Health & Fitness
Are Multinational Corporations exploiting child and adult "labor camps" for corporate profits?
Laborers, including children, in labor camps in China are working 15 hours every day of the year for as little as $1.61/month, some suffering torture, beatings, and verbal abuse.
Multinational Corporations have been shipping jobs overseas where people, including children, are forced to work as much as fifteen hours per day, seven days a week, for as little as $1.61 per month, some suffering torture, beatings, and verbal abuse. It appears that our government and corporations may have been guilty of looking the other way all in the name of profits.
Samsung Electronics Co. is accused by a labor rights group of mistreating workers in China and illegally using child labor. The New York based-China Labor Watch said its investigation into workplace conditions at eight factories in China showed some employees were working more than 100 hours per month of overtime and that children were knowingly employed. The group also accused Samsung of barring workers from sitting during their shifts and said it had documented instances of physical and verbal abuse.
Recently an American purchaser of a product made in China discovered a letter from a Chinese laborer pleading for help. The letter read, "Sir, if you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right['s] Organization. Thousands [of] people here who are under the persecution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever." The author of the letter may have risked their life in getting this letter out in the product's packaging.
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The letter describes the conditions at the factory: "People who work here have to work 15 hours a day without Saturday, Sunday break and any holidays. Otherwise, they will suffer torturement, beat and rude remark. Nearly no payment (10 yuan/1 month)." That translates to about $1.61 a month.
Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, commented that the description was consistent with their research. "I think it is fair to say the conditions described in the letter certainly conform to what we know about conditions in re-education through labor camps."
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This is not the first time a letter like this has turned up. Just this week, another plea was found written in Chinese on a toilet seat and posted on Reddit. Tech companies, like Apple and Hewlett Packard, received a great deal of criticism and have publicly stated that they are aware of the harsh conditions in China.
