China

From China Labour Bulletin

If you ask a factory worker or a waitress in Dongguan if they have had a pay raise recently, they will either stare at you blankly or just burst out laughing.

For all the hype in the Chinese and international media about 30 percent wage inflation and a "famine" (???) of more than one million labourers in the Pearl River Delta, the reality for migrant workers remains the same; low pay, long hours and no job security.

From China Labour Bulletin:

The New Year has already seen a number of announcements in the official Chinese media that seem, on the surface at least, to be good news for workers. Coal mine accidents are down, graduate employment is up, and the authorities in the central province of Hubei have launched a wide-ranging crackdown on forced labour. Of course, the reality behind these "good news" stories is not quite so laudable.

From China Labour Bulletin:

In December 2009, a magazine article exposed the extent to which labour relations in China had deteriorated over the last year, with enterprises deliberately taking advantage of the government's leniency during the global financial crisis to exploit their workforce. The writer called on the government and trade unions to take concerted measures, including the introduction of collective bargaining, to alleviate the growing conflict between workers and management.

Sunday, 15 November 2009. From http://chinaworker.info/en/content/news/900/

Hainan garment workers take on European lingerie giant ‘Triumph’

Women workers at a garment factory in Hainan, southern China, began a strike on Wednesday 11 November to press their demands on pay and vacations after management announced drastic cuts in bonuses. Around 3,000 workers at the Hainan Youmei Underwear Co., Ltd in Haikou City, the provincial capital, gathered outside the plant. The factory is wholly owned by German-Swiss lingerie giant Triumph International, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of women’s underwear.

From China Labour Bulletin:

China's state-owned enterprises back in the spotlight
In the last two months, there have at least three major strikes at state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China by workers protesting impending takeovers and privatization plans.

Remembering June 4 - and its Meaning for the Present

This year, as every year, China Labour Bulletin mourns all those who died in the brutal government crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement on this day 20 years ago, and our hearts go out to the bereaved families, all of whom have paid a bitter price for their loved-ones' fateful efforts to bring China peacefully out of autocracy. Many of the bereaved families, turning pain into strength, have continued to campaign for vindication of the dead and for an official apology from the government for two decades now. We, together with people of good will across China and around the world, salute their valiant efforts and reiterate our firm belief that, eventually, justice will prevail.

A new research report from China Labour Bulletin.

The mass unemployment, lower wages and job insecurity created by the global economic crisis threatens the livelihoods of millions of Chinese workers, especially rural migrants who have little or no social security net to fall back on. Will the Chinese government and trade unions give workers the help they need, or will workers be forced to take matters into their own hands?

In November 2007, Huang Qingnan of the Dagongzhe (DGZ) Migrant Worker Centre in Shenzhen, China was seriously injured after being stabbed by two unidentified men. The assault followed on the heels of two other violent attacks on the DGZ Centre, which provides a free library, labour law education and free legal consultation to the many migrant workers in Shenzhen. The attacks appear to have been an effort to prevent the Centre from empowering migrant workers and educating them about China’s new Labour Contract Law, which went into effect in 2008.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Walmart is telling its Chinese suppliers they have to repsect workers' rigths, including the right to organsie. Shame they don't do this in their own stores. Oh, and there's still the little question of who will pay for better wages and conditions. Walmart seem to think it must be someone else.

By Ann Zimmerman and Mei Fong, 23 October 2008, The Wall Street Journal Europe

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is hitting its Chinese suppliers with a slate of stringent environmental and safety mandates, just as the manufacturers face rising costs and dwindling demand for their products.

HONG KONG / MONTREAL – Sept. 24, 2008 – A large part of China's remarkable economic development has been achieved at the expense of the basic rights of millions of former state-owned enterprise workers, says a new report released today by the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin and Canada's International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, commonly known as Rights & Democracy.

From China Labour Bulletin:

In early August, campaigners in Hong Kong, backed by the Play Fair 2008 global coalition, confronted the International Olympic Committee for its failure to act on widespread exploitation of workers in the manufacture of Olympics-branded products.

Press release from Clean Clothes Campaign. Brussels, 2 July 2008:

A month before the start of the Beijing Olympics key sporting goods brands including Nike, adidas, New Balance, Umbro and Speedo are forming a ground breaking joint working group with trade unions and NGOs to explore amongst other issues how to promote trade unionism and collective bargaining as well as improving wages across the sector.

PlayFair 08 Industry Report

Did you know that a worker at a Chinese factory producing for one of Nike’s key suppliers would have to work 4,500 years at their current wage to earn as much as Nike CEO Mark Parker did in 2006?

The international trade union movement has launched a campaign to highlight abuses of workers' rights in the run-up to the summer Olympic games in Beijing.

URGENT ACTION NEEDED
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On February 13, the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, some 700 workers at the Panyu Li Chang Footwear Co. Ltd in Panyu district of Guangzhou City returned from their New Year holiday. They were expecting to receive their back wages estimated to be around 2,000 Yuan per worker and resume work. Instead, they found that the owner had stolen their wages, closed the factory and sold all the equipment. The gates to the factory and their living quarters were locked.

On 20 November, Huang Qingnan of the Dagongzhe (DGZ) Migrant Worker Centre in Shenzhen, China was seriously injured after being stabbed by two unidentified men.

Take action now at: http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent/07-12-13.htm

The following is a summary of reports by Students and Scholars against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) regarding labour violations at Disney suppliers in China. If you haven't already, take action by signing the
petition (link below).

Over 300 workers of the Haowei Toys factory in Shenzhen, China,
producing plastic toys for Disney, have been protesting day and night
against the violation of their labour rights...

A new report "The Story of Toys Made in China for Wal-Mart" has been published by the Hong Kong based group SACOM...

CHINA'S OLYMPIC PROMISE

Following China's successful bid for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games,
both the Chinese authorities and International Olympic Games' officials
pledged that the Beijing Olympic Games would be a catalyst for the
improvement of human rights in China.

(Reuters) - As many as 1,000 children may have been sold into slave labour in central China, enduring maiming and brutality in primitive brick kilns, state media said on Friday amid an expanding scandal about official neglect.

Some official merchandise for the 2008 Olympics in China has been made using child labour, forced overtime and low wages to boost profits, a report says. (BBC, June 07)

LBL have produced a briefing:
http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/images/pdf/chinabriefing.pdf

You will have read about this already at www.NoSweat.org.uk but here's some more in a recent article from Schnews...