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Shein Workers Have Had It—and They’re Going Public
Workers have been sharing videos alleging the precarious working conditions that have allowed the Chinese ecommerce giant to target unstoppable growth.
In a video uploaded to the Chinese social media platform Bilibili in October, a Shein warehouse worker in southern China with black-rimmed glasses tells the camera he picked 650 clothing items during his last shift—a feat he claims to have accomplished, in part, by not taking a single bathroom break. The current monthly minimum wage for full-time employees in Guangzhou, a major Chinese city close to where many of Shein’s warehouses are located, is RMB 2,300 ($327), according to China Briefing, a website run by the consulting firm Dezan Shira & Associates (this figure excludes overtime pay and other forms of compensation). In 2020, The Informationreported on internal documents from Apple that indicated the company knew for years that a number of its suppliers in China had been exceeding the 10 percent legal cap on dispatch staffers, but didn’t take any major action over fears that intervening could increase costs and potentially delay product launches.
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