Labor Abuse in China Essay

Sweatshops have been around for centuries, beginning around the late 1880’s. Sweatshops are classified by three main components, long work hours, very low pay and unsafe and unhealthy working environments. Sweatshops are usually found in manufacturing industries and the most highlighted production is clothing corporations, who take full advantage of the low production costs of their products. Many may think sweatshops are a thing of the past but they are still affecting many lives across the nations. There are many ways sweatshops affect lives, but a recent article titled “New study finds ‘more sweatshops than Starbucks’ in Chicago” explains that there are many low wage industry jobs that are violating labor laws in the United States alone. The article also reports how employees who are working in such conditions won’t speak up in fear of the retaliation employers will implement. Analyzing Sweatshops through the lens of the Sociological perspectives will help us better understand the illegal conditions of workplaces that still exist today.

Together with the low family income and the price of public education, which is about $150 dollars a month, without meals, schooling is out of the question for a large majority of people. (How much do schools cost in China?) Families are not in the financial situation to set school as a priority. Therefore, many children are recruited to assist the family in paying for needs. Americans see child labor as a barbaric act because we have been spoiled with a great system designed with public education being paid for by our taxes. While Chinese citizens do not get that privilege. Many sweatshops allow, against Chinese law, children to work as if they were an adult. Which means children can work very long shifts and often over time. If schooling is not a financially feasible option for a family. What is a child to do? While their family struggles to provide basic needs. The only reasonable option presented to them at the time is to work. While Americans, who do not realize their options are limited, and protest these children working to

The workers are under so much pressure and are expected to work and give so much that they don’t even want to skip a day of work because they don’t want to be seen “slacking” and be behind and earn nothing, as Lyddie once thought, because she used to fear going out sick and falling behind in her production and having her pay drop (stated on page 100). They are given breaks that are not nearly as long as they should be, and they are so void of energy that they can’t do things that are actually enjoyable for them (such as Lyddie not reading her book). The factories are too worried about getting more work done and profiting that they don’t pay attention to the workers’ needs. Plus, for the amount of time that they work and how much stuff they get done, they don’t get paid nearly as much as they

(2010) Eleven to fourteen hour workdays were common, and workers were forced to put in overtime when needed. The factory runs twenty-four hours a day and workers might receive Sundays off. Unlike other countries, Chinese workers receive little paid time off. Conley used a graph to illustrate the number of paid vacation days and holidays; China is on the bottom with no paid vacation days and only 12 paid public holidays. (p.387) Penalties or disciplinary actions described as “punishment” by Wong for not meeting quotas, inferior quality, or breaking rules, were harsh and in his opinion necessary. (Redmon, 2010)

One of the hallmarks of china’s socialist economy made a statement promise of employment to all and job-security with virtually lifelong tenure.They were overstaffed to fulfilling socialist goals and job-security lower the workers ‘motivation to work.This socialist policy was called the iron rice bowl.China’s employed labor force is rarely over 800

The factory jobs were controlled by owners and bosses, who showed little regard for workers and their wellbeing. Workers forced themselves into work during even extreme illnesses; one absence or mistake and they might be replaced without question. These low wage jobs came with few benefits and no rights; there was nothing in place that protected the livelihood of the worker. Immigrant’s willingness to work all the time created these conditions.

These jobs that the Chinese have taken should be open to Americans first seeing that we are in America but a lot of the companies have wanted the Chinese working instead. For example, “The boot, shoe, and cigar industries are almost entirely in their hands. In the manufacture of men’s overalls and women’s and children’s underwear they run over three thousand sewing machines night and day.” This means us Americans do not have the jobs that were once ours and the Chinese are taking a majority of the jobs out there. There is barely enough work for Americans alone and now my job has been taken over because these Chinese people offer to work for a lot less money and longer hours. I need my job to feed myself and my family, but I got fired because they say the Chinaman would do the same work for less money making it better for the company to hire the Chinaman and fire me. This is one reason why we the people of America are rightfully fighting to have our privileges back. “It is almost impossible for a poor white servant girl to find employment in a white family. No! The mistress of the house wants a Chinaman.” This is just one example of an American changing our work to fit in the Chinaman, even though it makes Americans start to be in poverty because the Chinese have been earning the money we normally

Apple, the giant electronic device company in the US, also makes a massive profit from the cheap labor in China. As same as Walmart, the workers for Apple Company have to work overtime because the hourly wage can’t support their families, and they have to work in the environment full of dust and metal. Foxcom is a company of Apple in China, which manages the processing of Apple products. In the plant producing IPhone 5c, a 15 years-old boy is killed because of the unclean condition, and he was too tired. The average working hour is more than 60 a week, so many workers have to sleep overnight at the workplace, and some even work both day shift and night shift to feed their families. Although the workers of Apple Company are suffering, the profit of this company is still increasing. Last year, the avenue of Apple was 42.1 billion dollars, and net profit was 4.8 billion dollars. The cost to make an IPhone is about 200 dollars, but it is sold by 700 to 900 dollars each. Workers in China get 1.5 dollars an hour, so they get 268 dollars a month, and that is three times less than the price of a phone. Apple gains the huge profit, but they haven’t given any benefit to these workers. China is just one of many countries suffer in selfish of the giant companies. Côte d’Ivoire is a country in Africa, and it is famous with production of cocoa, and it’s also where the

We are supposed to get Saturdays off according to China’s laws and regulations, but that doesn’t exactly happen here. We are forced to work eight hours on Saturday and then get paid for overtime hours. I would really like to see China enforce their laws on the hours we are allowed to work and make sure we get some time off. It’s unfair to keep people away from their homes and families for so long. I’ve heard stories of people who hadn’t been home to their villages in six years because they couldn’t get a break from work. The employers are so rough and aren’t thoughtful of our lives at all. So many times I get tired working before the day is even halfway over, and I struggle to push myself to stay

The Vietnam’s communist party controls the labor class, setting workers up with beyond low pay. Vietnam’s communist party isn’t the only ones guilty, but so are organizations from China, Taiwan, South Korea and various other foreign companies. These businesses range from making clothing, shoes, agricultural products, seafood processing, etc…

In the twenty-first century, it is not a secret that many American companies are actually setting up factories in foreign countries, with the majority located in Asia. Notable examples of this include athletic shoe companies such as Nike, Adidas, and Reebok Additionally, most people know the reason these companies make their products overseas: “cheap labor.” However, what exactly does the term “cheap labor” entail? Moreover, how are international politics and the global economy affected by this outsourcing? While it may seem like a simple question with a simple answer, the cause of such a relationship and its effects on international commerce are deeply complex and morally questionable.

In these sweatshops, workers are generally offered low wages with little nonwage benefits. In certain factories, workers have been denied of a “living wage” as their take-home pay have been insufficient to satisfy basic standards of living. Typically, in these countries, the minimum wage laws were violated and workers were weakly unionised to bargain for higher wages. For example, a typical Chinese worker earns a wage of Rmb$250-$350 while the minimum wage was supposed to be Rmb$350.

Li Qiang, a labor rights activist and the founder of China Labor Watch, states that “they [contractors] are encouraging the exploitation of Chinese laborers by hiring factories based on the lowest price and the fastest production” (Chu and Yun). But what happens as a result, according to an academic journal coauthored by Dara O’Rourke, Ph.D., and industrial hygienist Garrett D. Brown, is that the country becomes a magnet for socially inadequate organizations due to lax enforcement of regulations and the suppression of labor rights activists. Furthermore, the easy accessibility of cheap labor indicates a “troubling model for countries seeking to attract foreign investment and develop domestic enterprise” (O’Rourke and

Imagine only seeing your family for one day once a year. Having to compete for a ticket home with millions of other workers in order to see your family that you haven’t seen in a year. This is the life of 130 million migrant workers in china. These workers make most of the things we own. Most of us don’t think about the people who make our clothes, our phones, our computers; items that we use everyday. Our way of life revolves on mass consumerism, where we value the article more than the person or persons who made it. Mass media and multi million dollar industries keep the conditions on how these people work as a total mystery. Some brands have been exposed for sweatshop and

We often hear in the news how badly factory workers are treated in China. With their low wages, constant overtime, and hazardous work environments (Luk, 2013), it's simple to think that the factory owners are ruthless pigs. Even though conditions are far from perfect, western media have been attacking foreign practices for decades. American companies have mostly been trying to hide from the spotlight blaming the poor outsourced conditions on the foreign companies. The HBR case (Eccles, 2011) shows the challenges Foxconn had faced ever since news broke out about the conditions within the factory. Nevertheless, I wanted to take on the challenge in explaining China’s factory situation. I