On Yale Global Online, Anita Chan and Jonathan Unger write about the recent rash of toy recalls. From the introduction to their article:
A series of recalls of toys and other products suggest that some manufacturing plants in China have quality-control issues. Often, Western media and politicians blame Chinese manufacturers for design flaws or incentives promoting speed that lead to sloppy work. “The neglect of safety standards in these factories used to be more severe before the big brand-name corporations that contract out their production to China-based factories came under attack in the 1990s in an anti-sweatshop campaign by Western NGOs,” write Anita Chan and Jonathan Unger, academic researchers with Australian National University’s Contemporary China Centre. Multinationals have adopted strict community-responsibility programs, and yet do not speak out for injured Chinese workers. Products will only be truly safe when companies extend respect to workers and consumers – monitoring all steps in the long supply chains that create many popular products. [Full text]
