05th Jan 2008
Why does worker abuse continue?
Worker abuse in China continues despite a decade of criticism. What exactly is the problem?
1. a supply chain of outsourcing that makes it difficult to track the factory to the corporation (hence a lack of accountability);
2. continuous demand for cheap goods that do not reflect a fair cost for labor; and
3. weak oversight, including U.S. companies hiring U.S. college students as inspectors.
And that leads us to the current situation of widespread worker abuse in factories. Here’s a specific example:
In December, two nongovernmental organizations, or NGO’s, documented what they said were abuse and labor violations at 15 factories that produce or supply goods for Wal-Mart — including the use of child labor at Huanya Gifts, a factory here in Guangzhou that makes Christmas tree ornaments….
But two workers interviewed outside Huanya’s huge complex in late December said that they were forced to work long hours to meet production quotas in harsh conditions.
“I work on the plastic molding machine from 6 in the morning to 6 at night,” said Xu Wenquan, a tiny, baby-faced 16-year-old whose hands were covered with blisters. Asked what had happened to his hands, he replied, the machines are “quite hot, so I’ve burned my hands.”
It’s not just Wal-Mart. It’s Disney. Dell. It’s most, if not all, companies outsourcing to China, where it is just about impossible to ensure workers are treated fairly and work in safe conditions. After all, all those toys with lead paint came from places where workers were toiling for days applying that paint and breathing the fumes and getting paint on their skin.
We are surrounded by these products. Some things - unless you pick them up second hand - don’t seem to be produced anywhere BUT China. It’s as if when someone comes up with a new product, the first thing they do is go to China to find a manufacturer. (I actually know a designer who did this when he decided to make his own line of beautiful, practically weightless running shoes).
The only way the no china diet works is if one really commits to changing the way one consumes. And it’s hard. I went to the store to buy a new coffee/tea mug (the insulated kind), and although there were at least 30 varieties of mugs, I could not find ONE not made in China.
If I want to spend $30 on a coffee mug (heaven forbid I lose it), I could probably find one made in Switzerland or something. Or I could look for a grody, used one, which probably wouldn’t be too hard; I’d just have to get over seeing it as grody (it’s the plastic lid that grosses me out because it’s porous). Or, I could hold out hope that I’d eventually find the one I’d had for years and lost (A BurlyGirls.com mug), and just keep using it. Which is what happened. I have no idea where the cup was made, though.