Closing case Working Conditions in a Chinese Factory In 2008

Closing case: Working Conditions in a Chinese Factory

In 2008, the national labor committee sponsored an investigation into working conditions into factories in China that make computer equipment, including keyboards and printer cases, for Hewlett–Packard, Dell, Lenovo, and Microsoft. The report, which was published in early 2009, described working conditions that are extremely harsh by Western standards. According to the report, and the meat high factory in Guangdong, the workers sit on wooden stools, without backrest, as 500 computer keyboards and our move down the assembly line, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with just two days off a month. Every 7.2 seconds the keyboard passes each worker, who has to snap six or seven keys into place-one key every 1.1 seconds. The assembly line never stops. The workplace is frantic, monotonous, numbing, and relentless. Each worker inserts 3250 keys per hour; 35,750 keys during the shift; 250,250 a week, performing more than 1 million operations a month. Workers are paid one 50th of assent for each operation they complete. While working, employees cannot talk, listen to music, or even lift their heads to look around. Workers needing to use the bathroom must hold it until there is a break. Security guard spy on the workers, who are prohibited from putting their hands into their pockets and are searched when they enter and leave the factory. The factory operates 24 hours a day on 212 hour shifts, with workers rotating between day and night shifts each month. The workers at the factory are up for 87 hours a week, and all overtime is mandatory. There are two half-hour meal breaks per shift, but after racing to the cafeteria and lining up to get food, the workers have only about 15 minutes to eat. The base wage is $.64 an hour, which after deductions for primitive room and board drops to a take home wage of just $.41 an hour. The workers get up about 6 AM. When they return to their dorm, sometimes between nine and 9:30 PM, they bade using a small plastic bucket. Summer temperatures routinely reach into the high 90s. During the winter, workers have to walk down several flights of stairs to fetch hot water in their buckets. 10 to 12 workers share each crowded dorm room, sleeping on narrow metal bunkbeds that lined the walls. Workers drape old sheets over their cubicle openings for privacy. Comments from the workers at this factory, most of whom were young women between 18 and their mid-20s, reinforced how harsh their conditions are. One stated every day I enter the factory nice simple keyboards. My hands are moving can\'t constantly and I can\'t stop for a second. Our fingers,hands, and arms are swollen and sore. Every day I do this for 12 hours. What makes it even worse is the constant pressure and boring monotone he of the their work. Another notes the factory rules are really like a private law. We are forced to obey an indoor managements harsh treatment. Some young workers have boyfriends and girlfriends outside the factory and if they want to go on a date, we have to beg the boss from her seat to be able to leave the factory compound. Another said simply we feel like we are serving prison sentences. When informed of these findings a spokesman for Microsoft said the factory supplied one of its contract manufacturers, Microsoft would investigate. Representatives from Hewlett – Packard and Lynn VO also stated the factory was not a direct supplier, but supplied their suppliers. However they too said that they would look into the issue. A spokesman for Dale, for which the factory is a direct supplier, said it was actively investigating the conditions. The spokesman went on to say, I can tell you that any report of poor working conditions in Dell supply chain are investigated and appropriate action is taken.

What enables the owner of the metal factory profiled in this case to get away with such awful working conditions? Should US companies like Microsoft, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard be held responsible for working conditions and foreign factories that they do not own, but were subcontractors make products for them? What labor standards regarding safety, working conditions, over time, and the like should US companies hold foreign factories to: those prevailing in the country or those prevailing in the United States? Do you think the US companies mentioned in this case need to make any changes to their current policies? If so, what? Should they make changes even if they hinder the ability to compete in the marketplace?

Solution

Huge demand for the computer equipment overseas alongwith a motive for short term profit induces the owner to get along with this awful condition. The U.S. companies are partially responsible as they too have the profit moive of getting medium to standard product at low cost as manufacturing similar quality product sat their home land would cost them huge money. Labor policy should be clearly dsigned keeping in mind the workers are the best resource as certain processes are essentially human resource oriented. Workers should be given compulsory holidaya twice a week and working hour sshuld be reduced to minimum 8 hours with two breaks for breakfast and lunch each comprising 1 standard hour. Apart from that they should be allowed to have occasional tea or coffe breaks for 10 minutes. For employers, specific task should be assigned to each employee, and deadline be given, failing which the should remain answerable. Lastly, workers should be hired based on volume of task, so that no one is burdened.