By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SHANGHAI, China – Two Chinese factories have been found to have violated local labor laws, such as working employees for too many consecutive hours and failing to register more than 300 workers between the ages of 16 and 18.  The factories supply goods to Microsoft and other global companies.

In response to these reports, Microsoft Corporation said it is investigating allegations of worker abuse at a factory, which primarily produces computer mice, cameras as well as many other devices for the technology giant. KYE Systems Corporation is also reacting to the situation for products the factories make for it.

The ordeal is a response to effort by the National Labor Committee, a human rights group, a New York-based nonprofit that monitors the treatment and local practices of foreign workers by U.S. companies.  According to Charles Kernaghan, director of the National Labor Committee, “The factory was really run like a minimum security prison.” The report issued by the National Labor Committee states that KYE recruits employees, many of whom are 16 and 17 years old, to work 15-hour shifts six to seven days a week, paying them 65 cents an hour, which then is reduced to 52 cents an hour, after deductions for food.

The National Labor Committee went on to discuss conditions and treatment in its report. According to the group’s findings, workers are housed in cramped quarters in factory dormitories and prohibited from talking, listening to music or using the bathroom during work hours. Employees were also forced to work an excessive amount of overtime in March, clocking about 280 hours, the report said. The report also indicated that copies their employment contracts were not given to the employees. However, in response to these statements, company officials said that based on interviews with workers, there were no restrictions against using the restroom during shifts, and that it is the company’s policy to give workers 10-minute breaks for every two hours worked.

In a press interview, KYE Systems Corporation spokesman, Lai Jin-hui, insisted that factories did nothing wrong regarding overtime and had followed regulations that limit the workweek to 60 hours. But Lai acknowledged that the factories failed to properly register workers and would now fix the problem.

For more information, please see:

Yahoo! Finance – China factories break labor rules – 19 April 2010

 The New York Times – Chinese Suppliers to Microsoft Cited for Labor Violations – 19 April 2010

The Wall Street Journal – Microsoft to Probe Conditions in China – 19 April 2010