Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Tweet[IWS] CECC: CHINA: WORKING CONDITIONS AND WORKER RIGHTS : RECENT DEVELOPMENTS [31 July 2013]
IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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[Please note that for the next few weeks, postings will include key material that was released since early May 2013 until late August 2013. This is the yearly time period that the IWS Documented News Service is not operational. Otherwise new material will be posted as usual].
Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC)
WORKING CONDITIONS AND WORKER RIGHTS IN CHINA: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS [31 July 2013]
or
[full-text, 143 pages]
In recent months, several reports have been released regarding working conditions in Chinese factories that manufacture products popular in the United States—laptops, iPhones, iPads, cordless phones. These reports document excessive overtime, crowded and unsafe working and living conditions, underage workers, and unpaid wages. They note that Chinese workers do not have the right to organize into independent unions, and that the state-controlled union does little to represent them. Meanwhile, China has enacted laws in recent years intended to address worker issues, and the state-controlled union has pledged to better represent workers.
The hearing's witnesses discussed the prevalence of harsh working conditions in Chinese factories in places like Shenzhen and Shanghai, assessed implementation of China's labor laws, and examined the roles the Chinese government, China's state-controlled union, Chinese NGOs, and private companies, including multinationals, play in addressing worker rights and labor reforms. Witnesses also provided recommendations for U.S. policy on worker rights in China.
Opening Statements
Representative Christopher H. Smith, Chairman
Senator Sherrod Brown, Cochairman
Witnesses
Panel 1
Mr. Charles Kernaghan, Executive Director, Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights
Mr. Li Qiang, Executive Director and Founder, China Labor Watch
Mr. Harry Wu, Founder and Executive Director, Laogai Research Foundation and Laogai Museum
Panel 2
Ms. Thea Lee, Deputy Chief of Staff, AFL-CIO
Dr. Mary Gallagher, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director, Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan
Mr. Earl Brown, Labor and Employment Law Counsel and China Program Director, Solidarity Center, AFL-CIO
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