Rejected petition Impose a minimum wage and maximum workers' hours on trade contracts with China

Contracts for work to be done in China should specify that all workers on the contract shall be paid at least the British minimum wage at the current fair rate of exchange and shall not work more days or hours than they would be allowed to work in the UK. This clause to be inspected and enforced by an Inspectorate of the Department of International Development.

Background: Chinese workers are driven to work in factories at pitiful wages, and the suicide rate among Chinese factory workers is astronomic. This is partly due to the way they are treated in the sweatshops, and partly due to the starvation wages.

I realise you can't stop British companies trying to save money by outsourcing to China. In most cases companies soon learn that if you want to produce goods of quality you would be better off making them in Europe, if not in Britain. But in the meantime the least we can do is to insist that workers on contracts placed by British companies shall be properly paid.