National Labor Committee and China Labor

National Labor Committee and China Labor

Introduction

Just 10 days after the National Labor Committee and China Labor Watch released a report critical of factory conditions at the Hongyuan shoe plant in the south of China—which is owned by the large Li Kai Company, a major supplier to New Balance—a team of New Balance executives were on the ground China.

When they arrived in China on January 16, 2006, the New Balance team was met by upwards of 4,000 cheering workers. In the days leading up to their arrival, the workers were required to practice twice daily, including getting up early, rehearsing how to assemble in huge color-coordinated blocks and rows according to their uniform colors.

Each factory had to write and practice its own chant welcoming New Balance to China. As the New Balance executives enthusiastically applauded, the workers from Plant #5—referred to by the workers as Di Chang or the "Last Factory"— shouted as loud as they could:

New Balance, New Balance is the number one brand; Li Kai, Li Kai is number one in the shoe industry; Di Chang, Di Chang has the most accomplished and meritorious manufacturing.

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New Balance executives applaud Chinese workers

At the same time, hundreds of workers lining the balconies of nearby dorms wildly wave red balloons as if this were the day of liberation.

The truth is the workers were not pleased to have to participate in this canned dog and pony show. So the workers in Factory Number 5 made up their own chant, expressing what they actually felt.

This is how it went:

New Balance, New Balance is the number one hirer of prostitutes; Li Kai, Li Kai has the lowest wages!; Di Chang, Di Chang manufactures crap!

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Low Wages and No Rights:

The major complaint in the Li Kai Factory Number 5, which produces for New Balance, is the very low wages, which are well below subsistence levels. The base wage at Factory Number 5 is just 40 cents an hour and $3.22 a day. After mandatory deductions are taken out for dorm and food expenses, the workers' wages actually drop to 32 cents an hour, $ 2.55 a day, and only $12.92 a week.

For the month of December 2005, some workers reported earning just 400 RMB, or $49.32, which comes to 28 cents an hour, $2.24 a day, and $11.38 a week. According to the workers, the month before New Balance, in December work Teams # 17 and #25 on the 6th floor of Factory Number 5 spontaneously went out on a one-hour work stoppage, protesting the low wages and refusing to go back into work. It turns out that these sorts of small-scale, spontaneous protests are relatively common in Factory Number 5. Nonetheless, management always prevails because the workers have no rights and no voice. In order to survive in such conditions, the workers have no choice but to take a deep breath, swallow their pride, and force themselves to return to work. But they are definitely not the happy campers New Balance claims they are.

The reference to "prostitutes" in the workers own chant is in there because in Mandarin it rhymes, but much more importantly, it sums up their feeling about Li Kai and the New Balance management.

For the workers, management represents the Fat Boss who cares nothing at all about the workers, treating them like prostitutes to exploit and then discard for as little pay as possible.

Even the colorful uniforms, which stand out in the mass assembly, had to be paid for by the workers. New workers are charged 50 RMB, or $6.17—about two days wages, to cover formalities