Good Bulbs, Bad Jobs - A supplier of compact fluorescent light bulbs to General Electric requires many to work a 64-hour week that exhausts workers and violates Chinese labor law. Many workers at the southern Chinese plant partly owned by GE don't know the bulbs have mercury or how to deal with the toxic substance. Good Bulbs, Bad Jobs: Workers and Conditions behind your new compact fluorescent, finds that Xiamen Topstar Lighting Co. Ltd., a joint venture in which GE has a stake, violates numerous provisions of Chinese labor law as well as GE's own corporate policies. The report, which generated nationwide news coverage, recommends that GE ensure that bulbs are made in a way that does not compromise the health and rights of workers and that the firm, which has been closing down Ohio light-bulb manufacturing facilities, maintain a U.S. workforce to make some of these energy-efficient products.

Payday problems - You can now get a payday loan in over 1,600 locations in Ohio, more than 14 times as many places to be exploited as there were 11 years ago. Borrowers can usually expect to pay $15 in fees for every $100 they borrow for a mere two weeks ~ an annual rate of 391 percent. The study, done in conjunction with our friends at the Housing Research and Advocacy Center recommends capping loans at a still-high 36%, as the federal government now does for military families. After the release, the City Club of Cleveland hosted State Representative Williams Batchelder (R) and Senator Ray Miller (D) to talk about bipartisan efforts to reign in this exploitative product. Six big city mayors have also endorsed our recommendations. Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann will hold a third hearing on payday lending in Columbus and has asked Policy Matters to testify.

Policy Matters Ohio's RSS Page is here.

Our latest Annual Report is now on the web.