Inside the Chinese factory in Ethiopia where Ivanka Trump places her shoe orders
Workers are lined up and forced to march on command twice a day. "Marching is an exercise for motion coordination, team building and obedience. What we do here is team work, everyone must be focused and act as a team." the team leader says.
By Zhang Zizhu in Ethiopia.
“One! Two! Three! Four!” The workers march on the spot on the command. A slogan reads, “100 percent understanding, 100 percent cooperation, 100 percent obedience, 100 percent execution” on a wall behind them.
Ten minutes later, as the chanting fades, production resumes. The same training is carried out twice a day. In addition to lining up and assembly, sometimes workers are asked to sing the factory song in Chinese.
“Marching is an exercise for motion coordination, team building and obedience. What we do here is team work, everyone must be focused and act as a team.” Song Yiping explains that the content of the exercises is sometimes production-related, and if someone makes a mistake at work or doesn’t attain the required output goals, the team leaders will criticise and punish them. “The assembly and the singing of the factory song are different forms of corporate cultural education that is meant to make the workers like the and love the company. This is to implant the right spirit and culture in the workers.”
However, Song thinks that calling the management at Huajian “military-styled” might be exaggerating. “We’re not as strict,” he says, and this has always been Huajian’s management style, whether in China or overseas. Yet he admits that Chinese manufacturers have their own management culture, which is different from other companies. “Chinese factories demand more in corporate cultural building. “If there is no rule, no management, then there is no guarantee of efficiency and how could a company survive?”
Trump will not be able to bring many jobs back to the United States. “Made in China” has the know-how, experiences and customers, and now it’s able to cut production cost further by moving to Africa where labour and tariffs are cheaper.
Newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump has frequently accused China of stealing US jobs in the manufacturing sector through unfair trade practices, and pledged to take work opportunities back from China.
Trump is going to have a hard time putting his money where his mouth is, if Ethiopia is any indication of how manufacturing jobs in China have moved to Africa. Due to increasing operational costs domestically, some Chinese manufacturers are relocating their investments to Africa, including Huajian, a Chinese shoe giant that produces products for Ivanka Trump.
Making Ethiopia Great Again!
“It is an understandable pursuit of the United States to create jobs. But it is unlikely for some industries to go back there”, says the Chairman of Huajian Group Zhang Huarong. Given that shoe making and garment making are labour intensive, the high labour costs in the United States has put US manufacturers at a disadvantage compared to countries in the developing world.
Mr. Zhang doesn’t think President Trump will cast shadows over his business, because a veteran like Trump “would never choose politics over business”.
I wonder how long it's going to be before the manufacturing of Donald Trumps products moves to Africa...Oh wait, some of his products are made in....drum roll please....MEXICO...
MMGA, MCGA
''Mr. Zhang doesn’t think President Trump will cast shadows over his business, because a veteran like Trump “would never choose politics over business”.
Double Bingo.
I wonder how long it's going to be before the manufacturing of Donald Trumps products moves to Africa...Oh wait, some of his products are made in....drum roll please....MEXICO...
Will he be able to afford the tariff after he does away with NAFTA? Or imposes a 25% tax on everything coming from Mexico? Or will he find a way to exempt Trump products? Of course under Intentional Trading Laws (which the U.S. subscribes to) if he imposes a 25% tax on all goods coming into the States from The United States of Mexico, he has to impose the same tariff on all goods coming into the States from everywhere. Canada, China, Germany, etc.
A little exercise like that when you're at a job that has you sitting all day doesn't seem like such a terrible idea to me.
Probably not Buzz, but the point of the article is where the products are manufactured and it isn't the U.S.
MAGA
Well, you know the old saying:
If the shoe fit...wear it!
"100 percent understanding, 100 percent cooperation, 100 percent obedience, 100 percent execution"
Lol - when a Chinese authority says this, be alarmed.