MCLC: student labor

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: student labor
***********************************************************

Source: NYT (2/7/13):
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/business/global/hewlett-packard-joins-pus
h-to-limit-use-of-student-labor-in-china.html

Hewlett Directs Its Suppliers in China to Limit Student Labor
By KEITH BRADSHER 

HONG KONG — Hewlett-Packard, one of the world’s largest makers of
computers and other electronics, is imposing new limits on the employment
of students and temporary agency workers at factories across China. The
move, following recent efforts by Apple to increase scrutiny of student
workers, reflects a significant shift in how electronics companies view
problematic labor practices in China.

Many factories in China have long relied on high school students,
vocational school students and temporary workers to cope with periodic
surges in orders as factory labor becomes increasingly scarce. Students
complain of being ordered by school administrators to put in very long
hours on short notice at jobs with no relevance to their studies; local
governments sometimes order schools to provide labor, and the factories
pay school administrators a bonus.

For much of the last decade, many of the world’s big electronics companies
have largely neglected the problem, beyond in some cases tracking reports
of the abuses. Apple made the unusual move last year of joining the Fair
Labor Association, one of the largest workplace monitoring groups, which
inspects factories in China that make computers, iPhones and other devices
under contract from Apple. And last month, Apple said it would begin
requiring suppliers to provide information about their student workers “so
we can monitor this issue more carefully.”

Now H.P. is pushing even harder. Its rules, given to suppliers in China on
Friday morning, say that all work must be voluntary, and that students and
temporary workers must be free “to leave work at any time upon reasonable
notice without negative repercussions, and they must have access to
reliable and reprisal-free grievance mechanisms,” according to the company.

The rules also require that student work “must complement the primary area
of study” — a restriction that could rule out huge numbers of students
whose studies have nothing to do with electronics or manufacturing.

Enforcing workplace rules in China has always been difficult, as even
Chinese laws on labor practices are flagrantly ignored by some
manufacturers as they struggle to keep up with production demand amid
labor shortages. The Chinese government announced last month that the
nation’s labor force had begun to shrink slowly because of the
increasingly rigorous one-child policy through the 1980s and 1990s.

But complying with the new rules might be easier for suppliers contracting
with H.P., which has relatively steady demand through the year for its
products, than for suppliers working for rivals like Apple, with its big
bursts of sales when new models are introduced.

Howard Clabo, an H.P. spokesman, said that the company would hold training
sessions for suppliers starting in March and also discussion sessions for
government officials, nongovernment organizations and academics — an
initiative that could put pressure on other companies.

Tony Prophet, H.P.’s senior vice president for worldwide supply chain
operations, said in a phone interview that H.P. was also capping the
combined number of students and temp workers at any supplier factory at no
more than 20 percent of labor during peak periods, which tend to be during
summer vacations and the lengthy Chinese New Year holiday. H.P. plans to
reduce that to 10 percent, but has not decided when, Mr. Prophet said.

The practice of employing students and temporary workers has been at the
center of growing criticism of employment practices at Chinese suppliers
used by big international electronics companies. Some of the companies are
now seeing that the problems can harm their reputations.

In announcing increased scrutiny of student workers last month, Apple said
in its supplier responsibility report that the “cyclical nature” of the
student work “makes it difficult to catch problems.”

“We’ve begun to partner with industry consultants to help our suppliers
improve their policies, procedures and management of internship programs
to go beyond what the law requires,” Apple said.

Mr. Prophet of H.P. presented his company’s new rules as a sign of
corporate responsibility, as opposed to a competitive maneuver. “We’re
doing this because we think this is an important issue, and there are
certainly concerns around it and some ambiguity around the appropriate
standards,” he said.

Labor activists have been particularly critical of Foxconn, a large
Taiwanese contract manufacturer that produces electronic devices for
Hewlett-Packard, Apple and other companies.

Mr. Prophet of H.P. declined to discuss Foxconn’s work except to say that
Foxconn would also be expected to meet the new standards. Foxconn
manufactures computers for the Chinese domestic market in partnership with
H.P. in Chongqing.

Liu Kaiming, the director of the Institute of Contemporary Observation, a
group in Shenzhen, China, that advocates for labor rights, said some
vocational school students spent the last year of school working at
Foxconn and other factories.

“This sometimes even involves forced labor, which is absolutely against
the corporate social responsibilities of companies like Apple and H.P.,”
Mr. Liu said.

Foxconn, in a statement, said that it had an apprenticeship program
allowing students to work for one to six months on a voluntary basis only.
Students are given subsidized housing and food like full-time workers, are
paid above the minimum wage and are not allowed to work overtime or night
shifts, Foxconn said.

Foxconn also said that it did not use workers from temporary employment
agencies, and that on average students made up only 2.7 percent of its
work force over a year. The company did not provide peak percentages
during school holidays.

Mr. Prophet said that restricting students and temp workers would limit
the company’s ability to increase production during seasonal spikes in
demand.

“That is a compromise,” he said, adding that H.P. and the industry will
“have to be increasingly sharp in their demand forecasts.”
Anita Chan, an expert on labor issues in China and a visiting fellow at
the Australian National University in Sydney, said electronics companies
should not use student workers at all.

“Often, they are forced to work in a factory like it’s an internship, and
the schools may take a cut of the salary; often, they even send teachers
to the factory to make sure the students are disciplined,” she said,
adding that schools continue charging tuition while students are in
factories.

Electronics companies have taken the position that students also do summer
jobs in other countries, including the United States, and learn something
just from being in a work setting.

Keith Bradsher reported from Hong Kong and David Barboza from Shanghai. Xu
Yan contributed research from Shanghai.