The major production in the factory is for Huffy Bicycles (other lesser brand names include Germini and Tec). The bikes are exported to the U.S., Canada and Europe.
There are 700 to 800 workers, mostly men, but there are 200 women employees ranging in age from 21 to 24 years old, who are mostly employed in the packing section. As is typical in the export assembly industry, most workers leave after they reach 25 years of age, since they are worn out from the grueling overtime hours.
The vast majority of the workers are migrants from rural provinces such as Hanin (over 1000 miles from Shenzhen), Jiangxi, Hunan and Xianxi.
The factory is broken down into several sections: preparing and assembling parts, the tire section, welding, final assembly and packing.
Workers report that they are forced to work overtime nearly every day, including Sunday work. On average, the workers may receive every other Sunday off. During particularly large rush orders, some workers said they had to work through to 3:30 in the morning, which means they would be at the factory for a shift of 19˝ hours.
During the "regular" shift, the workers would be at the factory 13˝ to 15 hours a day, six and seven days a week, while being paid for 11 to 12 ˝ hours. On average, they would be at the factory over 93 hours a week, while being paid for just 76 hours.
Refusal to work mandatory overtime hours is illegally punished by a fine of 50 rmb-U.S. $6.02, which amounts to more than two days' wages.
Workers in the assembly and packing section are paid according to a piece rate. They earn between 25 and 34 cents an hour.
A worker putting in a 66-hour workweek would earn $16.68-25 cents an hour. Other workers working 81 hours a week earned $27.80, or 34 cents an hour.
In the painting and welding departments, the workers are paid by the hour and earn approximately 41 cents an hour. For example, someone working a seven-day, 81-hour week would earn $33.36, or 41 cents an hour. This would include a $7.23 U.S. bonus each month for those working in the welding section due to the extremely high temperatures.
25 cents an hour 41 cents an hour
$2.78 a day (for an 11-hour shift) $4.77 a day (for an 11 ˝-hour shift)
$16.68 for a 6-day, 66-hour week $33.36 for a 7-day, 81-hour week
$72.28 a month $144.56 a month
$867.36 per year $1,734.72 per year
No overtime premium is paid to the hourly workers, while those on piece rate only receive an overtime bonus if they reach their production goal.
Workers complain about the extremely long mandatory overtime hours and the lack of even one regular day off each week. They say they "hardly can rest" and at the end of even the standard overtime shift they return to their cramped dorm rooms "exhausted." Many workers have to handle heavy weights all day long, while others are on their feet constantly for 11 to 12 ˝ hours a day. Asked if they would like to take mechanical skills or other learning classes at night, the workers responded saying that because of all the overtime hours, they "haven't the time or the energy at night to attend classes, even if they existed."
Illegally, the workers are not provided written work contracts describing factory hours, working conditions and wages, including overtime rates.
There is a strong chemical odor in the spray painting section, and the temperature in the welding area is excessively high.
Workers also complain about strict factory rules and harsh management style. For example, talking during working hours is strictly prohibited. Cutting into a line is punished with a fine of up to $1.20-nearly five hours wages.
The workers said these wages were too low. One worker in the packing section explained that he earned 600 rmb per month, $72.29, and was unable to save or send any money home. Despite all the overtime hours he worked, he was just able to survive, never getting ahead.
At the Baoan Bicycle Factory there is no medical insurance or social security pension. The workers have nothing, not even a primitive factory clinic. If they are sick, they need to go to the local hospital in town. But the workers said it was then very difficult to get permission to be absent from work.
No worker had ever heard of any so-called U.S. Corporate Code of Conduct, and they had no idea what it might be.
The first month's wages are illegally withheld as a deposit, so the workers only receive their first pay during the second month.
The amount of 180 rmb--$21.67, more than a month's wages-is deducted to pay for the worker's temporary residency permit. Another 10 rmb ($1.23 U.S.) is deducted from each worker for their factory ID cards.
As is standard in China, no independent union is allowed at the Baoan Bicycle plant. Any public dissent or raising of a grievance is met with firings.
Toward the end of 1999, delivery workers at the Baoan factory went on a wildcat strike to protest the harsh factory treatment, excessively heavy workloads and long overtime hours and the low wages. All the strikers were fired. Dissent is not permitted.
Twelve workers are crowded into each dorm room, which the workers described as stark and dark. There are no entertainment facilities other than a single TV in the common area. The workers explained that the only "entertainment" available to them was to hang around nearby snack and grocery stores.
The Baoan workers are charged 45 rmb per month ($5.42) for food--two meals a day, which is deducted from their wages along with a small dorm fee of $1.81 U.S. The workers report that the quality of the food is very poor.
Huffy Wages in China are Less
than 2 Percent of What They Paid in the U.S.
|
One shoe company in China, Pou Yuen, employs over 100,000 workers to assemble Nike, Timberland, Reebok, and New Balance sneakers and shoes for export to the U.S.
Meanwhile…In the United States there are only 24,800 footwear workers left in the entire country from coast to coast. This means that just one Taiwanese-owned shoe conglomerate with multiple factories in China employs almost four times as many footwear workers as are left in the entire U.S.
Between 1990 and 1999, 37,900 footwear workers lost their jobs in the U.S. Employment in the shoe industry was slashed by 60 percent, falling from 62,700 jobs in 1990 to 24,800 today.
The average footwear worker in the U.S. earns $9.32 an hour, while in China workers making Nike, Reebok, Timberland and New Balance are paid approximately 25 cents an hour. So, footwear workers in China are paid just 3 percent of what U.S. workers earn.
Citation: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2/07/00
In a single year, 1999, we lost 256,000 well paying manufacturing jobs in the United States. And in just the last two years, 1998 and 1999, we lost 483,000 manufacturing jobs. At the beginning of 1998, there were 18,838,000 U.S. workers employed in manufacturing. By the end of 1999, there were just 18,355,000 left.
The single greatest factor contributing to the growing income disparity between the rich from the poor in the U.S., is the loss of well paying, largely union, manufacturing jobs.
For example, General Motors used to be the largest employer in the U.S., with wages of $26 an hour and $20 an hour in benefits. Today, Wal-Mart is the largest private sector employer in the U.S. with 885,000 employees, nearly half of whom qualify for federal assistance under the Food Stamp program. Citation: Bureau of Labor Statistics 3/10/00