I am aware of the problems with Chinese goods. One way of looking at it, is that a lousy job is better than no job at all. As Aldi only sell cycling gear on occasions, I think it may be what is known as a loss leader. They sell the gear ata tiny profit, or even at a slight loss, just to get people into the store.
Talking of bad working conditions, Lincolnshire farm labourers had it at least as bad as the miners, probably on a lot less money. They had to provide their own protective clothing, if they could afford it. They lived in tiny, damp remote cottages, often miles from a village or even a road. The cottages were farm property. Labourers were hired on a yearly contract, often at hiring fairs, where they stood in rows like cattle. The terms of the contract usually stipulated that the labourer`s sons and daughters would work on the farm, often for a pittance.
My mother was the daughter of a farm foreman, and had to walk three miles to school, half of it "off road" The rule of children forced to work for the farmer persisted as late as the 1960s and early 1970s. With increasing mechanisation, there are fewer farm labourers and conditions have improved. Seasonal work is now often done by immigrants, some of whom live in run down caravans on farms. No doubt modern slavery and forced labour still exist in the UK.
