LAT: Africans Lash Out at Chinese Employers

[DBoon]

The People's Republic of China's need for raw materials has resulted in Chinese operation of mines in Africa. Their labor practices leave something to be desired:

MAAMBA, Zambia — Deep in the tunnel of the Collum mine, coal dust swirls thickly, and it's stifling for workers such as Chengo Nguni. He describes his $2-a-day job with a sigh: His supervisor yells incomprehensibly in Chinese. His rubber boots leak. The buttons to control the flow of ore out of the mine often deliver an electric shock.

But the worst thing about life in the Chinese-owned mine in southern Zambia is that there is no such thing as a day off. Ever.

...

At the NFC Africa copper mine in Chambishi, a Chinese-owned operation in northeastern Zambia, hundreds of workers rioted in late July over reports that the management was reneging on a pay increase. Four were shot and wounded by Chinese employees of the company. Another was shot by police.

More at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-chizambia6oct06,0,2865535.story?coll=la-home-world , including accusations that Chinese made voting machines rigged an election

[kurth]

1. Chinese Employers To Grant 15-Minute Maternity Break

DONGGUAN, CHINA — In response to international criticism of Chinese workplace inequity and labor rights, China's National Labor Committee agreed Monday to establish an unpaid 15-minute break during the regular 18-hour workday, to allow pregnant women to "expel the child from their body, adjust to being a new parent, wash their hands, and return to work."

Workers silently celebrate the new guidelines during a company-sanctioned "moment of appreciation."
"During the last moments of childbirth, a female employee's productivity diminishes sharply," said Shanghai toy-factory owner Huang Wei, who noted that even the slightest whimper of pain or sight of a newborn's head as it crowns can distract an entire assembly line from the job at hand. "These women need a few minutes to rest and recuperate before returning to sew eyes onto stuffed animals in an efficient and satisfactory manner."

"Of course, this measure wouldn't need to be taken at all if pregnant workers could schedule their due dates for the annual holiday of May 1," Huang added....

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48743

[Virginia Dare]

2. America, meet your new masters....

Hu Jintao is a very dear friend, but Hugo Chavez gets shunned, go figure...

[smirkymonkey]

3. Are the Chinese the new Americans?

[sadiesworld]

4. .

[Annces]

5. We should be boycotting the Chinese government

and not trade with them. They are simply despicable in treatment of people. There was a piece yesterday on the news about how they execute 1000s of people every year, and they torture them to get the confessions.