Global Supply Chains

Issue No : 44 January - March 2011

Editorial: Global Supply Chains - Struggle within or against them?

In this issue of Asian Labour Update we focus on one of our recurring themes: global supply chains. By now in 2011, the world has faced the enormous costs of an economic system that spreads production and consumption all around the world, forcing countries of various levels of economic development to open and ‘free’ their economies and markets – and begun to recognize the fundamental risks, unsustainability and injustice arising from it.
Global Supply Chains and Their Impact on the Labour Movement in Asia

Globalization and the increased internationalization of supply chains have been shaped primarily by transnational corporations, by increasingly globalizing their operations around the world in order to lower costs. Countries in need of investment and foreign exchange are put into competition with each other to attract these operations by offering their labour and natural resources. Ultimately, workers and communities in the participating countries are also put into competition against each other as they are dragged into jobs tied to global supply chains....The division of labour ends up having disastrous impacts on the environment and the society of third world countries in various ways, and the worst affected are the labour force.
Which side are you on? Lessons from the strikes at auto suppliers in South China

The labour conflicts of last summer in South China made big news in Chinese and international media. As workers in supplier companies for Honda, Toyota and other auto multinationals downed tools, business media such as the British ‘Economist’ expressed fear over the ‘rising power of workers in China’. At the same time, a tragic series of suicides at Foxconn – the world’s largest contract manufacturer of computers, iPods, and other mobile electronics gear – exposed the inhumane nature of low-wage mass production for global brands such as Apple, HP or Nokia. Both events had a major impact among trade unions, labour activists, and the general public in China- perhaps a watershed in the future development of labour relations in the country. This article provides an analysis of the events last summer and its aftermath, including discussions on reform of labour policies and recent wage negotiations in Guangdong.
International Workshop on Chinese Labour Regulations

On 6-7 January 2011, AMRC, Worker Empowerment and the Department of Applied Social Studies of City University of Hong Kong held an international workshop on the 'Changing Labour Regulations in China- Practice and Challenges'.
Cheap Labour In Essence, Students In Name: Vocational School Interns In China

As part of the industrial planning, vocational schools should fulfill the needs of economic development, and reflect the economic development situation of the country. Until 1949 China’s vocational education development was very slow, and then passed through two major peaks in its development, respectively, before the Cultural Revolution in 1965 and after the reform and opening up in 1978.
Korea House of International Solidarity: Responding to Labour Issues in Global Supply Chains

AMRC: How does your organization work to promote solidarity of Korean workers with people in other countries affected by Korean corporations? What kinds of groups in Koreado you work with – which unions or associations/organizations (political parties, churches too?) promote Korean support for workers and people affected in other countries?
The global supply chain is our God? Case study of Batam Free Trade Zone as Singapore’s backyard for manufacturing processes

A wide variety of accounts of global supply chains (GSCs) have been produced which emphasize how financialization and technological innovation have removed the barriers to capital mobility. In this article, we approach the global supply chain (GSC) in the context of the very nature of capital, which both produces and perpetuates the conditions for capital accumulation, i.e. where an abundant labour reserve is produced through the opening up of the new territory for a production space.
Foxconn Workers Speak: We Are Treated Worse Than Machines

According to workers of Foxconn India, the company in Tamilnadu now makes and assembles the outer cover (plastic and metal) of mobile phones and supplies it to Nokia. (Earlier Foxconn used to assemble whole mobile phones for Sony Ericsson and Motorola.)

ISSN 1815-9389

Issue Number 78

January - March 2011

EDITOR and Layout

Doris Lee

with Layout Assistance from Rey Asis

EDITORIAL TEAM

ApoLeong, Sanjiv Pandita, Omana George, Sri Wulandari,

Sally Choi, Fahmi Panimbang and Surendra Pratap

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE (ALU) is a quarterly news bulletin on labour issues in southern and eastern Asia. It is prepared and published by the Asia Monitor Resource Centre Ltd (AMRC), a non-profit, pro-labour, non-governmental organization based in Hong Kong.

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Cover Design: Rey Asis

Guest writers in this issue

Boy Lüthje is a senior fellow at the Institute of Social Research at the University of Frankfurt in Germany and a visiting scholar at the East-West Center in Honolulu, specializing on global production in China and other developing economies. Email: luethje@soz.uni-frankfurt.de.

Wang Ting is a PhD. Candidate from City University of Hong Kong.

Liang Shumei works for Labour Education and Service Network, a Hong Kong-based labour NGO serving workers in mainland China. Email: lesnhkweb@lesnhk.org.

Becky Fung and Francine Chan work for Worker Empowerment (WE), a Hong Kong-based labour organization which concerns labour rights in China. WE developed a community approach to outreach workers, migrant workers in particular, and to organize them through labour education. Email: workerempowerment@gmail.com

Hyun-phil Na is the Vice Executive Director of Korea House of International Solidarity. Email: khis21@empas.com.

Teruko Watanabeis a member of the Action Center for Working Women (ACW2) and Working Women’s Network in Japan. Email: teruhiroasa@yahoo.co.jp

Venkatachandrika Radhakrishnan and Madhumita Dutta work for Corporate Accountability Desk, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. Emails: vchandrikar@gmail.com and madhu.dutta@gmail.com, respectively.

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