Chinese sweatshops: Making Toys without Joy
09 December 2011
 Making Toys without Joy | [ ] | 4501 Kb |
"While toys bring joy to children, and while toy companies feast on their profits, let us not forget that toy workers in China, who make over 70% of the world's toys, continue to toil in coastal sweatshops miles away from their family members in inland provinces" says War on Want's partner Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) in their latest report. They campaign for the improvement of Chinese workers' rights.
SACOM launched Making Toys without Joy report after an investigation carried out in three toy factories producing for global companies such as Disney, Mattel, Lego, Marks and Spencer, and Walmart. The campaigning organisation denounces rampant labour rights violations faced by Chinese toy workers such as excessive overtime hours- up to 140 hours a month, wages paid in arrears, denial of a copy of the labour contract or denial of personal protective equipment to avoid occupational diseases. SACOM also exposes that despite these factories being certified by ICTI CARE, the toy industry's ethical manufacturing program aimed at ensuring safe and humane workplace environments for toy factory workers worldwide, the reality is that fundamental labour rights violations are still taking place.
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