All Resources in China

Together with China Labour Bulletin (CLB) and the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, the Hong Kong Liaison Office of the international trade union movement (IHLO) is launching an international campaign in preparation for 4 June 2002, commemorating the 13th anniversary of the Chinese government’s bloody repression of workers and students near Tiananmen Square.

Tim Pringle

Li Qiang

Tim Pringle

“What the hell have you come here for? We’ve got nothing here! The mines have shut down and those bastards in their offices are corrupt to the bone! We had a strike, but there’s no way of controlling them. It’s not like the USA where everyone’s rich and you’ve got democracy. Shulan town? It’s a joke.”

Apo Leong

The KTS (Kong Tai Shoes) Longgang plant, a subsidiary of KTP Holding, is a listed company in Hong Kong with Taiwan ownership. 4,638 workers (4,119 women; 519 men)operate the original equipment manufacturing system producing shoes for fashion/sports giant, Reebok. The Longgang plant is a showcase factory established by local government and was one of the earliest settlers in the Longgang industrial zone. The enterprise union, called the KTS Longgang Union must be affiliated to the All China Federation of Trade Unions by law.

Tony Fung Kam Lam

This report was originally presented at the Mekong Region OSH Workshop,
November 2000

Introduction

Chinese authorities and employers may argue that a low level of occupational safety and health (OSH) is inevitable, because China is still in the primary stage of capital accumulation. However acceptable OSH standards in the working place are basic human rights.

Wing-chung Ho

Stephen Frost and May Wong

This is an edited version of the full report available from AMRC for US$20

Recently the Asia Monitor Resource Center published a report which assessed the way in which Mattel monitors its code of conduct. We called it Monitoring Mattel: Codes of conduct, workers and toys in southern China, and in it we tried to show the limitations inherent in the implementation and monitoring of codes in China (and perhaps elsewhere). We discussed many issues, but here I want to raise three of our major themes.

Dara O'Rourke

This is an edited version of Dara's full text, which can be found at http://web.mit.edu/dorourke/www/index.html

This report presents the first systematic public analysis of the code of conduct monitoring methods employed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to inspect factory labour practices around the world. The author accompanied PwC auditors on factory inspections in China and Korea, and evaluated PwC's findings for a factory in Indonesia.

Introduction

Apo Leong and Stephen Frost

Guangzhou municipal government has earmarked 60 million yuan1 over three years to entice students back to the city from overseas. Each returnee will be granted 100,000 yuan1 with which to 'start up or invest in special enterprises'. China Daily, 18 May 2000.

Issue No : 33 December 1999 - February 2000

The following information is taken from the Research Report on Mainland Chinese Sex Workers - Hong Kong, Macau and Town B in the Pearl River Delta, available from Zi Teng or Asia Monitor Resource Center.

The sex trade is booming in China, having benefited from the country's effective embrace of capitalism.

Issue No : 33 December 1999 - February 2000

My family name is Wang. I am from Changsha in Hunan. I will not tell you my age.

I have five brothers and sisters. I attended school from seven years old until I was 19. Then I wanted to go to university, but my family had no money so I couldn't go.

When I first left home to work, I went to Zhuhai [in China, near Macau], working in a garment factory.

Issue No : 32 September - November 1999

Olivier Doriane

Informations Ouvrieres: On November 15, 1999, high-ranking U.S. and Chinese officials signed an agreement in Beijing that is meant to pave the way for China's entry into the World Trade Organization. What can you tell us about this agreement?

Private Gain and Public Loss

Contents

Feature: Labour Rights Under Attack

• Thai Workers in the IMF Era 2
• Philippines: Violation of the Right to Security of Tenure 8
• Japan: The Revised Labour Standards Law 11
• Globalisation and International Labour Standards 14
• Chinese Migrant Labourers in Macau 20

Action Alert

• Garment Workers in Thailand 22
• Striking Workers in Korea 24

May Day 1999

• Indonesia 25
• Taiwan 25
• Pakistan 26
• Hong Kong 26

Regional Roundup 27

Whose Rights?

Wait a Minute

New Barbarism

No More Toying with Workers’ Rights