Who work in these factories?

The majority of factory workers are young, immigrant women from rural areas, many of whom are unaware of their legal rights or Corporate Codes of Conduct that US corporations have pledged to follow, but seldom do. Workers live in fear of being fired for protesting factory conditions or discussing them with outside reporters. Factory owners and managers repress workers' attempts to organize independently.

Which companies subject their workers in China to such conditions?

The National Labor Committee's 1998 report specified the practices of several companies.

• Wal-Mart was manufacturing Kathie Lee Gifford's line of handbags in the Liang Shi factory in China where factory workers labored 10 hours a day, six and seven days a week. Warehouse workers earned as little as $0.12 an hour.

• Ralph Lauren blouses, which sell for $88 in the US, were made by young women working these 12 to 15 hour shifts, 6 days a week at 23 cents an hour.

• Ann Taylor jackets and skirts selling for $200 each are made by workers under similar conditions, paid 14 cents an hour.

• $90 Liz Claiborne blouses were made by workers paid 25 cents an hour.

• $65 Limited men's shirts made by workers paid 32 cents an hour.

• JC Penny's clothes made at 18 cents an hour.

• Workers in Kmart factories made 28 cents an hour.

The National Labor Committee quoted local Chinese groups as saying that a living wage would be $0.87/hour.

Aren't the workers happy to have factory jobs? Aren't these companies helping Chinese communities by providing work and income?

The creation of jobs overseas and exploitation do not have to go hand in hand. The evidence indicates that the presence of US companies in China does not result in improved living and working conditions and respect for human rights as some companies had promised.

In the garment industry, American companies are actually lowering standards in China as they shift their production from publicly-owned factories to private, foreign-owned sweatshops--slashing wages, eliminating benefits, imposing excessive mandatory overtime, and tolerating widespread arbitrary firings and unsafe factory and living conditions.

Yes, workers want jobs, but they want jobs where they are treated with dignity and paid wages that would lift them out of poverty. It is the responsibility of US corporations to do just that.

People have often told me that since I am from the Western world, I can not understand the issues of human rights and working conditions in China. What should I tell them?

First of all, China has signed on to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which guarantees every Chinese citizen basic human rights. Their signature on the UDHR affirms that China does recognize labor rights similar to those in Western countries; it is appropriate to pressure the Chinese government to enforce these standards. Secondly, as consumers, we have the right to demand that the products we buy are not produced under exploitative conditions.