When purchasing a new product, do you ever stop to think of how it’s made or where it could be coming from? Could it be produced from a local farm or hailing from overseas in a factory in Asia? In today’s society, the latter of the two seem to be more of a common source. Unbeknownst to many consumers, numerous companies partake in sweatshop activities, including UBC’s favourite, Apple, and particularly, Samsung.
An articled was released last week by The Globe and Mail which reported that Samsung was being accused by labour rights groups of mistreating and illegally using underage Chinese workers. An investigation conducted by the China Labor Watch uncovered a long list of sever labour abuses, including unpaid work, working well over 100 hours a month, standing for 11 to 12 hours a day, severe age and gender discrimination, abuse of student and labor dispatch workers, a lack of worker safety, and verbal and physical abuse.
The multi-million dollar company claims the poor working conditions were due to a high product demand during the time of the investigation. However, regardless of the product demand, hiring workers under 16 in China is illegal, and not providing them with sufficient safety gear is hazardous. Although Samsung does comply with minimum wage laws- a monthly salary of 1,310 renminbi or $206-the demand for overtime work by all employees shows how low the pay actually is.
It’s astonishing to see the means to which businesses will go to in order to maximize their profit and minimize fixed cost. In 2011, the South Korean based company brought in over $12 billion in profit, with probably only a slight portion of that being paid to the thousands of workers making all these products. Although every company’s goal is to maximize their profit, there are different ethical methods to which this can be executed. You shouldn’t be violating people’s rights in order to make money.
So before you go rushing out to buy the new Samsung Galaxy S3, the question you should be asking is not how much this phone will cost you, but at what cost is this phone being made?
China Labor Watch Full Investigation: http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/pro/proshow-177.html
Related Article: http://www.canadianbusiness.com/blog/business_ethics/97780–samsung-chinese-workers-and-labour-rights
