Jenny Chan, Chief Coordinator of Hong Kong labor rights group Students and Scholars against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM).

In January 2009, Hong Kong labor rights group Students and Scholars against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) caused a stir by censuring working conditions on mainland construction sites operated by New World China Land (NWCL), and alleging that the company – owned by one of Hong Kong's biggest property developers – had repeatedly violated China's labor laws.

Facing unwelcome media attention, NWCL invited SACOM to inspect one of their major construction projects in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning province. I spoke to Jenny Chan, SACOM's Chief Coordinator, the day after she returned from leading a delegation of Beijing students to the site.

"It was a very calculated visit." said Miss Chan. "NWCL controlled where we could go and what we could see, so it was more like a public relations gesture. But, on the other hand, it gave us an opportunity to talk to the management. They said they would allow student groups to organize training and other activities for the workers, and we have high hopes they will keep their word."

SACOM was founded in 2005 to improve wages and working conditions for migrant workers in China's mainland. Since China started its reform and opening up policy, around two hundred million people have moved from the countryside to the cities in search of work, but lacking permanent residency rights and often employed on a casual basis, life is tough for the newest section of China's working class. And while their direct employers are often may be Hong Kong or Taiwan-owned contract manufacturers, the ultimate beneficiaries of their labor are top-ranking Western and international brands.

SACOM's strategy is simple, says Miss Chan: 'We name and shame the big corporations and use the media to amplify the scandal." Their approach can put a lot of pressure on brands that care about their corporate image. Bad publicity reaching consumers and shareholders can have serious consequences as increasingly socially aware middle classes in the West modify their consumption patterns or move their savings into ethical investment funds.

The group's first major campaign "Looking for Mickey Mouse's Conscience," targeted Disney, one of the world's top ten brands. Soon after the Hong Kong Disneyland opened in 2005, SACOM began investigating souvenirs sold at the Park. Chan says that in Shenzhen and Dongguan they found factories supplying paper for story books where the machinery was so unsafe that a number of workers had lost fingers or hands. SACOM confronted Disney with allegations that their suppliers were running sweatshops, and demanded compensation for the injured workers. The drip of bad publicity – SACOM released ten separate reports – forced the US giant to the table. But Disney has a reputation for hostility to labor activism. "Negotiations with Disney were very tough," says Chan. "They did not want us to gain an advantage." Eventually, SACOM was able to secure 40 percent of the compensation the workers had demanded – a result Chan regards as a draw. SACOM, she says, is gearing up for another campaign focusing on the planned Shanghai Disneyland.

SACOM aims to force brands to reform their pricing and sourcing policies. How transnational companies deal with suppliers has a huge impact on workers, says Chan. "If they place their orders at the last minute and ask for a shipment within 2 weeks, then workers have to work day and night. And if they squeeze the price of their order to the minimum there is no room for workers' welfare."

But ultimately, says Chan, the most important thing is that workers organize themselves and acquire the confidence to bargain directly with their employers. One of SACOM's key demands is that it be allowed into workplaces to give workers basic training on their legal rights and the basics of labor organization.