Labor News

Compounding Vulnerabilities: Chinese Workers In Indonesia

Download Full Report This report documents the findings of CLW’s investigation in China’s Belt and Road nickel production projects in Indonesia. It aims to amplify Chinese overseas workers’ voices through diving into their lived experiences in some of the largest nickel production industrial projects in Indonesia backed under ill-regulated Chinese capital. Nickel is a key material in the production of stainless steel and batteries, and a strategically important resource for Indonesia to boost its domestic economy. Following the global impetus…

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Labor Conditions in China’s Consumer Electronics Sector 

Download Full Report Executive Summary From iPhones, to Bose headphones, to HP screens, to Amazon Kindles, it is no secret that parts of your electronics devices and domestic appliances can be manufactured and assembled in factories across coastal and inland China. When these products hit their record sales at the end of each year, workers in China work day and night for over 250 hours a month to complete demanding orders coming from the Global North.   Based on open…

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Investigation of an Apple Supplier: Chengdu Foxconn Report in 2023

Download Full Report Executive Summary In November 2020, China Labor Watch (CLW) reported on a protest held by over 1,000 dispatch workers at Foxconn Chengdu. Foxconn’s dispatch workers were owed three month’s worth of hourly subsidies and bonuses, but Foxconn itself did not actually sign any labor contracts with the workers, effectively shrugging off responsibility. This ignited protests and concerns over labor conditions at Apple’s largest Chinese supplier. CLW interviews uncovered a series of labor rights violations, including forced overtime,…

Read MoreInvestigation of an Apple Supplier: Chengdu Foxconn Report in 2023
CLW: 23 Workers Died in a Factory Fire in South Korea

Chinese-run Indonesia Nickel Smelter Employs Chinese Workers to Break Strike

Last week, a labor strike escalated into a violent conflict at PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry (GNI), a smelter industrial compound in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, causing at least two reported deaths. Among these deaths were one Chinese worker and one Indonesian worker. More than a dozen workers were injured. From January 11 to January 14, Indonesia’s National Workers Union (SPN) organized hundreds of Indonesian workers for a four-day strike, demanding the company to implement safety procedures abiding by the Indonesian law;…

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PRESS RELEASE: Seven Xinjiang project workers killed under severe weather conditions

NEWS RELEASE: Seven Xinjiang project workers killed under severe weather conditions November 29, 2022 Seven Xinjiang construction project workers were killed on the way home under a severe blizzard. China Labor Watch gained contact with the family of one of the deceased workers and a local informed source.  Accordingly, due to increased COVID cases in the Atlay Prefecture, Xinjiang, construction workers for a national highway project in Atlay petitioned their company for a return to their home in Fujian province…

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Forced Labor Whistleblower Was Sent To Prison By Amazon Supply Chain Foxconn

According to the criminal judgement of the People’s Court of Zhengxiang District, Hengyang City, Hunan Province, Tang Mingfang used to be an employee of Hengyang Futaihong Precision Industry Co., Ltd., was detained in prison because of reporting Foxconn’s forced student labor internship to China Labor Watch(CLW). After examining the reports published by CLW, Amazon conducted an investigation and confirmed that CLW’s report of illegal use of students existed. Amazon required Foxconn to improve workers’ working and living conditions, to  increase…

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Severe Labor Abuses in the Cookware Industry

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEW YORK – A multi-month in-depth investigation has exposed numerous violations of labor regulations and human rights in five Chinese cookware factories supplying to top brands and retailers, including Macy’s, Walmart, Kohl’s, Carrefour, IKEA, Cuisinart, Tupperware, WMF, Kuhn Rikon, and others. The 73-page report [PDF], titled “Dirty Frying Pans”, was a collaboration between China Labor Watch (CLW) and Solidar Suisse.The five factories implicated in this report are called Xinhui Ri Xing Stainless Steel Products Three A Stainless…

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(Dispatch workers protest outside Foxconn)

Foxconn Dispatch Workers Stage Protest Over Owed Wages and Rewards by Dispatch Companies

On November 16, 8:00AM Beijing time, around 1000 Foxconn dispatch workers gathered at the main entrance of Foxconn Area C to protest, requesting the issue of dispatch companies owing workers their promised rewards to be addressed. The Chinese government sent more than 100 police to control the protest. At around 11:00AM, police sent a dozen buses to take workers to other areas to negotiate issues with dispatch companies and Foxconn. Currently, workers are onboard the police bus.Chengdu Foxconn manufactures iPad…

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Private-owned companies like Lotus in China have been hit by the global pandemic. Photo: BBC

CLW Labor News Brief for July 2020

Executive Summary Shipment of Chinese hair goods seized by U.S. officials suspecting forced labor LINK (Reuters 07/01/2020) The U.S. government blocked an $800,000 shipment of hair extensions and accessories imported from China that might be made with forced labor. The Customs and Border Protection(CBP) said that the detained goods is suspected of using prison labor and forced labor from Xinjiang. A spokesperson from the Chinese embassy in the U.S. stated in an email that the suspicions of forced labor was…

Read MoreCLW Labor News Brief for July 2020

Labor News May 11 – May 17

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security releases first blacklist of companies owing workers’ wages.   On May 9th, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security released the first blacklist for 2020, listing companies owing workers’ wages. The list included 30 companies that had violated relevant laws. LinkCourt “backs” migrant workers, collecting wages is no longer difficult   Recently, over 10 workers who were owed wages signed and printed on a mediation record at the Yuechi Youxi Court. Mr.…

Read MoreLabor News May 11 – May 17
Chinese power plant workers injured in a fight with Bangladeshi work mates are treated at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in Barisal, Bangladesh, June 19, 2019 (Photo: RFA)

CLW Labor News Brief for June 2019

Bangladesh and China power plant workers in deadly mass brawl Link (BBC, 06/19/2019) A fight broke out between hundreds of Chinese and Bangladeshi workers at the site of a partly-built China-funded power plant. Local workers reportedly accused the Chinese of covering up an incident where a Bangladeshi worker fell to his death. One Chinese worker died in this brawl. 60 ‘illegal’ Chinese workers found in Chico River project Link (Manilatimes, 06/05/2019) The Cordillera office of the Department of Labor and…

Read MoreCLW Labor News Brief for June 2019