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I know the point of this assignment was to talk about Mattel and the scandalous lead paint disaster; however I’d like to take this opportunity to not only reflect on the Mattel crisis, but also open people’s eyes to the other monstrosities that take place in the labor industry everyday.
It’s not about blaming China for their poor work ethics, or that they got caught using lead paint on toys. What it should be about is the fact that the factories in China and other countries around the world that make the goods for North America, are forced into compromising and unethical situations all the time.
They are forced to break labor laws and ignore health and safety regulations because the big bad North American conglomerates that demand the goods produced in these sweat shops and factories, simply don’t pay enough for those services! As a result, third world factories are forced to compromise; in this case it was lead paint, last summer it was contaminated pet food (for more information click here →) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_pet_f
This recent crisis by Mattel is an example of poor corporate responsibility, basic business rules teach us that while cutting corners makes good business sense and one way to ensure profitability is to reduce expenses, but at what cost? Where do we draw the line? When does profitability over-step good ethics?
Read the following except, take the time to do the research, be a smart buyer.
The hidden downside of Santa's little helpers
http://www.globalexchange.org/campa
“People who buy toys should care. Conditions in the toy sector are probably worse than other factories," said Dr Anita Chan, an expert on Chinese labour issues at the Austrian National University.
"They complain that their profit margin is getting smaller because the Western brand-name companies press them to improve work conditions but do not want to share the cost in raising labour standards," Dr Chan said.
Bob Eckert the CEO of Mattel played the blame game and lost, during this recent crisis instead of taking responsibility he blamed China.
Mr. Eckert was interviewed a while ago, for an article on the culture of giving back, he talks at length about giving back to the community and how important it is to be a good citizen, but it appears he doesn’t practice what he preaches once outside his front door. As with many large companies, there are inefficiencies and violations in their third world factories these factories are producing North American goods. You can access his interview here, http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/k
Has anyone stopped to think about the repercussions concerning the people who were making the toys? If children in North America were exposed to toxic levels of lead in the paint that was used on the toys, imagine the toxic exposure levels in the factories.
I understand that I’m supposed to be posting about the role and responsibility corporations have in providing their customers with a safe and reliable product, but that’s the easy part. Who is going to speak up for the innocent people who constantly get sick and are unfairly treated just so those unsafe toys can get on the shelves by Christmas? Who is paying attention to them. What about the human rights tragedy? What about the children who are making the toys, not just the children who were playing with them.
People making the toys also ingesting high levels of lead.
While no western children are reported to have been harmed, in China itself not only are the workers making the toys repeatedly exposed to lead, but pollution and the lack of clean water mean many children ingest high levels of heavy metals.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh
Here’s some information on Christmas Toys and Child Labor: Anti-Globalization Campaign - Grand Rapids, Michigan
Typical Toy Factory in China:
* Mandatory daily shifts of 15 hours or more, from 8:00 a.m. to after midnight and sometimes past 2 a.m. or 3 a.m.
* Forced to work seven days a week for two months straight, without a day off.
* Paid 12 cents an hour, for 105 hours a week.
* Cheated out of overtime pay.
* Wages paid two months late.
* Fined three days' pay for missing a night shift due to exhaustion.
* Fined for more than five minutes in bathroom.
* Fined for failing to meet production quotas.
* Air thick with fibers, temperature above 90 degrees.
* Total suppression of right to organize.
* Company monitoring inspections always announced in advance.
* Many factories not "monitored" at all.
http://www.mediamouse.org/corporate/chr
The more research I did on the topic, the further I fell into the scary world of child labor. It’s time we pay attention, don’t let it end with Mattel, don’t let them just swoop in and take the lead out of the toys and therefore the microscope off the factories.
I’ve compiled a list of articles (below), research, and information on the atrocious use of child labor and the human rights violations in China. I’ve sourced each web site, given brief introductions or pasted information from the web site, so you the reader can inform yourself. Empower yourself with information and don’t stop looking further. Ask the question, why were they using paint with lead in it in the first place? Who is painting the toys before they get on the shelves?
Mattel played the blame game, they blamed China, I looked at China, and in return I blame Mattel!
I also believe that every story has two sides; Mattel has attempted to make changes to the poor conditions in the factories. I found an article that supports Mattel’s initiative to clean up and an interview where Mattel give themselves a pat on the back. They have hired outside ethics firms to watch over their labor practices in third world countries, but it’s not enough.
Ahead of the Bell: Mattel Rises
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/a
NEW YORK — Shares of Mattel Inc. rose in Thursday premarket trading, after a Credit Suisse analyst upgraded the stock on the toy maker's long-term value, despite recent costly product recalls.
Child labour will continue to exist clearly this hasn’t effected Mattel or will it make any changes to the much needed child and highly ignored labour laws in China. The following article is further proof that there’s more going on than just the lead. It seems that the lead paint is the only crime they’ve been caught for, I hope its only a matter of time until the rest of the problems are brought to light as well.
The other side
Mattel getting better all the time:
Mattel Sets a Conduct Code for Its Suppliers
Mattel Inc, world's largest toy company, has set code of conduct for its suppliers, subjecting their working conditions to auditing and monitoring by independent commission; labor advocates say Mattel plan might have some innovative features, but say it is unclear how plan will be implemented; Prof S Prakash Sethi, corporate ethics expert at Baruch College of City University of New York, will form commission and devise Mattel's monitoring plan.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/busi
Making it better – NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/26/busin
Independent Review of Mattel – PR NEWSIRE
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stori
Independent Monitor Completes Audit of Mattel Suppliers in China shown significant improvement in a number of areas, and the current audits indicate that Mattel has committed considerable resources to advise and assist its vendors in order to improve their level of compliance with Mattel's GMP.
Toymaking in China, Mattel’s Way
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/26/busin
REPORT
http://www.icca-corporateaccountab
Mattel, Inc. (NYSE:MAT) is the world's largest toy company. In 1997, Mattel announced the creation of a global code of conduct for its production facilities and contract manufactures, called the Global Manufacturing Principles (GMP). The GMP covers such issues as wages and hours, child labor, forced labor, discrimination, freedom of association, legal and ethical business practices, health and safety, protection of the environment, and respect for local culture, values, and traditions.
However while there are some good reports that have been published there are a lot of bad one’s. Read, learn, and get angry.
If you want to know exactly how it all works, how Mattel is abusing the people that make the toys, how unfairly they’re treated, check out the step by step on getting rich at a human expense.
From a global exchange web site exactly how it is:
http://www.globalexchange.org/camp
"We are not even sure the factory-owners are getting rich. Some complain that the unit price of the production order by big-name buyers is too low for them even to provide the basic wages and benefits for the workers they hire," said May Wong
An investigation into the price of a Mattel Barbie doll, half of which is made in China, found that of the $ 10 retail price, $ 8 goes to transportation, marketing, retailing, wholesale and profit for Mattel.
Of the remaining $ 2, $ 1 is shared by the management and transportation in Hong Kong, and 65 cents is shared by the raw materials from Taiwan, Japan, the US and Saudi Arabia. The remaining 35 cents is earned by producers in China for providing factory sites, labour and electricity.
"That investigation was two years ago. Since then the toy market has become more and more competitive," May Wong said.
Barbie doesn’t seem so important now does it.
Below is the list, please continue to read, and feel free to look for yourself.
The Secret Lives of Toys
http://www.islandnet.com/pwacvic/coxsk0
In the past several years, disturbing tales have emerged about an industry that purports, in the words of Mattel chief executive officer Jill Barad, to make "dreams come true." So scandalous are reports about working conditions in overseas toy factories that the B.C. Federation of Labour, the Canadian Labour Congress, and the New Democratic Party are calling on Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to convene a federal task force to investigate abuses.
"Workers are being locked in factories, denied breaks, breathing toxic fumes, and are dealing with hot plastics and so on without proper health and safety protection," says Jane Staschuk, the B.C. Fed's director of community and social action. "There are factories in Thailand and China where 12- to 15-year-olds are making toys or toy-related products. Why products of child labour and known sweatshop factories are allowed to be sold in Canada is something I can't understand."
Fires at Chinese and Thai factories making dolls and plush toys for export have killed hundreds of workers since 1993, injuring many more. In December 1996, a Dateline NBC investigation revealed that Indonesian girls as young as 13 were stitching Barbie's frilly dresses, some on night shifts.
Two months later, the groups released a scathing report on 10 Chinese factories that produce plastic toys for export. The report concluded that workers suffer long-term and potentially fatal health problems from exposure to a toxic brew of chemicals, earn less than legal wages, and are poorly compensated for industrial accidents resulting in the loss of fingers and parts of their palms.
Human Rights
http://www.coopamerica.org/program
The Lungcheong Toy Factory in Dongguan, China employs 3,000 workers and supplies battery-operated toy cars and trucks to Mattel and Wal-Mart. According to the National Labor Committee (NLC), workers at the Lungcheon factory are denied basic rights through mandatory overtime labor, illegally low wages, lack of health care and termination in the case of injury. A 2005 NLC report states that required 13 hour shifts, six or seven days a week at Lungcheon exceed China's legal limitation on work hours by 300 percent. Workers are forced to work overtime and earn only 33 cents an hour, a rate that is 20 percent below minimum wage according to Chinese law.
"Wal-Mart Sweatshop Toys Made in China: 'Always Low Prices' Means Rolling Back Respect for Human Rights"
-- National Labor Committee, 12/01/2005
Source URL: www.chinalaborwatch.org/upload/Wal-MartL
Mattel's operations in China made it one of the targets of the National Labor Committee's "Toys of Misery" report which demands that toy companies disclose the names and addresses of the factories used to make toys in China and allow third party independent monitoring of these facilities. "Toys of Misery" states that toy workers in China--mostly young women-- are forced to work 16 hours a day...seven days a week, for 17 cents an hour. Mattel and other companies have responded to the allegations by stating that they employ Codes of Conduct and strict monitoring systems in their plants in China.
-- National Labor Committee, 01/01/2002
Source URL: www.nlcnet.org/CHINA/1201/ToysOfMisery.p
Labor
Dozens of people were injured when more than 1,000 workers rioted in protest of the poor working conditions at the Merton factory in Guangdong province. According to China Labor Watch (CLW), violations of worker rights included the following:
* Salaries below the legal minimum, ranging between 600 and 800 yuan (or $75.60 and $100.80) a month
* Routine workdays of 11 hours, 6 days a week
* Monthly overtime hours of 70 per month with the threat of salary deductions if employees refused to work overtime. Chinese law states the legal maximum is 36 hours of monthly overtime
* Denial of overtime pay
* Denial of paid national holidays, vacation, or sick leave
* Failure by Merton to provide adequate medical insurance or pension funds
Li Qiang, CLW’s executive director, remarked, “Chinese workers live at the bottom of the society. They have no means to voice their needs or to protect their lawful rights…. Tragedies such as the Merton riot were a result of the misguided social policy that overemphasizes economic growth and neglects labor rights.” Merton manufactures for companies such as McDonald’s, Disney, Time Warner, and Mattel.
-- China Labor Watch, 07/27/2006
Source URL: http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/2006%20E
A 2005 report by China Labor Watch titled, “The Toy Industry in China: Undermining Workers’ Rights and Rule of Law,” highlights the violations of worker rights in toy plants in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province. The report specifically highlights the Kai Long manufacturing plant in Hong Kong, which exports toys for Hasbro, Mattel, McDonald’s, and KFC. Violations of international labor laws and those of China include:
* Routine 14.5 hour weekdays with only one day off a month
* Wages at 59 percent of the local minimum wage standard in Dongguan City
* No overtime compensation
* Workers deprived of 43 percent of their legal wage, earning .0125 to .025 cents per toy they produce
* Inadequate and unsanitary working conditions and dorm rooms
* No insurance for regular workers
* No independent trade unions
Li Qiang, the executive director of China’s Labor Watch commented: “Abusive conditions persist, threatening to undermine any gains made in workers’ standard of living and hindering the development of rule of law in China.”
-- China Labor Watch, 09/01/2005
Source URL: www.chinalaborwatch.org/upload/toyindust
1 - As China's Economy Grows, So does China's Child Labour Problem
http://www.china-labour.org.hk/public/c
According to the report, the use of juvenile labour is most prevalent in the following industries: Toy production, textiles, construction, food production, and light mechanical work. Concerning the latter, the report concludes that child labour is particularly in demand because children have smaller hands and eyesight undamaged by years of labour, making them more desirable than adults for certain kinds of work.
2 – Human rights in China
http://www.hrichina.org/public/ind
A report issued by Human Rights in China (http://www.hrichina.org) in March of this year documented the tragic case of five adolescent girls who appeared to have been poisoned by carbon monoxide smoke from a coal brazier lit in the confines of their cramped factory sleeping quarters. In an attempt to hide culpability for the girl's deaths, the panicked factory manager ordered that the bodies be disposed of immediately; later investigation revealed that two of the girls had likely been buried alive. Even among a Chinese public increasingly used to news of workplace tragedy, the egregiously grim nature of this case sparked outrage and gained widespread media coverage throughout China and abroad.
3 - As China’s Economy Grows, So does China’s Child Labour Problem
http://www.china-labour.org.hk/public/c
A growing economy coupled with a growing economic disparity provides a fertile ground for exploitation of societies most vulnerable members. Local governments, in a headlong rush to woo manufacturers into their districts are often reticent to enforce regulations against child labour, which might act as an impediment to local economic growth.
4 – Rising child labour in China
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p
As details of the school explosion in Jiangxi province have filtered out, even the most hardened China watcher could not fail to have been shocked.
How could teachers force eight-year-old school children to assemble volatile explosives, when they should have been reading books?
Families whose children died in the Jiangxi explosion have told of how they complained repeatedly that their children were being forced to assemble fireworks in school, but that local authorities did nothing.
Such blatant exploitation may be hard to comprehend, but it is far from uncommon in China's raw and uncontrolled young market.
5 – Refuting The "Nimble Fingers" Argument.
http://www.corrystuart.com/slavechildfa
In manufacturing industries, children are most likely to be employed, says the report, "when their labour is less expensive or less troublesome than that of adults, when other labour is scarce, and when they are considered irreplaceable by reason of their size or perceived dexterity."
The ILO investigated this latter question in 1992 as it applied in the hand-woven carpet and glass bracelet (bangles) industries in India, subsequently expanding its studies to include the diamond polishing, gem polishing, slate, limestone and mosaic chip quarrying industries. The findings of these studies, says the ILO, "clearly refute the 'nimble fingers' argument - the claim that only children can do certain jobs, or can do them better than adults." Very often, the studies found, "the jobs that only children perform consist of menial unskilled work that adults could do at least as quickly."
Many working children face significant threats to their health and safety. The majority are involved in farming and are routinely exposed to harsh climate, sharpened tools, heavy loads as well, increasingly, as to toxic chemicals and motorized equipment. Others, particularly girls working as domestic servants away from their homes, are frequent victims of physical, mental and sexual abuses which can have devastating consequences on their health.
6 – CHILD LABOUR TODAY: FACTS AND FIGURES
(World of Work N. 6/96)
http://www.corrystuart.com/slavechildfa
Although the internationally recommended minimum age for work is 15 years (ILO Convention No. 138) and the number of child workers under the age of 10 is far from negligible, almost all the data available on child labour concerns the 10-to-14 age group. Combining various official sources, the ILO estimates that more than 73 million children in that age group alone were economically active in 1995, representing 13.2 per cent of all 10-to-14 year olds around the world.
The greatest numbers were found in Asia - 44.6 million (13 per cent) followed by Africa - 23.6 million (by far the highest rate at 26.3 per cent) and Latin America - 5.1 million (9.8 per cent). Estimates by country showed the following rates of economic activity among children 10-to-14:
Bangladesh (30.1 per cent), China ( I 1.6), India (14.4), Pakistan (17.7), Turkey (24), Cote d'lvoire (20.5), Egypt ( 11.2), Kenya (41.3), Nigeria (25.8), Senegal (31.4), Argentina (4.5), Brazil (16.1), Mexico (6.7), Italy (0.4), Portugal (1.8).
"But this is only part of the picture," says Assefa Bequele, departmental Director and child labour specialist at the ILO. "No reliable figures on workers under 10 are available though their numbers, we know, are significant. The same is true of children between 14 and 15 on whom few reports exist. If all of these could be counted and if proper account were taken of the domestic work performed full-time by girls, the total number of child workers around the world today might well be in the hundreds of millions."
9 - Child Labor in China
http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/019
China’s child labor is a huge problem, and there is clear evidence that child labor is increasing in China. Although there is no official figure on the number of children working in China, it is estimated by many that of the 10 million children out of school, over 5 million are working in factories. There are some who even consider this a conservative estimate. It was reported in Sichuan, China’s most populated province, that 85% of children who drop out of school are working elsewhere. Even in some less populated rural provinces, over 20% of the work force is made up of children. Also, in the last few years, the rate of children kidnapped has increased rapidly. It is believed that the children kidnapped are sold off to factories to work. For example, in 1994, about 48 Chinese brick-shop-workers kidnapped over 100 children. It is known that fourty of those children were forced to work 10 hours a day, but with no wage whatsoever. China’s child labor cannot be overlooked.
Other problems in China:
Pet food crisis sharpens concern over food safety in China http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2007/0
YOU TUBE:
Chinese child labor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2ijWbpl
Child Slavery in Shanxi China
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATpKvCCp
It’s not about blaming China for their poor work ethics, or that they got caught using lead paint on toys. What it should be about is the fact that the factories in China and other countries around the world that make the goods for North America, are forced into compromising and unethical situations all the time.
They are forced to break labor laws and ignore health and safety regulations because the big bad North American conglomerates that demand the goods produced in these sweat shops and factories, simply don’t pay enough for those services! As a result, third world factories are forced to compromise; in this case it was lead paint, last summer it was contaminated pet food (for more information click here →) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_pet_f
This recent crisis by Mattel is an example of poor corporate responsibility, basic business rules teach us that while cutting corners makes good business sense and one way to ensure profitability is to reduce expenses, but at what cost? Where do we draw the line? When does profitability over-step good ethics?
Read the following except, take the time to do the research, be a smart buyer.
The hidden downside of Santa's little helpers
http://www.globalexchange.org/campa
“People who buy toys should care. Conditions in the toy sector are probably worse than other factories," said Dr Anita Chan, an expert on Chinese labour issues at the Austrian National University.
"They complain that their profit margin is getting smaller because the Western brand-name companies press them to improve work conditions but do not want to share the cost in raising labour standards," Dr Chan said.
Bob Eckert the CEO of Mattel played the blame game and lost, during this recent crisis instead of taking responsibility he blamed China.
Mr. Eckert was interviewed a while ago, for an article on the culture of giving back, he talks at length about giving back to the community and how important it is to be a good citizen, but it appears he doesn’t practice what he preaches once outside his front door. As with many large companies, there are inefficiencies and violations in their third world factories these factories are producing North American goods. You can access his interview here, http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/k
Has anyone stopped to think about the repercussions concerning the people who were making the toys? If children in North America were exposed to toxic levels of lead in the paint that was used on the toys, imagine the toxic exposure levels in the factories.
I understand that I’m supposed to be posting about the role and responsibility corporations have in providing their customers with a safe and reliable product, but that’s the easy part. Who is going to speak up for the innocent people who constantly get sick and are unfairly treated just so those unsafe toys can get on the shelves by Christmas? Who is paying attention to them. What about the human rights tragedy? What about the children who are making the toys, not just the children who were playing with them.
People making the toys also ingesting high levels of lead.
While no western children are reported to have been harmed, in China itself not only are the workers making the toys repeatedly exposed to lead, but pollution and the lack of clean water mean many children ingest high levels of heavy metals.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh
Here’s some information on Christmas Toys and Child Labor: Anti-Globalization Campaign - Grand Rapids, Michigan
Typical Toy Factory in China:
* Mandatory daily shifts of 15 hours or more, from 8:00 a.m. to after midnight and sometimes past 2 a.m. or 3 a.m.
* Forced to work seven days a week for two months straight, without a day off.
* Paid 12 cents an hour, for 105 hours a week.
* Cheated out of overtime pay.
* Wages paid two months late.
* Fined three days' pay for missing a night shift due to exhaustion.
* Fined for more than five minutes in bathroom.
* Fined for failing to meet production quotas.
* Air thick with fibers, temperature above 90 degrees.
* Total suppression of right to organize.
* Company monitoring inspections always announced in advance.
* Many factories not "monitored" at all.
http://www.mediamouse.org/corporate/chr
The more research I did on the topic, the further I fell into the scary world of child labor. It’s time we pay attention, don’t let it end with Mattel, don’t let them just swoop in and take the lead out of the toys and therefore the microscope off the factories.
I’ve compiled a list of articles (below), research, and information on the atrocious use of child labor and the human rights violations in China. I’ve sourced each web site, given brief introductions or pasted information from the web site, so you the reader can inform yourself. Empower yourself with information and don’t stop looking further. Ask the question, why were they using paint with lead in it in the first place? Who is painting the toys before they get on the shelves?
Mattel played the blame game, they blamed China, I looked at China, and in return I blame Mattel!
I also believe that every story has two sides; Mattel has attempted to make changes to the poor conditions in the factories. I found an article that supports Mattel’s initiative to clean up and an interview where Mattel give themselves a pat on the back. They have hired outside ethics firms to watch over their labor practices in third world countries, but it’s not enough.
Ahead of the Bell: Mattel Rises
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/a
NEW YORK — Shares of Mattel Inc. rose in Thursday premarket trading, after a Credit Suisse analyst upgraded the stock on the toy maker's long-term value, despite recent costly product recalls.
Child labour will continue to exist clearly this hasn’t effected Mattel or will it make any changes to the much needed child and highly ignored labour laws in China. The following article is further proof that there’s more going on than just the lead. It seems that the lead paint is the only crime they’ve been caught for, I hope its only a matter of time until the rest of the problems are brought to light as well.
The other side
Mattel getting better all the time:
Mattel Sets a Conduct Code for Its Suppliers
Mattel Inc, world's largest toy company, has set code of conduct for its suppliers, subjecting their working conditions to auditing and monitoring by independent commission; labor advocates say Mattel plan might have some innovative features, but say it is unclear how plan will be implemented; Prof S Prakash Sethi, corporate ethics expert at Baruch College of City University of New York, will form commission and devise Mattel's monitoring plan.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/busi
Making it better – NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/26/busin
Independent Review of Mattel – PR NEWSIRE
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stori
Independent Monitor Completes Audit of Mattel Suppliers in China shown significant improvement in a number of areas, and the current audits indicate that Mattel has committed considerable resources to advise and assist its vendors in order to improve their level of compliance with Mattel's GMP.
Toymaking in China, Mattel’s Way
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/26/busin
REPORT
http://www.icca-corporateaccountab
Mattel, Inc. (NYSE:MAT) is the world's largest toy company. In 1997, Mattel announced the creation of a global code of conduct for its production facilities and contract manufactures, called the Global Manufacturing Principles (GMP). The GMP covers such issues as wages and hours, child labor, forced labor, discrimination, freedom of association, legal and ethical business practices, health and safety, protection of the environment, and respect for local culture, values, and traditions.
However while there are some good reports that have been published there are a lot of bad one’s. Read, learn, and get angry.
If you want to know exactly how it all works, how Mattel is abusing the people that make the toys, how unfairly they’re treated, check out the step by step on getting rich at a human expense.
From a global exchange web site exactly how it is:
http://www.globalexchange.org/camp
"We are not even sure the factory-owners are getting rich. Some complain that the unit price of the production order by big-name buyers is too low for them even to provide the basic wages and benefits for the workers they hire," said May Wong
An investigation into the price of a Mattel Barbie doll, half of which is made in China, found that of the $ 10 retail price, $ 8 goes to transportation, marketing, retailing, wholesale and profit for Mattel.
Of the remaining $ 2, $ 1 is shared by the management and transportation in Hong Kong, and 65 cents is shared by the raw materials from Taiwan, Japan, the US and Saudi Arabia. The remaining 35 cents is earned by producers in China for providing factory sites, labour and electricity.
"That investigation was two years ago. Since then the toy market has become more and more competitive," May Wong said.
Barbie doesn’t seem so important now does it.
Below is the list, please continue to read, and feel free to look for yourself.
The Secret Lives of Toys
http://www.islandnet.com/pwacvic/coxsk0
In the past several years, disturbing tales have emerged about an industry that purports, in the words of Mattel chief executive officer Jill Barad, to make "dreams come true." So scandalous are reports about working conditions in overseas toy factories that the B.C. Federation of Labour, the Canadian Labour Congress, and the New Democratic Party are calling on Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to convene a federal task force to investigate abuses.
"Workers are being locked in factories, denied breaks, breathing toxic fumes, and are dealing with hot plastics and so on without proper health and safety protection," says Jane Staschuk, the B.C. Fed's director of community and social action. "There are factories in Thailand and China where 12- to 15-year-olds are making toys or toy-related products. Why products of child labour and known sweatshop factories are allowed to be sold in Canada is something I can't understand."
Fires at Chinese and Thai factories making dolls and plush toys for export have killed hundreds of workers since 1993, injuring many more. In December 1996, a Dateline NBC investigation revealed that Indonesian girls as young as 13 were stitching Barbie's frilly dresses, some on night shifts.
Two months later, the groups released a scathing report on 10 Chinese factories that produce plastic toys for export. The report concluded that workers suffer long-term and potentially fatal health problems from exposure to a toxic brew of chemicals, earn less than legal wages, and are poorly compensated for industrial accidents resulting in the loss of fingers and parts of their palms.
Human Rights
http://www.coopamerica.org/program
The Lungcheong Toy Factory in Dongguan, China employs 3,000 workers and supplies battery-operated toy cars and trucks to Mattel and Wal-Mart. According to the National Labor Committee (NLC), workers at the Lungcheon factory are denied basic rights through mandatory overtime labor, illegally low wages, lack of health care and termination in the case of injury. A 2005 NLC report states that required 13 hour shifts, six or seven days a week at Lungcheon exceed China's legal limitation on work hours by 300 percent. Workers are forced to work overtime and earn only 33 cents an hour, a rate that is 20 percent below minimum wage according to Chinese law.
"Wal-Mart Sweatshop Toys Made in China: 'Always Low Prices' Means Rolling Back Respect for Human Rights"
-- National Labor Committee, 12/01/2005
Source URL: www.chinalaborwatch.org/upload/Wal-MartL
Mattel's operations in China made it one of the targets of the National Labor Committee's "Toys of Misery" report which demands that toy companies disclose the names and addresses of the factories used to make toys in China and allow third party independent monitoring of these facilities. "Toys of Misery" states that toy workers in China--mostly young women-- are forced to work 16 hours a day...seven days a week, for 17 cents an hour. Mattel and other companies have responded to the allegations by stating that they employ Codes of Conduct and strict monitoring systems in their plants in China.
-- National Labor Committee, 01/01/2002
Source URL: www.nlcnet.org/CHINA/1201/ToysOfMisery.p
Labor
Dozens of people were injured when more than 1,000 workers rioted in protest of the poor working conditions at the Merton factory in Guangdong province. According to China Labor Watch (CLW), violations of worker rights included the following:
* Salaries below the legal minimum, ranging between 600 and 800 yuan (or $75.60 and $100.80) a month
* Routine workdays of 11 hours, 6 days a week
* Monthly overtime hours of 70 per month with the threat of salary deductions if employees refused to work overtime. Chinese law states the legal maximum is 36 hours of monthly overtime
* Denial of overtime pay
* Denial of paid national holidays, vacation, or sick leave
* Failure by Merton to provide adequate medical insurance or pension funds
Li Qiang, CLW’s executive director, remarked, “Chinese workers live at the bottom of the society. They have no means to voice their needs or to protect their lawful rights…. Tragedies such as the Merton riot were a result of the misguided social policy that overemphasizes economic growth and neglects labor rights.” Merton manufactures for companies such as McDonald’s, Disney, Time Warner, and Mattel.
-- China Labor Watch, 07/27/2006
Source URL: http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/2006%20E
A 2005 report by China Labor Watch titled, “The Toy Industry in China: Undermining Workers’ Rights and Rule of Law,” highlights the violations of worker rights in toy plants in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province. The report specifically highlights the Kai Long manufacturing plant in Hong Kong, which exports toys for Hasbro, Mattel, McDonald’s, and KFC. Violations of international labor laws and those of China include:
* Routine 14.5 hour weekdays with only one day off a month
* Wages at 59 percent of the local minimum wage standard in Dongguan City
* No overtime compensation
* Workers deprived of 43 percent of their legal wage, earning .0125 to .025 cents per toy they produce
* Inadequate and unsanitary working conditions and dorm rooms
* No insurance for regular workers
* No independent trade unions
Li Qiang, the executive director of China’s Labor Watch commented: “Abusive conditions persist, threatening to undermine any gains made in workers’ standard of living and hindering the development of rule of law in China.”
-- China Labor Watch, 09/01/2005
Source URL: www.chinalaborwatch.org/upload/toyindust
1 - As China's Economy Grows, So does China's Child Labour Problem
http://www.china-labour.org.hk/public/c
According to the report, the use of juvenile labour is most prevalent in the following industries: Toy production, textiles, construction, food production, and light mechanical work. Concerning the latter, the report concludes that child labour is particularly in demand because children have smaller hands and eyesight undamaged by years of labour, making them more desirable than adults for certain kinds of work.
2 – Human rights in China
http://www.hrichina.org/public/ind
A report issued by Human Rights in China (http://www.hrichina.org) in March of this year documented the tragic case of five adolescent girls who appeared to have been poisoned by carbon monoxide smoke from a coal brazier lit in the confines of their cramped factory sleeping quarters. In an attempt to hide culpability for the girl's deaths, the panicked factory manager ordered that the bodies be disposed of immediately; later investigation revealed that two of the girls had likely been buried alive. Even among a Chinese public increasingly used to news of workplace tragedy, the egregiously grim nature of this case sparked outrage and gained widespread media coverage throughout China and abroad.
3 - As China’s Economy Grows, So does China’s Child Labour Problem
http://www.china-labour.org.hk/public/c
A growing economy coupled with a growing economic disparity provides a fertile ground for exploitation of societies most vulnerable members. Local governments, in a headlong rush to woo manufacturers into their districts are often reticent to enforce regulations against child labour, which might act as an impediment to local economic growth.
4 – Rising child labour in China
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p
As details of the school explosion in Jiangxi province have filtered out, even the most hardened China watcher could not fail to have been shocked.
How could teachers force eight-year-old school children to assemble volatile explosives, when they should have been reading books?
Families whose children died in the Jiangxi explosion have told of how they complained repeatedly that their children were being forced to assemble fireworks in school, but that local authorities did nothing.
Such blatant exploitation may be hard to comprehend, but it is far from uncommon in China's raw and uncontrolled young market.
5 – Refuting The "Nimble Fingers" Argument.
http://www.corrystuart.com/slavechildfa
In manufacturing industries, children are most likely to be employed, says the report, "when their labour is less expensive or less troublesome than that of adults, when other labour is scarce, and when they are considered irreplaceable by reason of their size or perceived dexterity."
The ILO investigated this latter question in 1992 as it applied in the hand-woven carpet and glass bracelet (bangles) industries in India, subsequently expanding its studies to include the diamond polishing, gem polishing, slate, limestone and mosaic chip quarrying industries. The findings of these studies, says the ILO, "clearly refute the 'nimble fingers' argument - the claim that only children can do certain jobs, or can do them better than adults." Very often, the studies found, "the jobs that only children perform consist of menial unskilled work that adults could do at least as quickly."
Many working children face significant threats to their health and safety. The majority are involved in farming and are routinely exposed to harsh climate, sharpened tools, heavy loads as well, increasingly, as to toxic chemicals and motorized equipment. Others, particularly girls working as domestic servants away from their homes, are frequent victims of physical, mental and sexual abuses which can have devastating consequences on their health.
6 – CHILD LABOUR TODAY: FACTS AND FIGURES
(World of Work N. 6/96)
http://www.corrystuart.com/slavechildfa
Although the internationally recommended minimum age for work is 15 years (ILO Convention No. 138) and the number of child workers under the age of 10 is far from negligible, almost all the data available on child labour concerns the 10-to-14 age group. Combining various official sources, the ILO estimates that more than 73 million children in that age group alone were economically active in 1995, representing 13.2 per cent of all 10-to-14 year olds around the world.
The greatest numbers were found in Asia - 44.6 million (13 per cent) followed by Africa - 23.6 million (by far the highest rate at 26.3 per cent) and Latin America - 5.1 million (9.8 per cent). Estimates by country showed the following rates of economic activity among children 10-to-14:
Bangladesh (30.1 per cent), China ( I 1.6), India (14.4), Pakistan (17.7), Turkey (24), Cote d'lvoire (20.5), Egypt ( 11.2), Kenya (41.3), Nigeria (25.8), Senegal (31.4), Argentina (4.5), Brazil (16.1), Mexico (6.7), Italy (0.4), Portugal (1.8).
"But this is only part of the picture," says Assefa Bequele, departmental Director and child labour specialist at the ILO. "No reliable figures on workers under 10 are available though their numbers, we know, are significant. The same is true of children between 14 and 15 on whom few reports exist. If all of these could be counted and if proper account were taken of the domestic work performed full-time by girls, the total number of child workers around the world today might well be in the hundreds of millions."
9 - Child Labor in China
http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/019
China’s child labor is a huge problem, and there is clear evidence that child labor is increasing in China. Although there is no official figure on the number of children working in China, it is estimated by many that of the 10 million children out of school, over 5 million are working in factories. There are some who even consider this a conservative estimate. It was reported in Sichuan, China’s most populated province, that 85% of children who drop out of school are working elsewhere. Even in some less populated rural provinces, over 20% of the work force is made up of children. Also, in the last few years, the rate of children kidnapped has increased rapidly. It is believed that the children kidnapped are sold off to factories to work. For example, in 1994, about 48 Chinese brick-shop-workers kidnapped over 100 children. It is known that fourty of those children were forced to work 10 hours a day, but with no wage whatsoever. China’s child labor cannot be overlooked.
Other problems in China:
Pet food crisis sharpens concern over food safety in China http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2007/0
YOU TUBE:
Chinese child labor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2ijWbpl
Child Slavery in Shanxi China
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATpKvCCp
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