International Labor Rights

Today's post from the WaPo points to the complexity of international labor standards and international labor rights. The Chinese contractor described here, likely suppying US or EU markets, has contracted further to Vietnam. Vietnam is described as deficient to China in H&S protections.

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China Ventures Southward

In Search of Cheaper Labor, Firms Invest in Vietnam

By Peter S. Goodman

Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, December 6, 2005; Page D01

HANOI Before he left his native China two years ago, Li Shaoxing was losing money at his plastic-bag factory in the center of the country. Though his homeland had become synonymous with plentiful cheap labor and limitless manufacturing spoils, he was grappling with rising wages, energy shortages and flat prices for his goods.

So, much as capitalists have always done, Li went looking for an easier place to profit. He ventured south of the border, putting up a factory here in a new industrial park in northern Vietnam, where wages are roughly one-third cheaper than at home and where workplace safety and environmental standards are in scant evidence.
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