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Report: GE supplier in China accused of labor abuses
USA Today
March 25, 2008
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A new report says a Chinese factory that makes light bulbs for Connecticut-based General Electric (GE) subjects many of its employees to 64-hour work weeks and toxic mercury used in the production process.
Cleveland-based Policy Matters Ohio accuses Xiamen Topstar Lighting Co. of violating China's labor law and GE's own corporate policies. Xiamen Topstar is a joint venture between Topstar in China and Fairfield, Conn.-based GE.
The plant in Xiamen, Fujian Province, in southern China makes energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs that contain mercury.
The report says exhausted employees do not know they are working with a toxic substance, and it calls on GE to stop abusing workers and maintain a U.S. workforce to make energy efficient products.
Kim Freeman, a spokeswoman for GE Consumer & Industrial in Louisville, says the company cannot comment immediately because officials are reviewing the report.
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