China Is Our Friend, Part 45875

Yah. "The Workers' Paradise" alright.

Verité, the social compliance company, says workers were not properly paid for overtime work in 68 percent of the factories it audited last year, a figure virtually unchanged from previous years. Employees worked beyond the legal limit in two-thirds of the factories it audited. The company has performed about 400 audits in China since 2002

...Despite the spreading use of social compliance audits, department stores or the owners of major Western brands are sometimes unaware - or are willfully ignorant - of the scale of the abuses, said Daniella Gould, the top manager in East Asia for Impactt, a company that audits factories and offers training to Chinese managers

Actually, PRChina may well BE a "workers' paradise,"--but no PRC officials really care:

On the books, Chinese labor laws are strict. The workweek is 40 hours, after which generous overtime must be paid, ranging from 150 percent to 200 percent of base salary, until a total of 66 hours, the effective legal weekly limit. Workers are entitled to at least one day off a week. No one younger than 16 is allowed to work in a factory

The 'social audit' people who spoke for the record were very careful to point the finger of blame at the low-level "local" Commies who "are interested in economic development." Other reports from PRC indicate that ChiCom higher-ups (Politburo members and their families) are often investors in factories. In other words, the local yokels keep their hands off for a damn good reason: screwing up the Politburo's personal get-rich schemes can cost you your life, or at least your position and comfy home.

In the article, Apple is ID'd as a "good guy."

Let's hope that Apple is not the only one.