sweatshops

Forced Labor and Social Control in Xinjiang

Just as the Chinese government has announced that detainees at internment camps in Xinjiang have “graduated” – without offering any evidence or explanation – researcher Adrian Zenz has released a paper...

Nicholas Kristof on Tiananmen and Sweatshops

In an open Q&A session at Reddit this week, The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof discussed his experience covering the Tiananmen protests and his views on sweatshops, among other important issues. CaptainApathy419:...

As Wages Rise in China, Manufacturers Look Elsewhere

Long the ubiquitous source of low-priced goods around the world, China is losing its appeal for foreign manufacturers. From the New York Times: Bruce Rockowitz, the chief executive of Li & Fung, the largest trading company...

Sweatshop Allegedly Abuses Mentally Ill

Global Times has reported the arrest of a man in Xinjiang who allegedly trafficked slave laborers, many of whom are mentally ill: A total of 11 workers, including eight mentally disabled people, were found to be working in...

A Night at the Electronics Factory

The New York Times spends a night with workers at Shenzhen’s now-notorious Foxconn plant: And what is life like for a cog in China’s labor-intensive factory model? Mr. Yuan, with the approval of his supervisor, described...

Confessions of a Sweatshop Inspector

T.A. Frank, an editor at the Washington Monthly and a former sweatshop inspector, ruminates on sweatshops worldwide — with a particular focus on China — and the companies they supply with cheap products. From the...

Child Labor Caution for China Olympics – Andrew Taylor

From Financial Times: Licensed goods being made for next year’s Beijing Olympic Games are being manufactured by child labour and “sweatshops” in China, the Playfair Alliance says in a report published on Monday. Research found children as young as 12 producing Olympic merchandise. Playfair says that adults producing goods for the Beijing games earn as […]

The Last ‘Competitive Advantage’: Letter From China – Jehangir S. Pocha

In The Nation, Jehangir Pocha writes about the status of workers and the labor union movement in China: Global consumers buying $25 Chinese-made DVD players usually assume Chinese labor is cheap because the country has a limitless supply of poor workers. But the morally cumbersome truth is that the Chinese government systematically prevents workers from […]

The cost of fun – Eric Clark

The Sunday Telegraph ran an excerpt from The Real Toy Story, by Eric Clark, about the migrant workers in China making toys to supply the world’s children: The dominance of China in toy production is staggering. There are about 8,000 toy factories, employing three million workers, spread over six main areas, of which the Pearl […]

Migrant Labor and Economic Growth: Two New Reports

As the National People’s Congress meets in Beijing to discuss a slowdown in economic growth and policies to support the poor, two new reports detail abuses of migrant workers in Chinese factories. From Amnesty International’s new report, “Internal migrants: Discrimination and abuse: The human cost of an economic ‘miracle’”: Tens of millions of migrants are […]

Secrets, Lies, And Sweatshops

From Business Week, via A Glimpse of the World: American importers have long answered criticism of conditions at their Chinese suppliers with labor rules and inspections. But many factories have just gotten better at concealing abuses Tang Yinghong was caught in an impossible squeeze. For years, his employer, Ningbo Beifa Group, had prospered as a […]

FoxConn is not dumb, but downright vicious – Non-Violent Resistance

From the Non-Violent Resistance blog, more on the FoxConn lawsuit against two China Business News journalists: Words in the Chinese press circles are, that FoxConn, therefore Hon Hai, had deliberately picked the two journalists from China Business News to sue in a painstaking plot to harrass and intimidate media outlets and journalists. After all, China […]

FoxConn Sues Newspaper – ESWN

From EastSouthWestNorth blog: After an investigation, Apple has now basically said that things were not as bad as the two British tabloids reported, although some improvements will be required on the part of FoxConn. This was not terribly surprising since the British tabloid reports were deemed suspect by others already. Afterwards, FoxConn may have a […]

Inside Apple’s iPod factories – Macworld (Updated)

From Macworld.co.uk: Apple’s iPods are made by mainly female workers who earn as little as ¬£27 per month, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday yesterday. The report, ‘iPod City’, isn’t available online. It offers photographs taken from inside the factories that make Apple music players, situated in China and owned by Foxconn. […]

Santa’s Chinese elves – Pallavi Ayar

From Asia Times: While Santa Claus lives it up with Rudolph at the North Pole, his elves have relocated to southern China’s towns and villages. Some 70% of the world’s Christmas ornaments and other paraphernalia now originate in officially atheist mainland China. Tinsel, Santas, mistletoe and artificial trees of every shape and hue are churned […]

Made In China: Your Job – Bill Weir

From the second installment of the Good Morning America series “Made in China: Your Job, Your Future, Your Fortune“: The Nike plant in the Guangdong province is by no means a sweatshop. Overtime is limited to a 48-hour workweek, the company brings in a ton of rice a day to feed everyone, and the facilities […]

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