This is true of Reebok, Adidas and the other major brand-news. This deposit is often equivalent to a month's wages or more and those workers who quit before completing a year of work have to forfeit the deposit. Collusion between local governments and foreign investors often ensures that infringement of the Chinese labor laws are kept secret from Beijing. In many footwear factories enforced overtime exceed the legal maximum, wages are below the legal minimum, there are no days off for weeks on end, substantial fines are levied for trivial offenses and corporal punishment and physical abuse are common occurrences. Exposure for sustained periods carries a high risk of fatal illness.
Some employers simply replace the glue-shop workers before symptoms appear.
The government of Indonesia recently waged the minimum wage for footwear workers in certain areas of the country and then postponed the implementation of this policy at the request of the footwear companies. Workers are routinely required to work two to four hours of overtime a day for a total of 10 to 12 working hours a day, upon threat of termination of employment. The workers in Nike factories in Vietnam are not making a livable wage. Ninety percent of workers interviewed said they received extra help in terms of money, food or housing from their families to make ends meet. Workers cannot go to the bathroom more than once per 8-hour shift and they cannot drink water more than twice per shift.