Toys are big business. If we include computer games, the industry accounts for over $71 billion (all currency in this article is in US dollars) annually in retail sales. This is the equivalent of every child on earth spending $34 per year on toys – ranging from a high of $372 in North America to a low of $1 in Africa. In the United States, where over 40 per cent of all toys are consumed, retailers shift over three billion units per year comprising over 125,000 separate designs.
Together with China Labour Bulletin (CLB) and the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, the Hong Kong Liaison Office of the international trade union movement (IHLO) is launching an international campaign in preparation for 4 June 2002, commemorating the 13th anniversary of the Chinese government’s bloody repression of workers and students near Tiananmen Square.
“What the hell have you come here for? We’ve got nothing here! The mines have shut down and those bastards in their offices are corrupt to the bone! We had a strike, but there’s no way of controlling them. It’s not like the USA where everyone’s rich and you’ve got democracy. Shulan town? It’s a joke.”
The KTS (Kong Tai Shoes) Longgang plant, a subsidiary of KTP Holding, is a listed company in Hong Kong with Taiwan ownership. 4,638 workers (4,119 women; 519 men)operate the original equipment manufacturing system producing shoes for fashion/sports giant, Reebok. The Longgang plant is a showcase factory established by local government and was one of the earliest settlers in the Longgang industrial zone. The enterprise union, called the KTS Longgang Union must be affiliated to the All China Federation of Trade Unions by law.
This report was originally presented at the Mekong Region OSH Workshop,
November 2000
Introduction
Chinese authorities and employers may argue that a low level of occupational safety and health (OSH) is inevitable, because China is still in the primary stage of capital accumulation. However acceptable OSH standards in the working place are basic human rights.
This is an edited version of the full report available from AMRC for US$20
Recently the Asia Monitor Resource Center published a report which assessed the way in which Mattel monitors its code of conduct. We called it Monitoring Mattel: Codes of conduct, workers and toys in southern China, and in it we tried to show the limitations inherent in the implementation and monitoring of codes in China (and perhaps elsewhere). We discussed many issues, but here I want to raise three of our major themes.
This report presents the first systematic public analysis of the code of conduct monitoring methods employed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to inspect factory labour practices around the world. The author accompanied PwC auditors on factory inspections in China and Korea, and evaluated PwC's findings for a factory in Indonesia.
Guangzhou municipal government has earmarked 60 million yuan1 over three years to entice students back to the city from overseas. Each returnee will be granted 100,000 yuan1 with which to 'start up or invest in special enterprises'. China Daily, 18 May 2000.
The following information is taken from the Research Report on Mainland Chinese Sex Workers - Hong Kong, Macau and Town B in the Pearl River Delta, available from Zi Teng or Asia Monitor Resource Center.
The sex trade is booming in China, having benefited from the country's effective embrace of capitalism.
My family name is Wang. I am from Changsha in Hunan. I will not tell you my age.
I have five brothers and sisters. I attended school from seven years old until I was 19. Then I wanted to go to university, but my family had no money so I couldn't go.
When I first left home to work, I went to Zhuhai [in China, near Macau], working in a garment factory.
Informations Ouvrieres: On November 15, 1999, high-ranking U.S. and Chinese officials signed an agreement in Beijing that is meant to pave the way for China's entry into the World Trade Organization. What can you tell us about this agreement?