From CLW’s survey of workers in more than a dozen countries from 2021 to 2024, we found that many Chinese multinational companies set up facilities overseas, and recruit migrant workers and send them to facilities where they have little access to support and networks.
While investments brought job opportunities and economic development to local communities, they also brought social and environmental problems that have severely undermined the wellbeing and livelihood of local residents. Meanwhile, in these projects, substandard safety practices have caused a series of worksite accidents and deaths, leading to intermittent labor backlash and protests seen today. We’ve uncovered a series of labor malpractices including but not limited to passport confiscation, poor contracting practices, withholding payment of wages, workplace injuries and poor occupational safety, absence of work permit, and restriction of movement (see our report for more detail) that are facilitated by a lack of corporate transparency and accountability and, more importantly, a lack of human- and community-centered care in business operations.
In an effort to continue monitoring and reporting the on-the-ground conditions along China’s Belt and Road Initiative projects in different countries, CLW tracks instances of work injuries, deaths, and labor protests – with the aid of Jakarta-based nonprofit Trend Asia, who contributed to much of this data. From 2016 to date, 68 instances of work injuries or deaths in select companies including PT Indonesia Morowali Nickel Industry (PT IMIP), PT Obsidian Stainless Steel (PT OSS), and PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry were identified, involving 120 cases of reported injuries, and 77 cases of reported deaths.
This record cannot fully encompass all work-related injuries and fatalities occurred in the facilities it focuses on. However, through reviewing and monitoring cases reported by news media, court documents, local trade unions and NGOs, and other sources, we hope to reflect larger patterns of problematic corporate governance and labor conduct.
