Anecdotes from China & Nicaragua:
Ana Maria Barahona works in Nicaragua. Ana Maria moved to a free trade zone, where workers are purported to make more money. However, her total income of $2 per day decreased to $0.50 per day after $1 was deducted for lunch and $0.50 for transportation. Further, (1) neither Anna Maria nor her coworkers were given safety equipment, (2) many supervisors yelled at and beat the women (when one fought back, she was fired and arrested until an NGO advocated for her release, leaving her children alone overnight), and (3) their pay stubs were highly inaccurate - they only showed eight hours of work per day, even though many employees were forced to work some 24-hour days and most worked at least 12 to 16 hours per day. Also, age (over 25) and weight are two factors for women's employment, and it was against the rules for women to become pregnant (so many forced miscarriages). When Ana Maria's employers discovered that she was organizing a union, she was fired and blacklisted. She now works for a labor rights union and has launched a literacy campaign for working women.
Kate C. works in a factory in China that produces toys for Wal-Mart. Kate came to this factory to leave Wal-Mart and to search for better conditions than the factory at which she previously worked. However, she found that this factory also produces for Wal-Mart and that the conditions are even worse. She and her coworkers do not receive insurance. When a worker is injured, they are sent to one clinic, their medical records are sent to the factory, and neither the factory or Wal-Mart compensate employees for work-related injuries. Their factories are inspected regularly, but they are given a one-month warning to prepare and all employees are told to say good things. They are rewarded for saying the ‘right’ answers and fired if they do not. There are Chinese labor laws, but they are ignored.
