Tuesday, December 17, 2024
Anger Over Exaggerations Lies and Deceit
Anger Over Exaggerations Lies and Deceit
I cannot sit idly on the sidelines and say nothing.
On December 16, a group in New York called China Labor Watch released a 33-page report on the allegedly poor labor conditions in factories making printer cartridges in Zhuhai, China.
Zhuhai is the printing consumable capital of the world because more ribbons, inkjet and toner cartridges are made here than anywhere else on the planet.
Mr Li Qiang was born in China’s Sichuan province in 1972. He founded China Labor Watch in New York in 2000 as an independent not-for-profit organization advocating workers’ rights in China.
On the surface, that seems like a good thing. Worker’s rights around the world do need to keep evolving and improving. And China is no exception.
However, Mr Li’s latest China Labor Watch report is full of exaggerations, lies and deceit. And anyone who has visited a factory in Zhuhai, China knows it.
I have been living here in Zhuhai China now for 11 years. I continue to visit factories every week. I see what it’s really like on the production lines, in the dormitories and in the cafeterias.
Mr Li’s report bears no resemblance to the truth. He needs to come back to China and see for himself what I see, and what many of you also see when you visit Zhuhai.
Yes, I have received several messages from surprised buyers around the world that cannot believe what they have read in the China Labor Watch report.
You have used words like absurd… ridiculous… fake… out of touch… and political hack… to describe what you have read.
But do you know what has really made me angry? Our industry media.
By publishing this ridiculous, easily debunked China Labor Watch story, Actionable Intelligence, The Recycler and Toner News among others reveal, at the very best, they do not conduct even the most basic fact-checking or source verification. As such, they are not trustworthy news sites.
Let me start with Actionable Intelligence. They broke the news on December 16 with a lengthy story on the very same day, December 16, that the China Labor Watch report was published. They must have had inside knowledge to achieve that. I have to ask myself what is the motive behind this. Is it taking the printer OEM view to attack the competing aftermarket, or is it politically motivated along the lines of the trade war between the USA and China?
The Recycler Trade Magazine reported on the same report a day later. Maybe they, like myself, first saw it on the Actionable Intelligence website. They simply repeated the details from the report without undertaking any investigation whatsoever to the accuracy of the report.
And don’t get me started on Toner News. I found it difficult to agree with a single sentence of gossip it trotted out. But we all know about the fake news it generates.
Can you believe that not one of these media picked up the phone or sent a single email to the companies mentioned in the China Labor Watch report? Not one.
Charlie Brewer, Stephanie and David Connett and Jim Ladd. Not one of you had a professional bone in your bodies to check the background of this China Labor Watch report.
Not one of you cared that this body used spies to commit industrial espionage. Yes. Spies.
Not one of you cared to investigate that some of these spies, including a Mr Zhou Xiaoming, have publicly accused China Labor Watch of exaggerating and lying in their reports.
Not one of you investigated the real situation into the companies named over matters of health insurance, employee contracts, holidays, workplace conditions or annual body checks.
Not one of you reported the immense changes taking place in factories that now use automated production lines, provide air conditioning, have round the clock environmental checking stations and the like.
Not one of you even bothered to contact the companies involved. Real people in real factories.
Not one of you.
But your readers are smarter than that. Many of them have strong relationships with these manufacturers and they know the truth. Even if you don’t.
Charlie Brewer, you were here in Zhuhai just 3 years ago. You should know better. Stephanie and David Connett haven’t been here for almost a decade. And Jim Ladd has never visited at all. Shame on all of you for your lack of journalistic professionalism.
Once borders reopen, I invite you to visit Zhuhai and see the workplace and labor conditions in the factories here for yourself.
Come and see the state-of-the-art factories and labs where you could eat your lunch off the floor. Come and see the investment in automated equipment. Meet and talk with the workers. The companies you named and shamed in your articles and posts will not retaliate. They will not express their disappointment, hurt and loss of face. That is not the Chinese way.
What is the Chinese way, though, is to look at how they can improve. They have come a long way in the past 10 to 20 years. But now they will search to see what else can be done for their workers. That has been the secret behind China’s meteoric rise
Let’s all be the better people in 2022. The people I know you to be.
** You can also watch David Gibbons’ passionate comment “Anger Over Exaggerations Lies and Deceit” on inTouch TV News.
David Gibbons has 46 years of experience, knowledge and skills in business (management, consultancy, strategic planning) and communication (teaching, event management, fundraising, journalism, broadcasting and new/digital media—social, website, app development). He started and ran a successful cartridge remanufacturing business in Sydney and was also the Executive Officer of the Australasian Cartridge Remanufacturers’ Association for 7 years.
In 2011, Gibbons relocated to RT Media in Zhuhai, China where he has been a director responsible for strategic planning, senior management, event planning, marketing, broadcasting and magazine publishing on behalf of the global imaging supplies industry. He is certainly aware of the challenges of remanufacturing in China.
His other blogs include:
- Anger Over Exaggerations Lies and Deceit
- Invention—”Doing Our Part in Order to Create a Better Future”
- Einstein: Discovering the Impossible
- Defending OEM Brands Globally
- Coming of Age Determines What Happens Next
- Mito Queen of Color Shares Market Insights
- Eric Zhang Shares His Vision for Ninestar
- The Challenges of Remanufacturing in China
- Can the Chinese Really Deliver What the Rest of Us Want?
- Using Chip Technology to Control Consumer Choice and Markets
- 5 Quick Questions: Investing in Your Supply Chain
- Are You the Missing Link in the Industry Chain Berto Asks
- 6 Quick Questions: E-commerce and the New Normal: Interview with Aaron Leon
- Bike Courier Services Boom in China During Coronavirus
- Meeting the Market’s Changing Demands: SCC Responds
- Dealing with Printer Firmware Upgrades: Megain’s Wang Hua
- Best Position Ever – Serving Customers During an Economic Slowdown
- Where were you in 2019? Everything is About to Change
- A Misplaced Australian in China – a different world view
- Have you seen the news?
- To Be? Or Not to Be? … But that’s NOT the Question
- What the Dickens? Americans used to abuse IP rights too.
David,
I’m frankly surprised at the hostility and anger directed at me personally and the Actionable Intelligence team in the above post. At various points, you criticize me for not fact-checking the China Labor Watch report and contacting the companies involved. That is not true. Actionable Intelligence attempted to contact (the two Zhuhai companies). To date, we have received no reply.
The most troubling allegation in your post is that our coverage of the China Labor Watch report is “politically motivated” and somehow connected with “the trade war between the USA and China.” I don’t know what to say other than that such comments are complete rubbish. Ours is an international business, and we are not the mouthpiece for the U.S. government or any other agency—foreign or domestic.
David, I’ve known you for almost 20 years. You have my email address, mobile phone number, and my direct office line. Why didn’t you reach out to me before expressing such vitriol? We’ve had many, many exchanges over the years. Why not this time? We would have welcomed anything you would care to share. And we still do. We’ll publish your comments in front of the paywall on our site. Likewise, we’ll publish comments from (the two Zhuhai companies) should they care to share them.
Sincerely,
Charles Brewer
President, Actionable Intelligence
Thanks, Charlie for your comment. I will let our readers be the judge over the timing of any attempt to contact the companies you pilloried in your report. Given your article appeared on December 16, the same date as the Chine Labor Watch Report was also published, and it was during the nighttime in China, I am sure you did not get a response in time to amend your article.
I have been in regular contact with the parties involved and they categorically tell me there was no prior contact by you. Nor was there afterwards. I need to check with them again to see if this has changed following your message today.
In any case, if you had followed due diligence, which is your usual custom I might add, you may have published quite a different story to the one that still resides on your website.
I would be very happy to follow up this correspondence with a video call to discuss the matters raised in a constructive, professional and positive manner.
David,
The opinions you’ve expressed about me, Actionable Intelligence, and our approach to covering the news have been noted. I’m not interested in discussing your opinions on a video call.
Let me know if you’d like to contribute something to my site about the working conditions at (the two Zhuhai companies). My offer stands–I’ll publish it. Likewise, if representatives from either company would like to comment or meet with me virtually, I’ll do my best to accommodate their requests.
Suffice it to say that I will not be drawn into a personal argument with you about me or my company, David. I can understand why you’d like to shift the focus, but the issues here center on claims that some workers in Zhuhai face harsh conditions manufacturing ink and toner cartridges. Period.
Sincerely,
Charles Brewer
President, Actionable Intelligence
Thanks, Charlie for your reply
You are quite correct. The issue at hand is working conditions in Zhuhai.
Your website’s article assumed the China Labor Watch report was accurate. It is not. Did you and your staff follow due diligence in fact-checking? Did you check the credentials, practices and motives of the organisation that issued the report? In spite of all of the above, you still went ahead and published your story.
As I intimated above, you, your staff and your website have a reputation for being highly professional, but on this occasion your story is inaccurate and it has to be called out as such.