Sweatshops? In the US?

[firecat]

Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ikea-union-20110410,0,4172495,full.story
Exerpt:

Swedwood's Steen...acknowledged the pay gap between factories in Europe and the U.S. "That is related to the standard of living and general conditions in the different countries," Steen said.

Bill Street, who has tried to organize the Danville workers for the machinists union, said Ikea was taking advantage of the weaker protections afforded to U.S. workers.

"It's ironic that Ikea looks on the U.S. and Danville the way that most people in the U.S. look at Mexico," Street said."

I'm not sure "ironic" is the right word for this.

ETA: Obsidian Wings has a good post about this.
http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2011/04/full-circle.html