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1 - Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2021

Manfred Elfstrom
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Okanagan
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Summary

They had clocked punishingly long hours – eleven a day, six days a week, more during peak production periods – and been verbally and physically abused, eaten disgusting cafeteria food lacking the nutrition needed to sustain them, and slept fifteen people to a room in sweltering summers. Their earnings before overtime had been the local legal minimum at the time, no more, no less: US$54 per month. Fees for housing and meals, which totaled $30 per month, were deducted from this. There was little money left over to buy clothes and toiletries, let alone send home to help a sibling get through school or an ailing parent get medical care. Managers, who had come under scrutiny from foreign clients brandishing corporate codes of conduct, had put forward a plan to increase the number of rest days per month. However, the condition for this seeming generosity was that more overtime had to be worked on weekdays. Because weekday overtime paid less than weekend overtime, earnings were cut by another $12. Then, when payday arrived, even this reduced salary was inexplicably delayed.

Type
Chapter
Information
Workers and Change in China
Resistance, Repression, Responsiveness
, pp. 1 - 20
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Introduction
  • Manfred Elfstrom
  • Book: Workers and Change in China
  • Online publication: 14 January 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108923286.001
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  • Introduction
  • Manfred Elfstrom
  • Book: Workers and Change in China
  • Online publication: 14 January 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108923286.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Manfred Elfstrom
  • Book: Workers and Change in China
  • Online publication: 14 January 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108923286.001
Available formats
×