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Cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43530586
Chinese factory staff assembling Apple’s latest iPhone continue to face precarious conditions, working many hours of overtime, suffering wage delays and discrimination against ethnic minorities, according to a leading labour rights group.
China Labor Watch (CLW) found that more than half of the estimated 200,000 workers employed during peak season at the world’s largest iPhone factory run by Foxconn in Zhengzhou are seasonal staff known as “dispatch workers”. This is despite a Chinese law capping the use of such staff at 10 per cent of a company’s workforce.
US-based CLW, which specialises in undercover investigations of Chinese factories, also found that dispatch workers faced staggered payment schedules that withhold part of their wages to deter them from quitting during peak production.
These staff were not entitled to the same benefits as full-time employees, such as paid sick leave, paid holiday and social insurance that includes medical coverage and pension contributions. CLW also claimed that there is systematic discrimination in hiring certain ethnic minorities and pregnant women.
[…]
"Despite Apple’s repeated pledges to improve conditions over the past decade, our investigation finds that core labour issues remain,” said Li Qiang, founder of CLW and author of the report released on Thursday.
"Apple’s supply chain continues to depend on a vast, disposable workforce.”
[…]
Many of the workers interviewed added that conditions compared favourably with those of other local manufacturers, citing air conditioning, hot water, recreational facilities and canteen subsidies.
An economic downturn in China and rising youth unemployment have narrowed options for jobseekers. A 23-year-old who trained as a Chinese teacher said she had worked at Foxconn for two months: “If I can’t find another job, I might come back.”
But two of the people who spoke said Foxconn’s recruitment platform, which the agencies use to upload CVs, rejects applications from ethnic minorities, including Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Huis, who are not local to Henan.
[…]
One worker who had been at the plant for more than a month said that she typically worked two and a half hours of overtime each day, six or seven days a week. “Some managers have bad attitudes,” she said. “We work hard, but they keep pushing and squeezing us.”
The report is about much more than ‘only’ the pay, but as you mention it: We must distinguish per capita disposable income from GDP per capita. GDP per capita calculates the total value of all goods and services produced in a country divided by the population, which doesn’t reflect the income available to individual citizens and households.
For this reason we must look at the disposable income per capita, which measures the amount of money people can actually use, and we see a completely different picture.
In 2024, China’s national per capita disposable income reached RMB 41,314 (US$5,800 at the current rate), according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics. Income disparities between urban and rural areas remain significant as already mentioned.
If it’s true that you can “rent a 2bd in most cities that aren’t Beijing and Shanghai for 2000RMB/mo”, you’d spend half of your disposable income on the rent (except in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, where you spend considerably more).
It is noteworthy that this data comes from official Chinese sources.
But again, the linked report clearly suggests that workers suffer wage delays, discrimination of minorities, are work overly long hours, and things like these. It’s a devastating report on both Chinese working conditions and a U.S. company exploiting the local policy.
Median disposable income in Canada is CAD $39K. Avg rent is $2.1K. That’s 64% of disposable income. Disposable income is a nice metric but it requires price levels to be useful.
Median and average is not the same, the comparison doesn’t make sense as you say yourself.
And it has nothing to do with the linked report. This is not only about pay. It’s is essentially about poor workers’ rights in China.