Worker Empowerment

Industrial upgrading in Shenzhen in recent years have resulted in closure and relocation of numerous factories in labour-intensive industries. With little savings and social protection, middle-aged workers laid off face difficulties in looking for a new job and satisfy survival needs of themselves and their families. In this investigative report, we demonstrate that the situation of a group of former toy factory workers, who were laid off due to factory relocation, exemplifies the need of these workers regarding reemployment constantly ignored by the government and trade union.

Full report in Chinese is available for download.

Worker Empowerment joined other Hong Kong-based labour organisations in regard of demanding the immediate release and drop of case of 4 labour activists in Guangdong.

Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour, China Labor Watch, Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and Worker Empowerment have just released a joint statement, demanding Disney and its supplier factories to implement the following:

1). Respond to the problems depicted by the investigative reports and open talks with workers and labour organisations;
2). Fulfill its promise to protect workers’ rights across the supply chain: to investigate the Mizutani case and to help their workers claim their missing compensation;
3). Introduce comprehensive changes to the labour conditions of supplier factories.

The extravagant, newly-opened Disneyland in Shanghai should not be a disguise for workers being exploited by Disney suppliers. Mizutani workers are still fighting for their rights regardless of the hostile Mizutani and Disney management. WE writes about that with other supporters of Mizutani workers on OpenDemocracy.

Shenzhen Dagongzhe Centre, Worker Empowerment’s partner organisation in Shenzhen, has just released a report on the impact of minimum wage on workers in Shenzhen in 2016. The report is published in Chinese, and an executive summary in English is also available.

This is an independent case report documenting a series of violations of labor rights in a manufacturer of Disney-branded products in mainland China, namely Mizutani (Shenzhen) Toy Factory Co. Ltd. This case demonstrates how Walt Disney has not been successful in fulfilling its corporate citizenship goals for managing a responsible supply chain. It is important for the public especially the customers to pay attention to the workers’ sufferings behind the Disney-branded products.

The primarily evidence collection and analysis of this report has been prepared by Worker Empowerment (WE) since the second collective dispute broke out in June 2015 and completed jointly with Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU). All the information on the labor disputes of Mizutani were compiled from first hand sources from Mizutani workers, official and public record on the company profile, laws and regulations as well as views from experts.

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Mizutani (Shenzhen) Toy Factory Co. Ltd., a Hong Kong-registered enterprise producing for Tokyo Disneyland since 1997, announced its sudden closure and relocation to the Philippines in June 2015. A total of 9 million yuan of severance compensation, social insurance and housing provident fund payments covering 196 employees has been in arrears. The livelihood of Mizutani workers, among which a lot of them are middle-aged and find looking for a new job challenging, is seriously affected by the sudden change.

Worker Empowerment (WE) and the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) have been assisting Mizutani workers in their protests against Mizutani and Disney and subsequent rounds of negotiations. So far Mizutani simply agree to settle the dispute with one tenth of the compensation to which workers are entitled according to the Labour Contract Law and Social Insurance Law, and workers refuse to accept such an unlawful compensation. Disney in Japan and USA has remained silence since a symbolic meeting with WE and HKCTU in mid-July 2015, regardless of repeated demands for their intervention.

This case demonstrates how Disney has failed to fulfill its corporate responsibility. The report titled “Suppliers Escaped: Disney Abandoned Mizutani Toy Makers Viciously” jointly published by WE and HKCTU aims at disclosing how Mizutani and Disney violate Chinese labour regulations and its betrayal to frontline workers. It is important for the general public, especially customers of Disney-branded products, to pay attention to workers’ suffering behind them.

The full report is available for download.

The Labour Contract Law of China, which aims at regulating employment and protecting workers’ legally abided rights, has been in controversy since its implementation in 2008. Recent trends in industries, such as factory relocation from well-developed coastal areas due to industrial upgrade and the subsequent labour disputes, also the employment of dispatched workers becoming popular in factories, show the need to strengthen legal protection for workers. An amendment of the Labour Contract Law was introduced in July 2013 to serve this function, but the effectiveness is yet to be observed.

As a grassroots labour organisation based in the Pearl River Delta, Worker Empowerment concerns about the welfare of workers in the manufacturing sector and supports their right-defending efforts. Therefore, following our long-time interest in the Labour Contract Law, a survey to investigate its implementation in the Pearl and Yangtze River Deltas was conducted in 2014, in order to have a better understanding of how the law works to protect workers, particularly the dispatched ones.

The full report is available for download.

A Single Spark: an Autobiography of Chun Tae-il

Worker Empowerment proudly presents the Chinese version of “A Single Spark”, an autobiography of the late Korean labour activist Chun Tae-il. A book launch will be held on 31st August, 2013.

A group of academics in China wrote an open letter to the provincial government of Guangdong, in regard to recent NGO crackdown in Shenzhen and to urge for the realisation of social construction in the province.