In China, labor laws mandate a 40-hour work-week with a maximum of 36 hours of overtime per month. Translation: working 50 hours or more per week, on average, is against the law in China. To put that in perspective, I think probably a quarter or more of U.S. workers are breaking Chinese law. Investment bankers, management consultants, CPA's, lawyers, doctors, most entrepreneurs, Brother Carpenter, etc. are all breaking Chinese laws. However, I checked and it turns out the construction crews working on I-15 near Provo are erring on the side of safety with an average of 20 hours per week. (yes, that last statement was completely made up, but I bet it isn't far from the truth).
Anyway, now that things are in perspective, Apple found that some of its factories in China were not complying with Chinese law and CEO Tim Cook has laid down the law. Apple is committed to sustainable labor policies in regards to their manufacturing.
Why include this article? Well, I feel that we have heard so much about sweat shops and people working 500 hours per week (if that were possible), that I have this stereotype in my mind that people living in Asian countries do nothing but work in factories all day and all night and never sleep or eat (except for rice). If you also struggled with this same misguided view, this article provides hope that you too can one day overcome false stereotypes, at least when it comes to Chinese workers in Apple's supplier's manufacturing facilities.
Cheers!
Jeff Carroll
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303404704577311943943416560.html
Yes...I was wondering why the I-15 was taking so long to revise. :p
ReplyDeleteMy supply-chain class has been following this issue with Apple over the last several weeks due to the controversy with FoxCon and such. It's admirable that Apple has decided to "lay down the law", but I wonder if they're doing it because they are highly committed to fair labor practices overseas, or simply because they are in the spotlight and under scrutiny right now and want to make a good impression.
While I think it is a positive that the Chinese government has taken some action to prevent workers from being exploited (time-wise anyway), I wonder if it is that helpful to prevent workers from going over 40 hours per week. I don't know how I would handle working in conditions that prohibited me from going over a certain time allotment, even if I needed the work , or had more work to do. The article stated that "33.8% wanted to work more to earn more, while 64.3% of workers thought their salary wasn't sufficient for basic needs." I feel that the government mandate intended to help people, but I wonder if it is doing more harm than good?
ReplyDelete