On 12/6/05, Sujeet Bhatt <sujeet.bhatt at gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/en/web/article.php?article_id=50285
>
> The Toy Industry in China: Undermining Workers' Rights and Rule of Law
> September, 2005
>
> Cheap, plastic toys, the kind found in stores, fast food restaurants,
> fairs, daycare centers, cereal boxes and homes across the United
> States, almost all come from China. The Chinese toy industry, the
> largest in the world, generates billions of dollars in export profits
> and employs millions of people in thousands of factories. These
> factories are an important part of the economic boom that has lifted
> many out of poverty in the People's Republic, but they have a dark
> side, too: excessive work hours, dangerous equipment and chemicals,
> cramped employee dormitories, abusive managers, crooked hiring
> practices, and pay below even China's minimum wage.
>
> This report, based on investigations of eleven randomly selected toy
> plants in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, attempts to give a
> picture of some of the problems shared by the industry as a whole and
> to serve as a wake up call to corporations, local governments and
> concerned citizens. It shows that high profile exposés and newly
> adopted corporate "codes of conduct" have not halted the infringement
> of toy workers' rights. Abusive conditions persist, threatening to
> undermine any gains made in workers' standard of living and hindering
> the development of rule of law in China.
>
> The focus of this report is one shop in particular, the Hong
> Kong-based Kai Long factory in Dongguan City, which produces toys for
> McDonald's, KFC, Hasbro* and Mattel. The report also details
> conditions at ten other Dongguan factories: Jieling, Yatian, Dongxu,
> Yisheng, Guolian, Weiwang, Long Hua, Shun Lian, Long Chang and Ling
> Xian. These sites were investigated over a three-month period from
> January to April 2005; a follow up investigation was conducted in
> August 2005.
>
> Among the report's findings are work schedules that surpass the legal
> limit by at least 36.5 hours per week, pay rates as low as only 59
> percent of the local minimum wage, unsanitary cafeterias, dorm rooms
> housing 22 people each, and employees forced to foot the entire cost
> of their work-injury insurance and, in some instances, lack of
> insurance of any kind. The simple disrespect for Chinese law displayed
> by these factories may surprise readers. Out of the eleven sites
> investigated, only one, Jie Ling, abides by the work time and pay
> regulations set out in the China Labor Law.
>
> Corporations often try to avoid responsibility for such gross
> infractions by pointing out that factories serve several different
> clients at the same time. It is common for plants to only devote about
> 20 percent of their production to any one company. Kai Long, as
> mentioned, manufactures for four clients: McDonald's, KFC, Hasbro and
> Mattel. If laws are broken, each corporation claims that much as it
> would like to ensure compliance, it cannot control the work orders of
> the other corporations. However, companies' attention to even the
> slightest changes in cost, changes that can lead them to move their
> production to other plants the moment profits per item drop by
> pennies, belie their professed inability to stay informed of total
> work hours at a given factory or the total pay given workers.
>
> Almost all major corporations now have "corporate codes of conduct".
> Each of the corporations at Kai Long has a "code" that calls, among
> other things, for strict obedience to local law. Hasbro Inc. says in
> its "Global Business Ethics Principles" that "facilities must comply
> with all applicable national and local wage and hour laws, including
> minimum wage laws." Mattel Inc.'s "Global Manufacturing Principles"
> demand "wages for regular and overtime work must be compensated at the
> legally mandated rates." And Yum Brands Inc., owner of KFC, declares,
> "Employees should not be required to work more than the number of
> hours allowed for regular and overtime work periods under applicable
> local, state and federal law." If these "codes" are to mean anything,
> they cannot apply only under narrowly defined circumstances, such as
> only when a factory has no other clients (which is rare).
>
> Toy companies must go beyond fine words and clever excuses to ensure
> that the employees of their suppliers receive the treatment that
> Chinese law and common decency require. With profits in the billions
> and enormous advertising budgets, multinationals can afford to provide
> more than just jobs; they can provide dignity, too. China Labor Watch
> urges consumers to contact the owners of Hasbro, Mattel, McDonalds,
> KFC and Wal-Mart and demand that they make serious efforts to improve
> the conditions in their factories.
>
> Li Qiang
>
> Executive Director, China Labor Watch
>
>
>
> Read the Full China Labor Watch Report:
>
> www.chinalaborwatch.org/upload/toyindustryreport.doc
>
> ___________________________________
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>