On April 13th, 2010 the National Labor Committee in Support of Human and Worker Rights (NLC), a non-profit that tracks the treatment of foreign workers by U.S. companies, released a scathing report showing evidence of a factory in china engaging in slave-like and child labor. The factory, KYE Systems is contracted by several companies, including Microsoft to build mice, webcams and XBox controllers.
I first learned about this situation from 1up.com’s Matt Clark. I can’t state any better his argument that those of us who enjoy our free time with XBox controllers ought to let Microsoft know we won’t accept these abuses of workers. He summarized observations listed in the report as follows:
- Some "work study students" employed by KYE are only 14 to 15 years old.
- These same youth work upwards of 15-hour days, six to seven days a week for mere change.
- Workers stay in crude, filthy dorms on-site at the factory -- some with as many as 14 workers in one dorm. If they leave at night, they are fined -- then fired.
- Generally, only women are hired at the plant, as management find them easier to control -- and sexually harass.
- Workers are consistently screamed at by supervisors, ordered to answer that they "Feel good", etc.
- Workers have often been forced to work without pay unless they met Microsoft-established production quotas
I recently watched a documentary called Santa’s Workshop (30min) that covers a lot of these same work conditions found in Chinese toy factories. Towards the end it explains that companies (like Best Buy or Microsoft) that contract the factory will say they want the factory to abide by their Codes of Conduct, which are in place to improve work conditions, but will not pay for the additional costs the factory must incur to implement them.
Seattleapi.com contacted Microsoft to ask if they were aware of the work conditions at KYE Systems. Microsoft sent them this response.
“Microsoft is committed to the fair treatment and safety of workers employed by our vendors. Microsoft has invested heavily in a vendor accountability program and robust independent third-party auditing program to ensure conformance to the Microsoft Vendor Code of Conduct.
We are aware of the NLC report and we have commenced an investigation. We take these claims seriously, and we will take appropriate remedial measures in regard to any findings of vendor misconduct.
Actions for non-compliance with our requirements may include corrective action plans, remedial training, certification requirements, cessation of further business awards until corrective actions are instituted, and termination of the business relationship. We unequivocally support taking immediate actions to address non compliant activities.”
However, when a company like Microsoft says they do on-site audits, the documentary shows that they are often duped into believing everything is A-OK because the workers are paid bonuses for lying to the auditors about their work conditions.
On April 19th, the Chinese Dongguan Municipal Human Resources Bureau did cite a couple of KYE Systems’ owned factories for violations of employment law. One violation was failing to register child workers (under 18yrs of age) and forcing them to work excessive overtime. No penalties have been announced, but the labor officials gave KYE Systems two weeks to resolve the violations. The two week deadline is this May 3rd.
It will be interesting to see what happens. Matt Clark started a petition to rally gamers against these abusive work conditions, however to date it only has 343 signatures. Given the deceptive practices of the factories themselves, greater pressure from Western consumers will need to be applied if there is any hope for the appalling work conditions and pay to be improved for Chinese factory workers.
Sources
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http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo113.html
After spending a whole week in a run down factory and dirty dormatory what you really crave is some entertainment.
If a 15 yr old is working at a factory it's because they decided to drop out of school and work to help their family. That's usually their own decision and they probally begged for the job. We have 15yr olds as Mac Donalds slaves.
With 800RMB (low factory pay) Food for a month costs 200 rmb - Phone expense 50rmb - 200 back home to family ... the rest usually goes to clothes and entertainment. I've even heard of factory workers who take their whole check and blow it in one night at the club or KTV.
If Microsoft wants to improve factory - worker relations sponsoring a corperate party or offering factory english lessons would be enough to imrpove worker moral.
It would be great if everyone made perfect wages and lived great lives. But you know what's the first step to that? Working in a crappy place where you're treated like dirt.
"if paying $5 or $10 more for a controller means that the people who make our gaming hardware have a civilized quality of life, I can't imagine why the gaming community wouldn't support it."
Because one has nothing to do with the other. The price point does not affect the production stage in a global economy. The only thing that can change the production stage is local pressure, which means the local people have to compel change. The best way to stop this change from happening is to boycott production in developing areas, thus moving it to another location, or 'subsidizing' from the outside (subsidizing in general is how the US has managed, through misdirected compassion, to keep many nations from developing).
People tend to forget that the US wasn't always a sclerotic country in decline because of overly-powerful unions demanding ridiculous concessions. At one point, not that long ago, we were a 'sweatshop' nation. But we organized and fought our own battles. Everyone else has to do the same thing. Then their unions will get too powerful and they will slide into decline along with us, and the next country will rise.
"At one point, not that long ago, we were a 'sweatshop' nation. But we organized and fought our own battles. Everyone else has to do the same thing."
Excuses to make you feel okay about not caring.
Local fights worked in the past just because they were local. Now it is infinitely much harder for workers to organize in that manner because as you said, the global economy.
With people like you (i assume from the tone of your post) being happy with buying products from places that violate labor laws, whereas you would never do it if the factory was in the US and the workers were American.
It is possible for buyers of goods (like microsoft) to make sure the working conditions at the production sites are decent and not violating labor laws, it's being done in many other places and is a vital part of making capitalism work for people and not just the factory owners.