Should we care about the labor conditions of Chinese workers?
The labor conditions faced by Chinese workers are rightfully a subject of great concern, as is the role that U.S. corporations play in affecting these standards.
How can the International Labor Movement advance the labor situation in China?
The international labor movement should have a multi-pronged approach to advancing the labor situation in China, an important part of which focuses on better educating, organizing, and empowering workers to translate legal rights into meaningful changes on the factory floor. * Aaron Halegua is a first-year student at Harvard Law School.
Should the international labor movement criticize the ACFTU?
Perhaps the international labor movement ought to be criticizing U.S. labor groups that do nothing to help Chinese workers just as they go after U.S. companies that are exploiting Chinese workers. Of course, the ACFTU will not overhaul itself overnight.
What is the problem with the Chinese labor market?
Further, it is in these latter types of enterprises that China’s most vulnerable laborers, migrant workers, are often employed. The second, and far more substantial problem, is that Chinese labor unions are rarely more than tools of local officials and management.
When did the Chinese exclusion act stop Chinese from entering the US?
And attitudes toward them soon soured, with anti-Chinese riots sweeping the country. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred Chinese laborers from entering the United States and placed restrictions on those already here. Federal immigration law prohibited Chinese citizens from becoming Americans until 1943.
How many Chinese workers were on the Central Pacific Railroad?
Between 1863 and 1869, as many as 20,000 Chinese workers helped build the treacherous western portion of the railroad, a winding ribbon of track known as the Central Pacific that began in Sacramento. At first, the Central Pacific Railroad’s directors wanted a whites-only workforce.
Why did Stanford and the railroad think they could link California with the East?
Many observers at the time had assumed that Stanford and the railroad were daft for thinking they could link California with the East because an immense mountain range separated the state from Nevada and beyond.
Who made up 90% of the Central Pacific Railroad's labor force?
In a stockholder report, Stanford described construction as a “herculean task” and said it had been accomplished thanks to the Chinese, who made up 90% of the Central Pacific Railroad’s labor force. These workers showed their mettle, and sealed their legacy, on the peaks of the Sierra Nevada.
Did women work on the railroad line?
No women worked on the line. Company leaders were skeptical of the new recruits’ ability to do the work, but the Chinese laborers proved themselves more than capable — and the railroad barons came to consider them superior to the other workers. Advertisement.
Why are Chinese laborers suffering?
The battle between labor and capital is as old as the ancient empires of Rome and Greece. Today, Chinese laborers are suffering greatly due to lax Chinese labor laws. This is an injustice that has, unfortunately, been a sensitive issue for many Chinese and westerners alike. In many cases, the western multi-national companies would prefer the cheapest labor that they can find. However, there are even limits to those desires. Hopefully the Chinese government will realize that the Communist party should be in favor or helping the poorest and hardest laborers. Considering that was and has been the Communist goal, it seems like the right thing to do.
What are some examples of labor abuses in China?
One of the most well known examples of labor abuses in China stems from the Apple product development plants. Due to the enormous demand for iPhones and iPads, many Apple managers and directors forced workers to spend excessive overtime. Not only were workers supposed to work overtime, but the conditions were also appalling.
What companies have fought the Chinese reforms?
They have found China to be far too profitable to be changed by unions and other organized labor movements. Wal-Mart, UPS, Microsoft, Nike, AT&T, Intel, and even Google were among the culprits that actively lobbied against these reforms. Nonetheless, the Chinese government has been reluctant to change much so long as their economy remains robust. Increasing workers’ rights would increase the cost of goods and make them less competitive.
Is there a good horizon for Chinese workers?
The horizon for Chinese workers does not look good. So long as American big-business and Chinese government officials are controlling the money and the politics, there will be no respite for Chinese workers. China is growing too fast for the Communist party to allow any disruptions. The increase in the Chinese middle class has already made the country less competitive. Chinese treatment of laborers has been poor for many years and it does not look like it will let up anytime soon. Organized Chinese labor is making some inroads, but overall it seems that a glimmer of hope is far in the distance.
What percentage of farmers agree with the view that morality is no longer of any use?
An investigation was conducted in rural areas in 2001. It showed some 25 percent of farmers agreeing with the view that �morality is no longer of any use� but 63 percent disagreed and 12 percent just wouldn�t say. This supports the view that most people would still seem to attach a real importance to morality in life.
Is frugality still cherished?
Also, frugality is still cherished by most young people today. A survey in 1997 showed that 19 percent �agreed completely� and 63 percent �agreed� with the statement that �one must live an economical life even if wealthy�.
What did the Chinese pay for?
The Chinese paid for their own food and cooked it themselves-they were even able to procure special ingredients like cuttlefish, bamboo shoots, and abalone. At night they slept in tents provided by the railroad, or in dugouts in the earth.
How many hours did the Chinese work?
The Chinese labored from sunrise to sunset six days a week, in twelve-hour shifts. Only on Sundays did they have time to rest, mend their clothes, talk, smoke, and, of course, gamble. The tedium of their lives was aggravated by the systematized abuse and contempt heaped on them by the railroad executives.
What was the difference between the white men and the Chinese?
The white men had "a sort of hydrophobia," one writer observed, whereas the Chinese bathed every night before dinner, in powder kegs filled with heated water. In the Sierras, the railroad workers endured two of the worst winters in American history.
How many Chinese were employed in the Central Pacific?
At the peak of construction, Central Pacific would employ more than ten thousand Chinese men. The large numbers of Chinese made white workers uncomfortable. As Lee Chew, a railroad laborer, later recalled in a spasm of national pride, the Chinese were "persecuted not for their vices but for their virtues.
What was the dangerous task of the Central Pacific workers?
The workers of the Central Pacific had the dangerous task of ramming tunnels through these mountains, and then laying tracks across the parched Nevada and Utah deserts. Some engineers, watching the project from afar, said this was impossible.
How many Chinese were there in California in 1865?
By 1865, the number of Chinese in California reached close to fifty thousand, at least 90 percent of them young men.
What was needed to move people west and natural resources safely and profitably to major markets back east?
What was needed was a transcontinental railroad to move more people west and natural resources safely and profitably to major markets back east. There were only two overland routes west–over the Rockies or along the southern route through Apache and Comanche territory, both hazardous.
What are the Chinese labor rights?
“U.S.-based corporations are opposing legislation to give Chinese workers new labor rights.” 1 Global Labor Strategies, a non-profit center based in Boston, offered this appraisal of U.S. companies in China that suggested amending the hotly contested Chinese draft Labor Contract Law (LCL). An October 13 article in the New York Times quoted sources alleging that the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Shanghai threatened that U.S. companies would divest from China if the law was passed. 2 Is this response by these U.S. corporations justified? Was this even their actual response? Are their criticisms of this legislation legitimate? Are accusations that they are working to keep down Chinese labor standards accurate? The labor conditions faced by Chinese workers are rightfully a subject of great concern, as is the role that U.S. corporations play in affecting these standards. However, before such questions can be fairly answered, it is necessary to understand the current labor situation in China, exactly what the draft law proposed, and what the likely effects of passing the law would be.
Why does the ACFTU refuse to work with the Chinese government?
Some organized labor groups in the U.S., particularly the AFL-CIO, refuse to recognize or work with the ACFTU because of its lack of independence from the government. However, the ACFTU is the only show in town and as the LCL reveals, the Chinese government sees the ACFTU as the engine of labor reform.
What is the LCL strategy?
The LCL’s strategy for protecting workers is to increase the role of labor unions in decision making. For instance, the law would require union approval of changes to company regulations or policies, including those on training, rest and vacation.
What are the enemies of Chinese workers?
Chinese workers’ greatest enemies are employers who do not follow the law and the officials that let them get away with it. Improving the situation of Chinese workers does not require raising labor standards; it requires finding ways to enforce the ones that already exist.
Why are foreign corporations attacking the legislation?
As Global Labor Strategies alleges, “foreign corporations are attacking the legislation not because it provides workers too little protection, but because it provides them too much.” 8 The reason for this opposition is that U.S. firms are not free to simply ignore labor regulations as are their Chinese counterparts.
Why are labor standards not enforced?
The primary reason that labor standards are not enforced is that local officials lack any real incentive for doing so. Local officials’ performance evaluations, which determine their salary and chances for promotion, focus primarily on economic growth.
Do corporations migrate to the most favorable economic conditions?
Corporations will always migrate to the country with the most favorable economic conditions. To pretend that labor standards do not matter in this calculation would be misleading. Thus, it seems fair to make this an element in the debate over the LCL.
Why do people migrate to urban centers?
Due to poverty, many people in poor, rural areas migrate to urban centers in search of work. Some end up finding legitimate jobs. Others encounter unscrupulous brokers or employers who traffic them for labor in factories, coal mines or the sex trade. Thus, this is a human trafficking issue, too.
How many people live in poverty in China?
While China has made remarkable progress in development and as a global economic powerhouse, more than 70 million people still live in poverty in China. For some, working in harsh conditions is the only alternative to their family starving.
What did Mao say about women?
While Mao once described women as “holding up half the sky”, this goal of gender equality hasn’t been reflected in all aspects of life and society in China. Cultural expectations related to family duties, behaviour and looks are put onto Chinese women from a young age.
What is the term for women in their late 20s who are still single?
Social pressures dictate that women must be married by a certain age – the term “leftover women” or “shengnu” (剩女) has been widely used to describe women in their late 20s who are still single. “Marriage markets” are common in parks in Chinese cities where parents or grandparents go to find their single children a partner. They come armed with a CV-like advert containing their children’s educational status, work, income, height. Men are not excluded from these pressures … they are expected to own a house, car and earn a high enough salary.