How You Will Help Determine the Future of China's Workers

China, and the over 700 million workers who live there, is standing at a tipping point. One on side is a future filled with empowered employees and a vibrant middle-class. On the other is a future where human trafficking and workplace abuses can thrive. And you're the one who can nudge China in the right direction.

Currently, China's workforce is caught in the tension between two major trends. On one hand, life is getting better for a lot of Chinese workers. Pressure from foreign governments, media, and consumers has supported workers' rights to organize and helped increase wages for millions around the country. Better legal protections against human trafficking and exploitation have been created. Chinese factories are becoming increasingly automated, and their aging population is rising up through the ranks to better jobs with better pay. And all of this means a strong Chinese middle class is growing, creating better opportunities for all Chinese workers and reducing many workers' reliance on low-wage jobs abuse is easy to perpetrate.

On the other hand, China is seeing a movement toward manufacturing being centralized into Foxconn-style mega-factories the size of cities, where up to 30,000 workers live, eat, sleep, and work. In the past, Foxconn factories have been cited with violating workers' rights, and recently saw a string of workers committing suicide. This model of manufacturing can lead to workplace abuses because it's significantly harder for workers to demand rights when their employer controls their home, their meals, their transportation, and their actual job. Many human trafficking victims can't escape abuse because they live and work in the same place, or because their abusive employer controls so much of their life, they feel hopeless.

Each year, the U.S. imports billions of dollars of goods from China, including electronics, clothing, car parts, soccer balls, and food. The things we wear, buy, eat, and use in the next 10 years will probably be made in China. Luckily, you have a say in whether those things are made by exploited, trapped, or trafficked workers or empowered workers making a decent living.

Take a minute to ask Gov. Schwarzenegger to pass the California Supply Chain Transparency Act. If passed, it would require all large companies doing business in California (which is most large companies in the world) to publicly disclosure how they track and monitor their supply chains. So you'll be able to see whether that new smart phone you're lusting after came from a mega-factory where workers are killing themselves to escape or an employee-owned cooperative. And when companies know their consumers are keeping an eye on where they source their products, their more likely to use fairly-produced materials.

Knowing where our products come from gives us the power to make choices that are better for workers, the world, and ourselves. It gives us the power to shape the future of China.

Photo credit: Erick Charleton