American companies escape taxes and regulation in China to the detriment of workers

China is a new breeding ground for American companies to leave the United States and travel to escape taxes and fair treatment of workers.

"In 2007, factories that supplied more than a dozen corporations, including Walmart, Disney, and Dell were accused of unfair labor practices, including using child labor, forcing employees to work 16-hour days on fast-moving assembly lines, and paying workers less than minimum wage. (Minimum wage in this part of China is about 55 cents an hour.)" (New York Times)

Walmart, Disney, and Dell are running away from taxes. Not only that, but they're running away from regulations.  Watch groups are trying to keep the big corporations honest.  Goods that are made in factories in China are being produced by workers in harsh conditions that are unsafe. "In the Pearl River Delta region near Hong Kong, for example, factory workers lose or break about 40,000 fingers on the job every year, according to a study published a few years ago by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences." (New York Times).  

Workers are paid unfairly at these factories. For example, in Huanya employees were forced to sign documents that they were volunteering to work overtime.  Most developed rashes from the paint and poor conditions. Some are under the age of 18.  One employee noted “It’s quite noisy, and you stand up all day, 12 hours, and there’s no air-conditioning,” he said. “We get paid by the piece we make but they never told us how much. Sometimes I got $110, sometimes I got $150 a month.” (New York Times)  That amount is much less than what is legally required.  Additionally, the National Labor Committee reprimanded Walmart for not protecting workers. "Huanya recruited about 500 16-year-old high school students to work seven days a week, often 15 hours a day, during peak production months for holiday merchandise...at least seven children, as young as 12 years old, were working in the factory." (New York Times)

Michael Wolf's "The Real Toy Story" is an elaborate installation consisting of 20,000 toys made in China and purchased in California that Wolf attached to the walls of a gallery, along with photographs of workers making the toys in Chinese factories. The installation is a homage to China's factory workers who slave away to produce most of the world's plastic toys in unsafe factories and under exploitative conditions.

Some of the issues are related to corruption in China and it is difficult for the corporations to regulate. There is a lot of corruption in China, but it is more than that. 'Many labor experts say part of the problem is cost: Western companies are constantly pressing their Chinese suppliers for lower prices while also insisting that factory owners spend more to upgrade operations, treat workers properly and improve product quality." (New York Times).
Western companies need to take more social responsibility. They should not be allowed to leave the United States to avoid taxes or regulations that harm workers.