Posted on 06/29/2007 11:10:48 AM PDT by WesternCulture
Young British men are being used as 'slave labourers' in Stockholm, police have said. The men are being used in building work, and according to reports they are paid only sporadically and live in squalor.
Swedish television station TV4 has revealed that the men are forced to work fifteen hours a day, and live in derelict caravans without access to food or water. Around 100 British men are said to be working as pavers in the Stockholm area.
Swedish police say the incident is "pure slave trading". Jimmy Åberg of Swedish border police described some of the building workers as "street children".
Åberg said that many of the youngsters came from difficult backgrounds, had criminal records or had learning difficulties. Many of them don't even know which country they're in, he said. They are recruited with promises of good jobs; when they arrive in Sweden, their passports are confiscated.
Escape is near impossible for the workers:
"Those whom we have met say that they have been persecuted and subjected to threats and violence," Åberg told TV4.
In Sweden, there’s a severe shortage of workers in many areas, not the least construction workers. UK prisons are extremely crowded and the good people of Britain, naturally, want these people off the street and apparently they themselves are willing to work.
What to do?
In an ideal Europe, Swedish, British and EU authorities should strongly advice this employer to go legal and open his eyes to all the generous grants and subsidies employers like this can apply for.
Employers who are willing to hire long-term unemployed persons ought to be supported in many ways. In this case, I’d say even with tax payer’s money, whether this is to be viewed as Socialism or not.
The worst kind of Socialism is the kind of screw up this incident probably will end up in; costly police investigations, bureaucratic nonsense and all of a sudden these British guys are back on the streets of The UK again, important work is left undone in an expansive economy that screams for labor, Swedish companies will suffer and honest British, Swedish and EU tax payers probably never will discover who the REAL criminals in this affair are.
Slavery is wrong. Indecent living conditions of the type described are wrong. Lack of access to food and water is wrong. This situation stinks of child labor abuse much less human abuse.
I pray the perpetrators of this heinous crime receive their due.
Have you ever been inside a prison?
“Huh ? are you nuts ?”
- According to PC standards, I’m not only nuts, I’m probably even a criminal. I feel guilty of ‘hate speech’ for believing these street children could benefit from hard work (however, 8-10 hours and a decent pay is a reasonable demand).
Wordings: "are said" to be....!
ROTLMSO!!
Maybe it is still April 1st. today!!!
Nice try....
“Slavery is wrong.”
- Indeed, however these persons are not slaves, even though the word “slavery” comes to mind.
“Lack of access to food and water is wrong”
- Trust me, they get to drink and eat.
“This situation stinks of child labor abuse much less human abuse.”
- They are hardly twelve years old. Probably 17-20.
“I pray the perpetrators of this heinous crime receive their due.”
- They ought to be punished in one way or another. However, they also ought to convince them of going legal.
You’ve got to understand I am, primarily, worried about what will happen when these youngsters return to The UK again. There’s not much of hope for them in squats and on the streets.
There’s no basic reason why this business could NOT be legal, humane and profitable IMO.
I work 12-16 hour days. These guys can take it.
“I cannot believe that there would be someone on Free Republic who would be an advocate for human slavery. You disgust me.”
- Read what I wrote in my former post.
Wow, all these years and I never knew the Swedes were slaveholders. Sounds like BS to me.
Your tag line is apropos - what DID you think Vikings did with the captives they took?
There is much left unsaid, or implied but not substantiated seemingly in the article, but enough is stated simply in the word “Slavery”.
From the article: “and according to reports they are paid only sporadically”
Your Comment: “(however, 8-10 hours and a decent pay is a reasonable demand).”
I did not note a decent pay schedule in that article, nor do I believe whatever pay they received should be “sporadically”.
Regardless of any further discussion on the matter Slavery is as I noted in my original post...”wrong”, and I believe the perpetrators should be punished severely.
“Joey, have you ever been to a Turkish prison?”
“Wow, all these years and I never knew the Swedes were slaveholders. Sounds like BS to me.”
- I’m convinced the slaveholders are from the UK themselves.
I’m not from Stockholm (I’m from Gothenburg), but I’ve heard stories of people and companies in Gothenburg consulting a very cheap British firm who moved around from town to town doing paving work here in Sweden. When I replied I had not heard of this phenomena before, the other guys in my company said:
“You haven’t?”
This was 5 years ago. Finally, Swedish police has found out about the whole thing.
From the article: “and according to reports they are paid only sporadically”.
- Well what does this mean? No one here really knows I guess.
Anyhow, please note that in my first response to the article, I clearly state that the authorities ought to convince this employer of “going legal”.
“I believe the perpetrators should be punished severely.”
- I agree, however, I think there could be other alternatives than sending the perpetrators to jail, killing the business and have these youngsters doing drugs, stealing cars, shoplifting etc again.
“(I’m from Gothenburg),”
I was in Gothenburg in 1977 to meet with Capt. Shoelholm of a major Container Shipping Line. That is where I became addicted to Saabs. Love Gothenburg, a lovely city.
So much for Gothenburg discussion, back to the point; Slavery is described in multiple ways such as “a condition of subjection likened to that of a slave: wage slavery” from American Heritage Dictionary. It is a crime against humanity to enslave, and I cannot believe there is anything one can say positively in favor of such. It is a criminal act that requires punishment of the severist order.
What part of “live in derelict caravans without access to food or water” and “pure slave trading” do you not understand? At least doing dope they have a good shot at od’ing or otherwise ending their misery. Starvation and dehydration is no way to go.
Also, slavery is anti-western culture.
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