I get a kick out of these videos from the China manufacturers showing off their factories...

Here is the web site for the Lishui Andali Storage Battery Separator Co., Ltd. in Lishui, Zhejiang, China which is only about 40km down the road from my fav China town of Yongkang:
http://www.separatorc...

And here they are on Made-in-China.com:
http://www.made-in-ch...
(where they also offer drainage gratings and manhole covers)

These folks make the glass matting separators that go into the manufacture of "absorbed glass mat" sealed lead acid batteries... Mr. Lou Wei of Andali posted a video of their manufacturing operation on YouTube a while back:


There's a good chance these are the very glass mats you have in the batteries in your ebike! The folks at Andali look like a pretty serious and hard working bunch don't they?

Compare their operation with how batteries used to be made... like this operation in England about ten years ago... before their factory was closed down and production moved to China:


This abandoned Eveready Battery Factory in Cleveland is now "art"... (head bangers will want to turn their speakers up):


Hard to imagine what life must be like for the workers at the Andali Storage Battery Separator Co... Just one of millions of these little China manufacturers...

Not ebike-related exactly, but web sites like this one for a China printing company in Dongguan, GuangDong don't offer any clues to work life for its staff:
http://www.yiuwah.com...

...but this report by China Labour Watch (CLW) last year paints a pretty bleak picture... CLW went into the factory to investigate the death of a 17 year old worker there that had been crushed to death by the equipment, but the rest of the report details working life for most Chinese:
http://www.chinalabor...

...pretty amazing in "western" terms... "... two days of rest a month..."

Every day there are two 8 hour work shifts. Daytime shifts run 8 am-noon and 1:30-5:30 pm with an hour and a half for lunch break. Night shifts run from 8:30 pm-5 am with a break from 11:30-midnight.

The factory is called “easy entry” and it can also be called “poorly paying”. Base salary for average workers is only $113/month. Skilled workers only make $147/month. Every day workers work 2 hours overtime during the off season and up to 4 hours during peak season. Workers are required to work overtime on Saturdays and holidays, and regardless of the reason for overtime hours, workers are only paid at a rate of $0.71/hour.

The factory's dormitory conditions are poor. The total costs for accommodation are not high; housing is free and utilities are less than $2/month. In each room there are 8 upper and lower bunks, 16 beds in total. Each room houses 6-8 workers normally and up to 14 workers in the busy season. There are two large fans with iron protective grids and for basic safety ventilation should be unobstructed. There are laundry and restroom facilities. The men's dorm is located outside the factory along its edges. Although there is a security room, our investigator had no problem entering to take pictures. The women's dormitory is inside the factory compound and closed to outsiders. Finally, the office personnel dormitory is located 500 meters from the factory. This dormitory is set up in an apartment style with a bathroom and kitchen for every several rooms. Both workers and office personnel express that their rooms do not accommodate married couples, although some of the office personnel apartments could accommodate married couples.

The cost per month for use of the canteen is around $18. Regardless of whether workers eat there or not, this is a flat rate that cannot be returned to the worker if they sometimes choose to eat elsewhere. New workers are also required to pay this monthly fee.

This 30 minute video (embedding disabled) by Journeyman Pictures in 2007 paints a pretty bleak picture... Apparently if a worker complains about working conditions the employer can file a complaint with the authorities and the employee is shipped off for up to three years of "Education through work" in a labour camp
http://www.youtube.co...

Cheers
Lock

Yikes! Brings home the cost of finding a cheap e-bike...or anything!
C.C.