Is there no place on earth we can’t exploit for our own need, greed or gratification?

Now They Speak Out

If U.S. business is a quiet force for progress in China, as it claims, why is it protesting against labor reform?

May 28, 2007 issue - When critics accuse U.S. companies of moving jobs to China to exploit cheap labor and sweatshop conditions, businesses always argue that their presence has helped improve labor standards and even forward democracy. Now the same companies that pat themselves on the back are lobbying to weaken a draft Chinese labor law-and workers’ rights activists are calling them hypocrites.

The proposed law would require employers to sign contracts with all workers and to pay severance to fired employees, and tighten job protection for older workers and sole breadwinners. It would also give the party-run union more power in contract negotiations and setting workplace rules. Designed to quell unrest over working conditions, withheld wages and long hours, the law has already been amended to make it more acceptable to foreign firms and is due to be approved as early as this summer. Critics say efforts to water it down further show how U.S. firms put profits ahead of principles in China while staying mum on sensitive issues, from Internet censorship to the repression of lawyers.

(Sarah Schafer, Newsweek International)

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