Sacom

Hong Kong-based labor rights organization SACOM is calling on Walmart to investigate one of its Chinese suppliers following a series of industrial accidents in which workers lost limbs.

Students and Scholars against Corporate Misbehavior interviewed seven workers who were seriously injured while working at the Elec-Tech factory in the coastal city of Zhuhai in southern China.

In a report published on 18 August the organization says that in the year from June 2009 to June 2010, 60 workers have had disability assessments following accidents at the Zhuhai plant.

22 year-old Ruan Libing lost his left forearm in an accident at the plant on July 10 last year while working the nightshift. The company paid him 90,000 yuan (US$ 13,256) following the accident, but he is currently suing them for additional compensation.

An Elec-Tech manager speaking by telephone from Zhuhai confirmed that the court case was in progress.

The manager said he could not give the exact number of industrial accidents because the figures are kept at departmental levels, but added that, last year, “As far as I know less than ten industrial accidents caused injuries to workers.”

Elec-Tech supplies a wide range of home appliances to Walmart and other major supermarket chains. The company is quoted on the Shenzhen stock exchange (002005) and employs 12,000 people across China. It has 6,000 employees in Zhuhai.

The SACOM report claims the company imposes fines of between 300 and 800 yuan on workers who are injured in industrial accidents. Ruan Libing was fined after he lost his forearm.

According to SACOM “The fine implies that the worker is at fault for his or her own injury. Workers believe Elec-Tech uses the fines as a tactic to deter post-injury litigation.” In the court case with Ruan Libing, SACOM say the company is using the fine it imposed on Ruan to deny responsibility for his injury.

Asked about the fines, the company manager said “The situation is complicated. If the workers do not follow the operation manual, and cause mistakes in production, not only the workers but also the head of their assembly line, department or even the factory may be fined.”

“Sometimes young workers in their early 20s do not follow the manual strictly and cause injuries,” he added.

The SACOM report suggests accidents are the result of the intensity of work in the Zhuhai plant, where manager bonuses depend on productivity, and exhausting work schedules with compulsory overtime of up to 134 hours a month. The legal maximum amount of overtime allowed under China’s Labor Law is 36 hours per month.

“I cannot say 100 percent we do not have an overwork problem but our workers do not work more than the maximum time regulated in the Labor Law,” the Elec-Tech manager said.

Ask how the company will respond to the report, the manager said: “We will improve our management of both equipment and staff. We will increase safety training and education for the workers to make sure they strictly follow the operations manual.”

According to the SACOM report safety training provided by the company is inadequate. The report also says that infra-red safety devices are available for some of the machines at the plant but have not been installed.

Ruan Libing said the workplace was crowded and noisy with materials strewn around the workshop. He said four other accidents took place in the month he lost his arm.

“The company just told us to be careful,” Ruan said. “I think their training and management are both flawed.”

Elec-Tech posted net profits of 49 million yuan (US$ 7.2 million) in 2009 following a 162 million yuan loss in 2008. Walmart’s earnings rose 3.6 percent in Q2 2010 to US$3.59 billion, driven mainly by sales growth in China and Brazil.