Global Monitor is committed to:
- Promote public awareness of the adverse effects of globalization, neo-liberalism and corporate monopoly.
- Support government legislation to protect the rights of young people, women, consumers, marginal groups, workers, and the environment.
- Promote an autonomous social movement to fight for political and economic democracy and the just distribution of social resources.
Through research, publications, training, and public forums, as well as local, regional and international exchanges and solidarity campaigns, we support autonomous movements to fight for decent work with a living wage, climate justice and a sustainable environment.
Monitoring China
China has fully integrated into the global market and transformed itself into a powerful exporting machine. However, the comparative advantages of Chinese products rest on the high level of exploitation of both working people and the environment. Workers and farmers are denied the basic political freedoms, and crucially, the right of association. Rural migrant workers are further denied full freedom of residence and of movement in the cities. Lacking the basic tools for self-defense, workers must endure extremely low wages and high intensity of work and working hours. The lack of genuine democratic and independent trade unions is a major reason why China is the most popular destination for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the world, and why half of world’s workers working in Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are found in China.
China’s membership of the WTO is also beginning to have a negative impact on farmers, which in turn is feeding the migration to off farm jobs in towns and cities. This migration is further depressing actual wages as workers are not permitted to organize in defense of their collective interests. State-owned enterprise (SOE) restructuring has also deepened with WTO membership and 40 million workers have been laid off in recent years as SOEs attempt to increase ‘efficiency’ to meet foreign competitions.
The gross exploitation of Chinese workers and our environment should be a concern not only to the working people of Hong Kong but also of global civil society. China has become a major player in the race to the bottom for working people, not only among Asian countries but also across the world. Global Monitor is keen to cooperate with other like-minded organizations in monitoring the impact of globalization on working people in China and promote alternatives to profit-centered development in China and everywhere.
Contact details:
Website: http://globemonitor.org/
Email: [email protected]