STATEMENT OF U.S. REPRESENTATIVE JAN SCHAKOWSKY IN OPPOSITION TO GRANTING CHINA PERMANENT NORMAL TRADE RELATIONS

"One of the more compelling arguments for Permanent Normal Trade Relations is that it will improve the life of Chinese workers and that U.S. companies will export higher wages and better working conditions. But a factual and shocking report says exactly the opposite. The report was prepared by the National Labor Committee and entitled Made in China: The Role of U.S. Companies in Denying Human and Worker Rights.

"The report found that instead U.S. companies are taking advantage of the near slave labor conditions and wages that persist in Chinese factories. We should not be surprised. U.S. companies operating in China like Wal-Mart, half of whose U.S. employees qualify for food stamps, have workers in China, nearly half of which owe the factory money. They owe the factory money after working for a month, 12 to 14 hours a day, making Kathie Lee Gifford handbags

"Proponents of this proposal dismiss those of us who raise labor and human rights abuses as isolationist and anti progress. They could not be further from the truth. We favor establishing rules that protect workers and promote American ideals."