rice again

This in the New Zealand press today.

Air New Zealand’s Shanghai-based flight attendants are paid a quarter the salary of their NZ colleagues - less than the legal minimum wage here.

And Kiwi Chris’ views here at his blog, one of my favorites, Bezdomny Expatria.

And that is a pathetic excuse. “Market relativity” my arse. “Oh, we didn’t do it, it was a Chinese company”. Yeah, that’ll serve you real well when the Chinese people hear of this. Can anybody in Air New Zealand spell “impending Chinese boycott”?

Cheap Chinese labour is is what brings companies here and is no doubt why Air NZ contracted FESCO in the first place. Nonetheless these people are getting paid peanuts even by Shanghai standards (3000CNY / mth?) and are being forced to rub shoulders with their white counterparts make 3 times as much for the same job. I would be PISSED! I also understand being an air crew member is an extremely demanding and lonely job with a disproportionatley high suicide rate. AirNZ definately have something to answer for..

HOWEVER:

Labour costs are different across country boarders so outsourcing cheap foriegn labour is not a new concept and I don’t find it to be wrong in it’s self so long as employees are treated to the standard that would be expected by the companies own Nationals. Sadly this is not always the case and outsourcing is so often the excuse for F’ups and abuses in the Chinese market. Apple ipod factories, deaths on Olympic construction sites, Nike factories, Mattel poisoning kids with lead paint (the Chinese make our toys!). Perhaps the real aggrevating factor here is the cross boarder nature of the job, different sectors of the labour market are in constant contact. Ahh yes, globalisation.