Labor Migration through an Intersectional Lens in Chicken Feathers and Garlic Skins

   

Blog Post (Karisty Lang) 

I chose the passages from pages 24-25. These passages showed how Chun Yu was disappointed at the living conditions on Saipan. She was told that it would be a lot different but it didn't seem that way. Most of the people in the factory with her are of Asian decent. They were living at least 8 to a room. I believe this shows how Chun Yu figures out what factories were really like in Saipan. She moved far away from her home not knowing what to expect just to find out that she would live in a hot room with 8 women.  This was a problem for her. 

Pages 30 (The Factory Hierarchy) and 32-36 (Getting Ahead at Mirage) best exemplifies class problematic for migrant workers. Wang left her family to work in Saipan because she thinks Saipan will give her better working conditions and wages. She is determined to provide for her family back home. Aunt Zhu also tempted her by saying that "Saipan is  part of America" (13). However, Wang quickly realized on her first day at Mirage that opportunities in Saipan are almost the same as when she worked in China. Factory hierarchy exists in every factory. She states on page 30 that in every factory there is usually "an owner, a manager, a factory director ... and 'big' monitor, who overseas all the 'lines' of workers..." Furthermore, each of the workers are categorized into two categories: ticket jobs and non-ticket jobs. Putting the workers into categories and having too many managers, directors and monitors dehumanizes them. The factory owners, directors and managers are insensitive to the cruel conditions that every worker faces. Moreover, on page 33, she tells a story of how the "big" monitors are the most inconsiderate to the workers. The monitors take bribes from the workers so they "would give [the workers] better jobs and easier positions." Everyone who holds a position above the migrant line workers have the mindset that they have permission to be cruel and they will never be punished. If their workers cannot handle the working conditions and quits, there are always new migrants looking for jobs. Therefore, owners exploit their workers and escape without punishment. After witnessing the corruption, Wang realizes that Saipan was just like China and the opportunities that Aunt Zhu promised her faded from her mind.

 

(Vania Harsono)

Blog Response

27% of the book on my iPad Chapter 4 "Mirage"

I chose this passage because it is very straight to the point on how Chung Yu fights the abuse that went on at Mirage." Da Mei, Gian Yin and I went to the Saipan Department of Labor and filed a case reporting the conditions of the barracks, the director and monitor's bribery schemes, and that they weren't paying us for the time we spent at home preparing our tickets." This quote exemplifies how Chung Yu was tired of all the hardships that were going on at Mirage, it shows that she is not afraid of fighting for justice. These are the types of actions that people need to be taking when they are being taken advantage of. Even though there is a lot of demand that corporations face to produce as much as possible they have to know that it is not right to abuse people the way that they were doing. 

Mayra Olmos

Blog Response

As we read along in Chapter 3 "Factory Life" it is easy to see how "uncomfortable" and discontent Chung Yu is while discovering how her new life on Saipan will be. She goes to Saipan to work in a place that she is now realizing is not what she had anticipated. Mirage is nothing like the American place she imagined as described so illustriously before. Come to find out that the living conditions are worse than they are at home and there is no sense of privacy or comfort while there. Obvious race problems of labor migration come in to play because these are the circumstances these women must endure in order to make money for their families. The sacrifices made are not only personally upsetting but take a massive toll on their health (as talked about in Chapter 4 "Mirage"-Getting Sick at Mirage") and set themselves up for serious financial risk. Gender is pointed out from the start as this is primarily women enduring this lifestyle choice (at least at Mirage on Saipan). These women are favored sometimes because of their looks as well as discriminated against and seen as being a liability due to their possibility of getting pregnant, this is why they cannot go outside of the barracks. There are apparent class problems as the hierarchy in Mirage is recognized in Chapter 4's "The Factory Hierarchy". There is no justice to the system in place at Mirage because there is so much bribery as well as abuse of power from the "big" monitors. There is constant struggle and frustration as justice is compromised and all these women are trying to do is take advantage of what little hope they have for supporting their families and changing their lives.

 

(Kristina Cuza)

“To Stay…” (160); “…Or to Go?” (161)

These two passages examine the different push and pull factors that went into not only Chun Yu’s decision to migrate to Saipan but her decision to stay as well. If she stays in Saipan, she risks gender, race, and class-based discrimination, such as the need to purchase work permits that were only offered through crooked, underhanded methods. If Chun Yu leaves Saipan, she will return to China “always the housekeeper” with “no time to enjoy life” (161). As a woman, facing the societal pressures of caregiving (in the form of wife, mother, and daughter), Chun Yu will arguably work just as hard in China as she did in Saipan. However, staying in Saipan means settling for menial wages, abuse in the workplace, and hope only in the form of distant “new immigration regulations” (160). Chun Yu faces gender-related inequality in the workplace because she is subjected to male control and regulation. The young girls in Saipan are virtually powerless against a male-dominated system of migration politics. Moreover, the fact they are immigrants further limits the possibility for them to defend themselves against labor rights violations. Still worse is the idea that because these migrant women are poor they have even less power. At least if they had endless sums of money, they could then find a way to manipulate the system as others do. However, what other option do women such as Chun Yu have? Return to China as a maidservant in the home with no independence?

Below is a video from the 1940s about “how to supervise women workers.” Have gender-based stereotypes and expectations changed all that much?

 <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/h3uDEtczH3w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 (Lauren Bailey)

Blog Post
I chose the "I hate machine men" passage. I thought this passage would be a great example of gender problematics of labor migration. What this passage discusses is the reliance the women workers had to have on the machine men. The specific example given is about a man from Guang Xi. He had been at the factory for 5 years and he looked down on the women especially the new workers. He would waste the girls time which consequently cost them money and could even cost them overtime if it prevented them from reaching their quota. However just like the monitors there were certain weaknesses. Typically the pretty girls had their machines fixed much quicker than workers like Chun Yu Wang.

(Zack Lipot)