Labor Testimony

Kernaghan's report describes all the abuses that Chinese factories routinely do. He gives examples of specific toys/companies (Barbie, Speedo) that have factories in China and what kind of abuses they do. He tells how much pay the workers are docked, how much overtime pay is denied them, and how much the finished product is marked up. He explains what the company spends thier money on because they obviously do not spend that money on their workers' well-being. His lists of these abuses and the money and percentages of wages denied to workers became very repetitive very quickly. Simply giving an example of one or two specific products and the abuses those companis practice and then listing other companies that do the same thing would have been just as effective.

Kernaghan makes the very apt point that American consumers would be horrified if they knew the way the products were made and how little the factory owners regard human rights. He then goes on to say that the reason American consumers don't know these practices is because the companies that own theses factories do everything in their power to keep this information hidden. I personally am horrified by these practices, but most of the ability to change these practices lies with the consumer; if the consumer is ignorant of these practices and has no viable option but to purchase those products, not much change for the better can occur. Which is just the way these companies want to keep it. Also, Kernaghan states that there is more than enough money in the companies' vaults to change their practices to adopt more humane ones, but the practices remain hidden and the profits increase, so the company has absolutely zero incentive to spend money on changing their practices. Without major incentive, these companies will just continue to pocket the profit they make, it is naive to think that they will be inspired to change their ways because they have obviously made the conscious decision to operate inhumane factories.

Cheek- Living with Reform and "China Blue"

Since the new economic reforms in 1989, China has fractured into several different classes of citizens. The first class is the rich, who have amassed great wealth and luxury and make up a tiny percentage of the population. The next class is the middle class, who can afford to have an apartment and education for their children, some consumer items, and family vacations. These two classes have a tentative hold on the class conflict situation, but are fearful of the lower classes. The next class is the working class, who can barely afford to live and are very wary of layoffs and unemployment. This class is volitile and prone to protests, but that's only because they know they should be treated better. The final class is the underclass of migrant workers composed of people from rural areas who move to the cities to find work, who have absolutely no rights and are forced to work in apallingly horrible conditions for practically nonexistent pay. All of these classes are exclusive, isolated, fearful of the other classes and are quickly becoming more and more seperate from each other. If you are in one class there is no way for you to advance to the next higher class, there is no opportunity to do so.

Some of these conditions were highlighted in the movie "China Blue". Jasmine, a young girl from a rural province, moves to the city to work in a factory. The movie shows how much they are forced to work, how their pay is cut for any reason, and how they are absolutely mistreated by the management. What sickened me the most was that the owner of the factory actually thought he was helping out the migrant workers because they were subhuman enough to need that kind of atmosphere in order to work and that they wouldn't know any better. Also, there are labor and minimum wage laws in China, but no one follows them because they wouldn't be able to compete with other factories if they did. The workers work for more than 15 hours a day in terrible conditions, with little food and no rest and make only several cents a day. I can barely believe that the factory owners and the government can rationalize this kind of treatment, it is absolutely awful.