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| Figure 1. Employees in Labor overtime. (Source: image from google) |
China has become an
important market for many large U.S. companies such as Nike,
Walmart, Apple, and other electronic companies. The most common reason for this
“investment” in China is the relationship between the cost for hiring employees
and fast production. U.S. companies have taken advantage of the faster production
of products (mainly electronic devices such as cellphones, tablets and computers)
for a very low cost per employee. However, most of the American products
from China are manufactured by workers whose rights are ignored in important
ways. Some of these companies have been implicated in practicing
of employee abuse, pollution issues, and cases
of underage workers. Employees have been working for excessively overtime, in some cases seven
days a week, and live in crowded dorms, being paid less than US$ 17 per
day. Because of that abuse of Chinese human rights, there has been a significant
history of suicides among these companies.
Pros and Cons of Doing Business with China:
Pros - In terms of economy, both U.S and China can profit with this association. American companies find in China an ideal environment for fast production and low cost of labor; and China receives a larger amount of foreign investment, making the Chinese economy grows very fast.
- Cons – As discussed above, the most serious problem faced by China is related to employee abuses. Chinese human rights are not respected as it should be and many social issues get worse. Also, it could be mentioned that some employees are forced to sign contracts stating their overtime would be considered voluntary.
Respect for human rights leads to social and economic development. For that reason, the responsibility of American companies is to ensure that the minimum human rights are applied to their employees. U.S companies should respect labor journeys, and should provide ideal condition for living and facilities for safe work.
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