I doubt working for BYD is any worse than working for Amazon. China just has more manufacturing jobs which tend to suck more than other jobs and exploit workers in more visible ways. It is still the case that by most metrics (quality of life, affordability of homes, income inequality, etc.) China is better. That doesn’t mean they don’t exploit workers or that we should adopt their system, because it has flaws of its own that we can learn from. IMO it was a mistake to require that all labor unions be formalized under the ACFTU (All-China Federation of Trade Unions). By banning independent unions the state becomes a magnet for corruption and a barrier to working class progress. The business community forms relationships with government and is able to exert influence over the ACFTU to control workers. That being said, even a bureaucratic union constrained by the state is better than no union at all because they at least have to maintain the appearance of protecting the interests of the working class.
Contractors hired to build BYD’s factory in Hungary allegedly kept thousands of employees working seven days a week, with shifts lasting more than 12 hours a day,
84 hours a week is worse than anything Amazon has done. And we need to fix Amazon.
This is a perfect analogy. Amazon is bad. BYD is much worse.
People work multiple jobs and can still barely afford rent, our homeless population is way higher, we have the highest amount of incarcerated %of the population in the entire world, etc etc.
We have problems to work on. Things here are far from ideal.
But China is not the right direction. I’d rather be here than China.
I doubt working for BYD is any worse than working for Amazon. China just has more manufacturing jobs which tend to suck more than other jobs and exploit workers in more visible ways. It is still the case that by most metrics (quality of life, affordability of homes, income inequality, etc.) China is better. That doesn’t mean they don’t exploit workers or that we should adopt their system, because it has flaws of its own that we can learn from. IMO it was a mistake to require that all labor unions be formalized under the ACFTU (All-China Federation of Trade Unions). By banning independent unions the state becomes a magnet for corruption and a barrier to working class progress. The business community forms relationships with government and is able to exert influence over the ACFTU to control workers. That being said, even a bureaucratic union constrained by the state is better than no union at all because they at least have to maintain the appearance of protecting the interests of the working class.
84 hours a week is worse than anything Amazon has done. And we need to fix Amazon.
This is a perfect analogy. Amazon is bad. BYD is much worse.
People work multiple jobs and can still barely afford rent, our homeless population is way higher, we have the highest amount of incarcerated %of the population in the entire world, etc etc.