Undercover Video Reveals Child Labor in Changshu

2016/11/24

Chen Xiaoli

Program Code: 0909346161121010 Source: Miaopai

An undercover video released by Pear Video on November 21 showed the rampant use of underage workers in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, which is known for its garment industry.

In the footage, teen employees are forced to work overtime at a garment factory. If they don’t follow the order, they would most likely get beaten.

According to the video, the young workers cannot get the salary until the end of the year. If they ever tried to run away, their ID cards, bank cards and mobile phones would be confiscated by the boss.

Agents found most of the underage workers in Yunnan as "they are easy to cheat" and then sold them to garment factories.

An unidentified source said in the video that it is common for garment factories to recruit five to six child employees without any contract. Given that the tasks usually don’t require high skills, child workers can finish them to the same standard as experienced workers but for just one-third of the salary.

The video went viral quickly on social media, which pushed the Changshu government to investigate and crack down on it.

In a statement released by the city's official Weibo account, a 40-year-old foreman of the unlicensed workshop surnamed Feng has been arrested.

The man who shot the video expressed his mixed feelings on Wechat afterward.

"After I made the video, I hesitated whether to release it or not. It can prompt the government to crack down on the illegal act. But as long as the factories are shut down, these child workers will lose their means of livelihood, or probably have to work at places with even worse conditions,” the man surnamed Zhou said. “However, I also want to show the public that in such a prosperous region, there are also a lot of young children living like this."

Most Read

Undercover Video Reveals Child Labor in Changshu

Email this to your friend