(Broadcast on October 19, 2002)
A woman worker at a foreign-invested toy factory in Shenzhen called China Labour Bulletin some time ago, to talk about their appalling working and living conditions. The most unreasonable practice is that the boss keeps on pushing workers to work overtime, 14 hours a day, seven days a week and all for just RMB600 a month. She also told us how fatigue had claimed the life of her fellow worker, the sudden death of a worker from Sichuan, after he worked several days overnight in December 2001.
Woman worker:
Hmm
I am now in Lixing [ed: transliteration] Factory, the Lixing Toy Factory. The conditions here are quite poor; accommodation, food, all is not good. In December last year, a guy at the spraying section
hes from Sichuan
we did not know why
hes lying on the bed
he went to sleep at 2 am after work and at 7 am, his room mate [in the dormitory] tried to wake him up to work. He had his teeth brushed and face washed and tried to wake him, and said, Hey! Time to work. He then pushed him but he did not make any move. Later when we were in the workshop, I saw from the window that that room was packed with people and later I was told that somebody was dead.
Han Dongfang [Han]:
Was he working overtime successively before death?
Woman worker:
Yes. He kept working overtime till 2 am, 1 am, 1 am, 2 am, and the next day he had to start working at 7 am. You know their food
their food is really awful. When I first came here, they asked me to eat out and I told them I had no money and how could I possibly eat out. He told me that the food was inedible
and the food [outside] was so expensive and those veggies they ate were just boiled. He said those veggies were not even washed before cooking, just some rotten veggies for a few cents. Thus lots of people are sick here. You know last month, someone jumped from a height, a guy from Room 306. He died dreadfully, wearing nothing but only his underpants when he jumped from the third floor. The workers woke up at 6.30 am and saw his body on their way to clean up themselves. It was bloody everywhere. Then [the management] asked each guy in the dormitory
to have a look at the corpse. Each had to take a look.
Han:
Which workshop was that guy from, the guy who jumped?
Woman worker:
He was from the spraying section.
Han:
Spraying workshop?
Woman worker:
Right.
Han:
How many workers are there in your factory?
Woman worker:
Around three thousand workers.
Han:
Mainly males or females?
Woman worker:
Half half, and some kids, those twelve, thirteen year olds. They are child labour.
Han:
Really?
Woman worker:
Yes! And when summer vacation comes, [the management] wrote something like Part-time Child Labour Welcomed.
Han:
Where was that written?
Woman worker:
At the main gate. On the recruitment notice they posted at the main gate.
Han:
Was this the exact wording, Child Labour welcomed?
Woman worker:
Yeah.
Han:
You saw it yourself?
Woman worker:
Right.
Han:
That sounds unbelievable. It is obviously illegal to employ child labour.
Woman worker:
Yes, right. They [child labour] were in summer vacation and [the boss] couldnt get enough workers.
Han:
So was it Students Welcomed
Woman worker:
Yes for part time jobs.
Han:
Or Child Labour Welcomed?
Woman worker:
It was Child Labour Welcomed. The students
those students are all very young, not even sixteen.
Han:
But what was exactly written, Students Welcomed for Part-time or Child Labour Welcomed?
Woman worker:
It read Child Labour. Seems they didnt put students.
Han:
Then which workshop holds most of the child labour?
Woman worker:
Spraying and painting.
Han:
Spraying and painting jobs often deal with paints, right?
Woman worker:
Yes.
Han:
Was there any protective equipment, such as masks and gloves?
Woman worker:
No, only aprons - those that chefs wear. Its blue in colour.
Han:
What kind of toys does your factory produce?
Woman worker:
We make those Disney doggies and dolls.
Han:
Which workshop are you working in?
Woman worker:
I am in the packing unit. I pack those big yellow toy dogs, really huge, with slingshot in the neck.
Han:
And its head moves forth and back?
Woman worker:
Yeah.
Han:
Who ordered those toys?
Woman worker:
Hmm
Americans, Disney. Another type is a tiny little girl holding an umbrella and a duckling on her legs.
Han:
And besides those Disney products shipping to America, do you have other orders, like from Europe and Britain?
Woman worker:
Yes. A [toy] sports star, to be shipped to Japan. Some to Europe, which have a Coca-cola logo on top
with the numbers 7, 32, 14 and 9, it seems.
Han:
Soccer [star]?
Woman worker:
Yes, soccer.
Han:
So you have been packing them?
Worker:
Yes.
Han:
Can you describe your working hours?
Woman worker:
We start working at 7:30 in the morning, till 11:30 am, and then from 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm, and 6:30pm to 12 midnight. After midnight, we start our overtime work, sometimes till 2 am, sometimes 4 am
and we never have a day-off on public holidays. The only time we dont have to work overtime at night is the off-season. For instance, we didnt have to work overtime at night in the mid-Autumn festival, that is it. And each is just given a moon-cake, a very small one.
Han:
When was the off-season during the year when you didnt work overtime?
Woman worker:
We had fewer orders in July.
Han:
And no overtime then?
Woman worker:
Yes, no overtime at night and no overnight shift.
Han:
How many days do you work a week?
Woman worker:
Seven days a week.
Han:
Seven days a week in even the off-season?
Woman worker:
Yes.
Han:
So the only difference was the overtime work after 6.30 pm?
Woman worker:
Indeed.
Han:
And only in July?
Woman worker:
Hmm, July and a while after the Lunar New Year in March, April and May when stock started to pile up, and orders dropped in July. Starting from August, we have to stock up again.
Han:
How much can you earn a month, let say during the peak-season while you have to work overtime?
Woman worker:
At most 600 bucks and I have to keep working overtime. Sometimes I have to start working at 7 am after working overnight, and even so, I can only get 600 bucks a month.
Han:
Then how much can you earn in off-season?
Woman worker:
400 bucks a month.
Han:
Without overtime?
Woman worker:
No, no overtime.
Han:
How was your longest successive overtime like, how many days?
Woman worker:
Hmm, once I was working from 7 am to 6.30 pm, and then 6.30 pm to 11.30 pm. I was then given a coupon for a snack, a bowl of rice noodles with only a few pieces of Chinese cabbage in thin soup. Its really tasteless. After the snack, I had to go back to work till 4 am the next day. You know we need to get approval for going to washroom. I asked for it once. I told them that I wanted to go to washroom and they said, You can be off soon. Go later when youre off. Hurry through the work! It was like that. And sometimes they shouted at workers for no reason.
Han:
So the longest overtime you worked was working till 4 am the next morning?
Woman worker:
Right. And we had to work at 7.30 am again after leaving work at 4 am.
Han:
And overtime again on the second day?
Yes, successive overtime, no break at all. Sometimes we have to work till 2 am on the third day and 1 am on the fourth day. In case we have a shipment to meet, we packagers will work in such a schedule. Sometimes 4 am, 1am, 2 am. If it is not an overnight shift, it will be till 2 am. The earliest we can make is 2 am.