That has passed

[NewHope]

I am confused by what Tom said below:

"One dollar, two dollars, it used to be they didn't care," said Tom Stackpole, originally from Massachusetts, who is quality control director here for Skechers USA Inc. and has been involved in shoe manufacturing in southern China for a decade. "That has passed."

"That has passed" refers to what? Logically speaking, it should refer to "the ear that they cared about one dollar or two has passed". But in the context above, we cannot see "that" refers to "the era".
================================
More context:
DONGGUAN, China -- Heralded by an unprecedented series of walkouts, the first stirrings of unrest have emerged among the millions of youthful migrant workers who supply seemingly inexhaustible cheap labor for the vast expanse of factories in China's booming Pearl River Delta.

The signs of newly assertive Chinese workers have jolted foreign and Chinese factory owners, who for the last two decades have churned out everything from Nikes to baby dolls with unbeatably low production costs. Some have concluded that the raw era in which rootless Chinese villagers would accept whatever job they could get may be drawing to a close, raising questions about China's long-term future as world headquarters for low-paid outsourcing.


"One dollar, two dollars, it used to be they didn't care," said Tom Stackpole, originally from Massachusetts, who is quality control director here for Skechers USA Inc. and has been involved in shoe manufacturing in southern China for a decade. "That has passed."

Originally Posted by NewHope

I am confused by what Tom said below:

"One dollar, two dollars, it used to be they didn't care," said Tom Stackpole, originally from Massachusetts, who is quality control director here for Skechers USA Inc. and has been involved in shoe manufacturing in southern China for a decade. "That has passed."

"That has passed" refers to what? Logically speaking, it should refer to "the ear that they cared about one dollar or two has passed". But in the context above, we cannot see "that" refers to "the era".
================================
More context:
DONGGUAN, China -- Heralded by an unprecedented series of walkouts, the first stirrings of unrest have emerged among the millions of youthful migrant workers who supply seemingly inexhaustible cheap labor for the vast expanse of factories in China's booming Pearl River Delta.

The signs of newly assertive Chinese workers have jolted foreign and Chinese factory owners, who for the last two decades have churned out everything from Nikes to baby dolls with unbeatably low production costs. Some have concluded that the raw era in which rootless Chinese villagers would accept whatever job they could get may be drawing to a close, raising questions about China's long-term future as world headquarters for low-paid outsourcing.


"One dollar, two dollars, it used to be they didn't care," said Tom Stackpole, originally from Massachusetts, who is quality control director here for Skechers USA Inc. and has been involved in shoe manufacturing in southern China for a decade. "That has passed."

Without getting too political on this issue I will explain this in a nutshell.

A while back Chinese workers would work for foreign companies for next to nothing...sometimes for pennies a day. The guy is saying that now times have changed and Chinese workers are more aware of their contributions, they know more about what's going on in the world and they demand more (and rightfully so). They understand that cheap way of doing business is not exactly what they want. Therefore, "one dollar or two dollars" is a thing of the past. They want to paid what they deserve.

[NewHope]

Well , he said; "One dollar, two dollars, it used to be they didn't care. That has passed."

I think "it" refers to "one dollar or two" that they didn't care now. And then Tom said "That has passed". The consistency of what Tom said seems broken. If he said "the era that they cared about one dollar has passed", that would hold water. But he actually said 'the era that they didn't care one dollar has passed". It is illogical.

Originally Posted by NewHope

Well , he said; "One dollar, two dollars, it used to be they didn't care. That has passed."

I think "it" refers to "one dollar or two" that they didn't care now. And then Tom said "That has passed". The consistency of what Tom said seems broken. If he said "the era that they cared about one dollar has passed", that would hold water. But he actually said 'the era that they didn't care one dollar has passed". It is illogical.

>I think "it" refers to "one dollar or two" that they didn't care now.

That's right. They didn't care THEN. They do care NOW.

>And then Tom said "That has passed".

The times (the era) when they didn't care about how much they were paid has passed. You could pay them a dollar, you could give them two dollars...it didn't matter = they would work for whatever amount of money they were given as long as they were making something. If you had given them 2 pennies an hour, they would have been more than happy with that too. It didn't matter as long as they were making a living.

>If he said "the era that they cared about one dollar has passed", that would hold water. But he actually said 'the era that they didn't care one

He said "didn't" because in fact they DIDN'T care how much you paid them. They were a cheap labor force.
Am I missing something, NH? What's illogical about that?