Working Conditions in China Essay - 1903 Words

In America a full time job is a 40 hour week, with time and a half pay for any overtime hours. Our minimum wage in New York State is six dollars an hour, and that is soon to be raised to $6.75 an hour on January 1, 2006. We are provided, for the most part, with healthy and safe working environments. In Chinese society it is nothing like this. Since the difference between the rich and poor is a lot greater in China than it is here, many of the poor jump at the opportunity to work in a factory or sweatshop job. They are very low paying and are not provided with a safe and healthy environment to work in. Often times the terrible environment is accompanied with abuse provided by the managers. It is not getting any better either because†¦show more content†¦This way there is generally no pressure upon the company itself, rather put it on the factory owner and the workers themselves. Also this gives companies a way to distance themselves from what is going on. They do thi s because they know how terrible it is in the factories. Besides Nike, other major companies that opened factories in China are Wal-Mart, Timberland, Huffy, JanSport, and Disney (Dougherty). Low wages are not the only problems with factories in China, in my opinion it is one of the least important topics. The overall treatment of the workers, and the lack of a safe working environment are just terrible. A study was done on a few factories that are producing for the big name companies listed above showed that some workers were working 98 hour weeks (Dougherty). And during those long hours, there are strict rules and regulations which the workers must follow. They are under constant surveillance, under which there are strict no talking rules. If the no talking rule is in effect, which it is in most of these types of factories, workers are fined up to a few dollars for each offense after a warning. 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