Average workweek: 57 ½ hours. Average pay: 27 cents an hour.
Tong Ji is a Taiwanese-owned cap factory employing 500 peasant workers, who range in age from 18 to 25 years old. They produce Nike, Adidas and Puma caps for export to the United States, Canada and Europe.
In November 1999, the factory was operating on a schedule of 72 ½ hours weekly which means they were working 32 ½ hours overtime each week on top of the regular, legal 40-hour workweek.
However, by March of 2000, overtime had been cut back to 12 ½ to 22 ½ hours a week, with the workweek now ranging between 52 ½ and 62 ½ hours.
Monday-Saturday:
(11:30 a.m. -- 1:30 p.m. lunch break)
Workers would be at the factory 12 hours a day, six days-72 hours-a week, and are paid for 62 ½ hours. The average workweek would be 57 ½ hours, a little less than 10 hours a day.
All production wages are paid according to a piece rate system. The average wage is 550 rmb.--$66.27 a month for a 57 ½-hour workweek.
Average Wage (including all overtime hours, production bonuses and incentives):
For serious production errors, a worker can be fired and fined 270 rmb ($32.53)-more than two-weeks' wages. The factory withholds half of the workers' first month's wage.