying to be an engineer. I'll never be doing this."
The instructor replied, "So you will know the difficulty the tasks you order others to do."
I felt immediately humbled. Fifteen years on, I've never forgotten this. In my position, I can't avoid putting pressure on people to perform anymore. But as much as possible, I've learned to see if it's something I could do myself if I were in the same position.
Pushing people to work harder is not management.