Investigation at factories of Adidas suggests poor conditions including: basic wages of £11.36 a week; management cheating on pay; discrimination; longer than 70 hours of work per week to earn a living wage; stifling attempts of setting up a union.
Incident Tag: Union Repression
Incidence where unionizing and collective bargaining is obstructed/repressed/prohibited. Workers denied the right of association.
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—ed_norm/—normes/documents/publication/wcms_318141.pdf (p. 28)
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87)
‘…the right for workers and employers to establish and join organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization. Workers’ and employers’ organizations shall organize freely and not be liable to be dissolved or suspended by administrative authority.
Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98)
‘This fundamental Convention provides that workers shall enjoy adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination, including requirements that a worker not join a union or relinquish trade union membership for employment, or dismissal of a worker because of union membership or participation in union activities.
Holiday Cards of Abuse: Wal-Mart in China
Workers kept at the factory 13 hours/day, seven days a week, paid 34 cents an hour making gift cards & notebooks.
Blood & Exhaustion Behind Bargain: Toys Made in China for Wal-Mart and Dollar General
Workers forced to work 15 to 19.5 hours a day, seven days/week making plastic toys for 43 cents an hour. Repetitive work – one operation every three seconds – leaves them with blistered and bleeding hands and fingers.
Toys of Misery 2004: A Joint Report by National Labor Committee and China Labor Watch
Workers making plastic toys on 18-20.5 hour shifts; mandatory 7 day workweeks; 30 days a month; pay below minimum wage; 16 ½ cents an hour on average; organizing a union is strictly prohibited; 20 people share one dorm room.
AT&T and NEC Contract with Sweatshop Operators
12,5 – 13 hour shifts during low season. 14,5 – 15 hour shifts during high season. Seven days/week. Workers under-paid, over-worked and inhumanely treated.
Reebok’s Human Rights Standard and Chinese Workers’ Working Conditions
Dire conditions in 6 Reebok suppliers: wages lower than local minimum wage, workers endure high temperatures and toxic fumes, 80 – 150 hours of overtime/month.
Merton Company Limited
Workers at toy factory toil for 12.5 hours/day, spend 16.5 hours in the factory overall, and have to work all night during delivery rush. Average salary per hour is 13 cents. 17-20 people sleep in one room. The factory uses various toxic materials. Many workers got their hands burned.
Kong Tai Shoes Mfg. Co., Ltd
Very low wages, 15.5 hours work/day, 30 days/month in peak season, 13.5 hour work per day under normal conditions, use of toxic substances without protective equipment, workers trained to lie when inspected by auditors.
Xin Qiao Electronics
16.5 hours work a day during peak seasons for workers, all standing, 30 days/month. 15.5 hours of work under normal conditions. Extremely low wages. Heavy workload. Humiliating and abusive management.
Li Feng Trademark Manufacturing, Ltd. (report)
Extremely low wages, dormitories packed with 12 people/room, 60% have to stand on their feet while working, in busy season workers toil for 13 hours/day, some work continuously for 50 days without any day of rest, usage of toxic methylbenzene, without protective equipment.