New York Times series on Shenzhen
The New York Times is running a series specifically on Shenzhen. Part 2 is more interesting to me than Part 1. Part 2, "Chinese Success Story Chokes on Its Own Growth," covers subjects that are near and dear (or not so dear) to my experiences in Shenzhen. You know, migrant workers, factories, working conditions, prostitution.
Not unlike a lot of other "inside China" stories, Howard French focuses on the deplorable working and living conditions for the migrants in China. It is so odd to contrast these stories (which I do not doubt) with what I have seen at Randy's plant. The dorms are not crowded, no one is overworked or abused...nothing like described in the article
One thing Randy has suggested as a possible reason about what I have seen in Shenzhen and what we have all read about "Chinese labor" is that many Western-owned and operated companies "follow the rules." There are minimum wage rules, and overtime limits, and those sorts of rules that are governed by local governments. For instance, the city of Shenzhen has a minimum wage is 800 RMB a month, but as you move just outside the city and the old boundaries of the Special Economic Zone it goes down. But what Randy has heard (and this is only heard) is that Chinese-owned companies and Taiwanese companies don't necessarily follow the rules. As pointed out by someone only identified as "one man" above, he said the Taiwanese companies "were the worst." I don't think it is because we have a monolpoly on ethics in the West. I think it probably has more to do with the fact that Western companies undergo more scrutiny back home where their products are consumed. Once the worst is revealed or even rumored (like Nike soccer balls made by children in Pakistan), consumers demand change. Nokia had at one time an ethical management consultant to monitor their contract manufacturers around the world ( though the BBC film did question whether the ethics audits were working, and their CM was run by a English guy). Western companies have more tranparency issues than their Asian counterparts.
Not unlike a lot of other "inside China" stories, Howard French focuses on the deplorable working and living conditions for the migrants in China. It is so odd to contrast these stories (which I do not doubt) with what I have seen at Randy's plant. The dorms are not crowded, no one is overworked or abused...nothing like described in the article
In Shenzhen's blue-collar neighborhoods, thick with fetid workers' dormitories, the frustration with hard labor, merciless factory bosses, low pay and miserable living conditions is palpable.
"I've changed jobs many times," said one man, a onetime factory floor manager, who was lying on a bunk bed in a stiflingly hot room jammed with other workers. "The pressure is very high in these jobs. They don't give you weekends, or breaks, especially the Taiwanese companies."
Migrant workers describe the city's labor market as a predatory environment filled with unscrupulous job brokers, fraudulent training courses and a multitude of other scams aimed at cheating the most disadvantaged part of the population.
Yu Di, a 19-year-old from Hubei Province with a junior high school education, said he worked in a grimy watch-casing factory, loading and unloading heavy boxes from a truck 11 hours a day, six days a week. With a salary of about $80 a month and no benefits, Mr. Yu has to borrow money from his parents just to cover his living expenses. He lives in a dim and filthy dorm room, crammed with 12 bunk beds and mattresses made of bare springs covered with cardboard. "The only thing I regret is not working hard in school," he said.
In the room next door, Zhou Hailin, 20, who grew up in GuangÂ’an, the hometown of Deng Xiaoping, seems better off. Mr. Zhou, who came to the city four years ago, earns about $120 a month as a machinist in the same watch factory.
To do so, though, he must work eight-hour shifts, plus three or four hours of mandatory overtime, six days a week. A typical workday, he said, ends at 10:30 p.m., when he often goes to visit a sister who works in another factory nearby.
One thing Randy has suggested as a possible reason about what I have seen in Shenzhen and what we have all read about "Chinese labor" is that many Western-owned and operated companies "follow the rules." There are minimum wage rules, and overtime limits, and those sorts of rules that are governed by local governments. For instance, the city of Shenzhen has a minimum wage is 800 RMB a month, but as you move just outside the city and the old boundaries of the Special Economic Zone it goes down. But what Randy has heard (and this is only heard) is that Chinese-owned companies and Taiwanese companies don't necessarily follow the rules. As pointed out by someone only identified as "one man" above, he said the Taiwanese companies "were the worst." I don't think it is because we have a monolpoly on ethics in the West. I think it probably has more to do with the fact that Western companies undergo more scrutiny back home where their products are consumed. Once the worst is revealed or even rumored (like Nike soccer balls made by children in Pakistan), consumers demand change. Nokia had at one time an ethical management consultant to monitor their contract manufacturers around the world ( though the BBC film did question whether the ethics audits were working, and their CM was run by a English guy). Western companies have more tranparency issues than their Asian counterparts.
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