Sweatshop News Foxconn Labor Union Reform in China by Jianyu Hou It is no exaggeration to say that every person in the world who enjoys the convenience of an Apple electronic device benefits from the drudgery of Foxconn workers. The manual workers in this world’s largest factory suffer dehumanizing working and living conditions, but luckily, at the end of February 2013, after the Chinese Lunar New Year, Foxconn will hold a new union election that really represents the rights of workers. Foxconn is the most typical sweatshop in China, the world’s factory. After its first factory was established in 1988 in Shenzhen, it quickly grew to become the world’s primary factory for electronic devices. As of the end of 2012, Foxconn has 31 factories and 1.2 million workers in mainland China. The majority of its profit rests upon the simple and mechanic manual work. Now its main client is Apple Company. In recent years, as the Apple epidemic has exploded on a global scale, Foxconn has been abusing manual labor more severely in order to gain more profit, which has led to a series of tragedies. In 2009, a video named Guard in Beijing Foxconn Beating Workers was published; in 2010, dozens of workers around age twenty intermittently committed suicide by jumping from buildings; in 2012, at Foxconn in Zhengzhou, more than 3,000 workers went on strike,
protesting the high pressure work and low salary; in January of 2013, at Foxconn in Beijing, thousands of workers held another strike, asking for annual allowance and salary increase. There are Photo from Alternet several reasons for the victims teaching material by these tragedies: negative example. The bosses One is the problem of the emphasized the importance of management. For instance, the first rule eliminating negative thoughts about is unquestioning obedience from working and doubts about the system in workers, which is promised by place. This vicious mental circle was hierarchical and military management. broken by media advocating for public Any protest is violently suppressed by concern and workers’ awakening. guards. The basic monthly salary is The new election of a labor 1550 Yuan, on which a worker can’t union, aided by the Fair Labor maintain her basic living and must rely Association (FLA), will change the old on overtime pay. For workers enduring election process, which, they pointed longtime mental and physical pressure out, did not actually represent the that can’t be released through enough workers’ interest. This same problem rest and communication, any stimulus exists not only in Foxconn: in might be the last straw. mainland China, almost all of the labor The other reason is the unions of the companies and company culture. At the beginning of government agencies are controlled by the 2010 series of suicides, the Foxconn the management. For one thing, the higher-ups blamed the victims for their union budgets are distributed by the fragile psychological quality: that they management, which violates People’s didn't have the capability to work under Republic of China (PRC) Labor Union pressure. Workers seemed to accept Law: “Membership dues mainly come this explanation. The suicide victims’ from members’ payment, the 2% of the sense of guilt for not finishing extra total workers salary, and the part of the tasks or earning more overtime pay company’s volume of business. In case must have tortured them, as Foxconn the budget can’t be promised by the authorities would have it, considering company, the union has the right to sue
the company.” But the company can prolong the process from appeal to court decision, and during this time the company could find any excuse to fire the union representatives. From the personnel perspective, according to PRC Labor Union Law: “The union representatives should be engendered by democratic election. The administrators’ relatives should avoid being the candidate.” But actually, the representatives are appointed directly by the management. Although Foxconn and other companies violate the PRC Labor Union Law, due to Chinese citizens lacking the belief in and the knowledge of the law since childhood, they have almost acquiesced and adapted to this social environment. The new reformed election of the Foxconn Labor Union will be a milestone in the human rights history of China mainland, since this is the first time workers will elect their own union representatives. The elections will be held every five years, by ballot, without any interruption from management. My only concern is that this union reform is being conducted by international visitors, not Chinese. I hope one day that Chinese citizens will be able to fight for their own democracy. Jianyu Hou is a former intern at the Thomas Merton Center and is currently a religious affairs policy analyst.
Report from Bangladesh: Yet Another Garment Factory Fire Kills Seven Young Women by Amirul Haque Amin A rally organized by All Party Garment Workers Unity, a body of different garment workers federations, was held on January 27 in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka City to protest the killing of garment workers in a fire in the Smart Export Garments Ltd. factory the day before. Seven women, two of them teenagers, were crushed to death as workers raced to escape the fire. Leaders of large numbers of workers’ federations participated in the rally, which was followed by a procession through the streets of Dhaka expressing condolence and solidarity. A five-point list of demands from this All Party Garment Workers Unity protest and rally was presented to the government and to the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA): 1. The owner of Smart Export Garments Ltd. should be arrested immediately. 2. The families of all the dead
workers should be compensated under “loss of earnings” guidelines. 3. Advanced medical treatment should be provided to all injured workers. They should be paid adequate compensation. 4. A safe workplace should be ensured in all Dhaka, Bangladesh, December 31, 2012. Demonstration by the National Garment Workers garment Federation of Bangladesh . Amirul Haque Amin, NGWF president, holds the microphone. factories. Buyers, business people, the government and workers, free trade union rights and Europe’s major garment labels to trade unions should come forward to equal rights for woman stand up to guarantee that achieve this. workers. More than 70 percent of Bangladesh’s nearly four million 5. Job security should be given to all the workers at the Smart Exports garment workers finally have the workers In case the factory could factory were young women. right to organize an independent not be open, arrears wages and Staff members from the union and to bargain allowances should be paid, including Institute for Global Labor & Human collectively. The workers do not highest compensation. Rights were able to enter the Smart need more codes of conduct. Rather, On February 1, the 12th Exports factory after the fire and they need and want their legal rights. biannual Congress of the National found labels of major companies that Garment Workers Federation have adopted European Corporate Merton Center Editorial Collective (NGWF) was held in Dhaka and Codes of Conduct. In reality these Member Kenneth Miller has resolved to launch a movement in codes are rarely if ever implemented, provided us with this material from the next two years to establish the leaving Bangladesh’s garment NGWF president Amirul Haque garment factory as a safe workplace workers without legal rights, while Amin and with information from with factory-based unions, and to trapping them in misery. Charles Kernaghan of the Institute introduce living wage for garment It is long overdue for for Global Human Rights. March 2013
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