Topic: Working Conditions in Chinese Labor Factors

Today, many companies from the United States, such as Apple and Nike, develop and create their product in China. The main reason for this type of outsourcing is due to a company’s desire to increase profits by providing the best possible product at least cost in order to maintain and maximize demand.“To thrive, companies argue they need to move work where it can generate enough profits to keep paying for innovation, creating the lowest price to create the most profit possible.” One would argue that the company’s duty is not to provide jobs, solve the economy’s problems, or follow the regulations with in their own country. With this type of mentality, international corporations established inhumane working conditions and life threatening labor practices in Chinese factories for their own benefit, which is a reoccurring issue. One of the main issues is manufacturing companies exploit workers for cheap labor. The athletic and fitness establishment, Nike, pays each employee only $17 for 12 hours. Reports also claim that 16- and 17-year-olds work 15-hour shifts for about 50 cents an hour. With an income as low as these, people are find it difficult and struggle to provide the basic necessities for themselves, let alone their families. Even if employees are forced to work overtime after there already excessive hours, no compensation is provided for them. Ones pay is even subtracted if they are found talking or using the bathroom during working hours.
Even with these low wages, employees live in demining and cruel environments. To maximize profits, many factories establish living accommodations for workers. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, otherwise known as Foxconn who provides the labor and factories for Apple Inc, keeps their employees in overcrowded dormitories run by military-like security forces. Management controls every aspect of workers’lives, monitoring the 24 people sleeping crammed in huge blockhouses. Living in these dorms, they can be summoned at any time to work and they have little or no choice. Workers are only allowed to leave the factory grounds at certain times. Days off are rare and trips home to visit family are only allowed once a year.
The workers have to put up with a strictly regimented lifestyle and an overwhelming lack of freedom. This type of lifestyle creates anxiety and fear in the workers of losing their jobs if they do not comply with their superiors. Many studies also suggest that workers experience a great deal of depression. Among factory workers alone, the suicide rate is over 20 deaths per 100,000 persons. Due to the short cuts in imposing uniform safety standards on China's fragmented and fast-expanding factory businesses, misfortunes cause the lives of many. Last year, 70,000 workers were killed in China by workplace accidents alone, which is roughly 200 people per day. In one incident, the facilities of Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Co blew up in flames due to an ammonia leak that led death