Do You Own Pre-Worn Jeans? They May Have Caused Devastating Lung Illnesses In Chinese Workers

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Yet grassroots worker activism is pushing back against the government’s inaction. Since the mid 2000s, migrant workers have organized protests against employers, some workers' groups have filed high-profile lawsuits against individual employers, and journalists and political bloggers who have helped publicize their plight. Nonetheless, even in cases when negative publicity pressured employers to agree to compensate workers, researchers found that the money the workers and their families were awarded quickly evaporated due to the exorbitant cost of care combined with the loss of income after victims became too sick to work.

CLB’s report quotes He Bing, a prominent advocate for pneumoconiosis-stricken workers, describing the official response as "just a way for the government to take pity on us." He continues, "Honestly, we do not want the government to give us 2,000 yuan (US $326) or whatever. What we really need is for them to protect the rights of people with pneumoconiosis, allow them to have their occupational illness recognized and get compensation."

Blasting the industry

In the case of the denim workers in Guangdong, SACOM is demanding that the global brands using the sandblasting factories take responsibility. SACOM advocate Pui Kwan Liang tells Working In These Times via email:

The brands are not required by the law to make compensation but since the workers are suppressed by the suppliers in China and the brands are making huge profit every day with the workers’ sacrifices, it is no doubt that the brands are ethically responsible to such issue.

Under pressure from international advocates for garment workers, several apparel brands, including Levi Strauss and H&M, have in recent years announced plans to phase out sandblasting, which has previously been used in factories in Bangladesh and Turkey. But SACOM’s investigations show that in the apparel industry's twisted supply chains, “regardless of whether a brand has ‘banned’ sandblasting or not, the practice continues—to the point that some factories have taken to hiding sandblasting machinery in sealed rooms to avoid detection, while others have simply subcontracted the procedure.”

Meanwhile, the real distress of global capitalism is surfacing all over Guangdong, as workers continue shredding their lungs so Western consumers can wear perfectly abused denim.

To learn more about the online campaign to stop sandblasting in denim manufacturing, go to SACOM's petition page.