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China Labor Watch (CLW) is a U.S. based non-profit organization founded by labor activist Li Qiang in 2000. It works with governments, nonprofits, businesses and other groups to highlight and put a end to labor abuses involving Chinese workers. It produces investigative reports, classes for Chinese workers, and a hotline for these workers.
CLW's founder, Li Qiang, first witnessed the exploitative labor conditions present in China while working in his hometown in Sichuan Province. After seeing these injustices firsthand, Qiang became a public advocate and conducted his first factory investigation in 1999. [1] For three years, he secured positions at factories and, once inside, Qiang guided workers on how to protect their rights.
Concerned for his safety, Qiang fled China and entered the United States through a humanitarian visa. After arriving, he realized the lack of awareness in Western democratic societies of the working and living conditions of Chinese workers - prompting Qiang to establish China Labor Watch.
Initially, CLW reported on Chinese media, bringing attention to labor protests and critiquing the Chinese government's involvement in perpetuating labor exploitation. CLW has gone on to investigate hundreds of factories in China and report its findings. [2] Since 2021, CLW has expanded its reach to investigate labor conditions and advocate for Chinese workers around the globe.
Since 2000, CLW has trained over ten thousand workers, conducted over five hundred assessments, published over one hundred reports, and had over two hundred features in the media. CLW has been cited by several international news organizations. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
CLW promotes the rights of workers from its U.S. based offices. To achieve this goal, the organization:
CLW additionally has several ongoing programs aimed at improving local working conditions and promoting workers’ rights.
CLW has been reporting on supply chain conditions within major industries such as electronics, toys, automotive, apparel and more since its inception. These investigations have managed to uncover child labor, excessive working hours, unpaid wages, exploitation, illegal use of student and dispatch workers, and workplace deaths and injuries amongst other labor violations.
CLW has engaged with major international brands, government entities, and media to facilitate joint conversations and push for improved working conditions within global suppliers. Since CLW began reporting on larger brands, there have been notable outcomes. Apple has increased the pay and social benefits of workers and altered labor practices within target manufacturers. Additionally, brands such as Samsung have reportedly conducted over 100 audits to further investigate the findings of CLW reports. Additionally, CLW has held face-to-face meetings with executives in companies such as Disney on more than 10 occasions, released joint statements [8] with other labor organizations pushing for improvements, published independent collaborative reports with The Guardian and other international media sources, [9] and engaged in various conversations with company representatives regarding the systemic labor rights violations of Chinese workers in their supply chain.
Some of the organization's most noted impacts include:
CLW has played a significant role in the fight against child labor within global supply chains.
In 2009, CLW released a report on a supplier for Disney, detailing findings of underage labor, low wages, mandatory overtime, and hazardous working conditions. Published following the death of a 17-year-old worker in the facility, CLW uncovered that the boy had been hired when he was just 15 and was one of many underage employees who were found to be as young as 13. [10] Following the report, Disney released a remediation plan for the factory location. CLW conducted a follow-up investigation which found that age requirements for workers were now enforced, IDs were collected to verify legitimacy, rest days were implemented, minimum wage rates were met, and compensation efforts for work-related injuries increased. CLW went on to conduct dozens of investigations into different Disney suppliers, uncovering the systematic use of underage labor, hazardous working conditions, and inadequate allocation of compensation and rest. [11] [12]
Additionally in 2014, just a week after a Samsung audit found no evidence of underage employees in its global supply chain, CLW uncovered child workers, student labor, and excessive overtime in a factory in southern China. [13] This was not the first instance of child labor found in Samsung's supply chain as dozens of previous CLW investigations found evidence of the same issue persisting since at least 2012. [14] The company suspended the factory following the reports and subsequently communicated with CLW via emails and phone calls, urging CLW to notify Samsung about the existence of child labor in their supply chain if found in the future. Samsung also stated it would carry out a follow-up investigation, but denied the allegations citing previous internal audits. [15] After finding evidence to support CLW's claim, Samsung claimed that it would conduct serious work to prevent the use of child labor in its supply chain. CLW continued to provide evidence to Samsung and encouraged the company and its supplier to carry out reforms to ensure labor practices conformed to labor regulations. [16]
CLW's reports on child labor in the toy and electronics industry have also been cited as a source for both the U.S. Department of Labor’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor. [17]
CLW also regularly monitors the illegal use of student interns within global suppliers.
In 2018, a CLW report alerted Amazon founder Jeff Bezos of the illegal and excessive use of interns at a Foxconn factory. [18] A company director issued a response, pointing to the company's independent audits and its Supplier Code of Conduct. CLW worked with The Guardian to send a reporter to China to further corroborate the findings. [3] The story was published in June 2018 and caught international media attention, resulting in Amazon issuing a statement acknowledging the violations and inadequate overtime compensation provided at the factory. [19] The company said it had already conducted an audit in March, uncovered the problems, and requested a “corrective action plan” from Foxconn. Follow-up reports in 2019 alleged that student interns as young as 16 were being hired to work overtime. [20] “We urgently investigated these allegations, initiated weekly reviews of this issue, and addressed this with Foxconn at the most senior level,” an Amazon spokesperson stated. In 2022, CLW published a report on another Amazon supplier, Hengyang Foxconn, and detailed the labor violations found in the factory. [21] As a result of these efforts, nearly 1 million RMB was paid to increase the wages of temporary workers and increase the total number of permanent employees. Factory management was also held accountable for the uncovered violations and CLW has continued to fight against the illegal use of student interns.
Since 2020, CLW has gone on to report on the impact of the Chinese invested Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Producing reports on nickel mining, [22] overseas labor, [23] and forced labor, [24] CLW continues to monitor conditions for migrant Chinese workers who are left vulnerable as a result of BRI projects.
CLW has also gone on to aid overseas workers to return home to China who were trapped within these industrial projects due to COVID-19 restrictions. Through the release of reports, coordinating with local representatives and embassies, and providing legal aid directly to workers, CLW acted as a major source of aid for overseas workers throughout the pandemic. Advocating against the widespread practices such as passport confiscation and recruitment fees, CLW aims to fight instances of forced labor overseas and continues to engage with relevant stakeholders to create a safe working environment for migrant Chinese workers abroad.
The majority of CLW's funding comes from project grants from a wide range of government or quasi-governmental agencies and private foundations,[ who? ] all of which are based outside of China. CLW also receives funding from private individual donors.
CLW has received funding from the National Endowment for Democracy and the International Labor Rights Forum. [25] [26] [27]
A sweatshop or sweat factory is a crowded workplace with very poor or illegal working conditions. The manual workers are poorly paid, work long hours, and experience poor working conditions. Some illegal working conditions include poor ventilation, little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting, or uncomfortably/dangerously high or low temperatures. The work may be difficult, tiresome, dangerous, climatically challenging, or underpaid. Workers in sweatshops may work long hours with unfair wages, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage; child labor laws may also be violated. Women make up 85 to 90% of sweatshop workers and may be forced by employers to take birth control and routine pregnancy tests to avoid supporting maternity leave or providing health benefits.
H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB, also known as H&M Group, is a multinational clothing company based in Sweden that focuses on fast-fashion clothing. As of 23 June 2022, H&M Group operated in 75 geographical markets with 4,801 stores under the various company brands, with 107,375 full-time equivalent positions.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., trading as Hon Hai Technology Group in China and Taiwan and Foxconn internationally, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer established in 1974 with headquarters in Tucheng District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. In 2021, the company's annual revenue reached 6.83 trillion New Taiwan dollars and was ranked 20th in the 2023 Fortune Global 500. It is the world's largest contract manufacturer of electronics. While headquartered in Taiwan, the company earns the majority of its revenue from assets in China and is one of the largest employers worldwide. Terry Gou is the company founder and former chairman.
The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) is a nonprofit advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., U.S., that describes itself as "an advocate for and with the working poor around the world." ILRF, formerly the "International Labor Rights Education & Research Fund", was founded in 1986, and the organization's mission statement reads: "ILRF believes that all workers have the right to a safe working environment where they are treated with dignity and respect, and where they can organize freely to defend and promote their rights and interests. ILRF works to develop practical and effective tools to assist workers in winning enforcement of protections for their basic rights, and hold labor rights violators accountable."
The Fair Labor Association (FLA) is a non-profit collaborative effort of universities, civil society organizations, and businesses.
Li Qiang is a labor activist who engages in protecting factory workers’ rights in China. Li was born in Zigong, Sichuan Province.
Sweatshop-free or sweat free is a term first used by American Apparel, a famous American clothing brand, which means coercion-free, fair-compensation for the garment workers who manufacture their products. The aim of sweatshop-free wish to ensure that all employees are treated fairly and products are made in good working conditions. Sweatshop-free standards include the right to collective bargaining, non-poverty wages, safe workplaces, back wages, and non-harassment. It has been heavily featured in American Apparel’s advertisements and become a common term in the garment industry.
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