Mattel's real toy story: slave labour in sweatshops (This Is London)

[struggle4progress]

London, Thursday 16.08.07

<ERIC CLARK book excerpt>

~snip~ Shifts can last more than 15 hours a day, seven days a week - unlawful but far from uncommon. ~snip~

There are about 8,000 factories employing some three million workers spread over six areas, of which the Pearl River Delta is by far the largest.

Virtually all the familiar Western toy names - led by U.S. giants Mattel and Hasbro - are made here. These workers make 80 per cent of all America's toys. ~snip~

She will lose two hours' wages for each minute she is late, and for half an hour she will lose a day's pay. ~snip~

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23408572-details/Mattel's+real+toy+story:+slave+labour+in+sweatshops/article.do

[Neshanic]

1. "You can tell it's Mattel, it's swell."

[Nomad559]

2. Mattel's Real Toy Story

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23408572-details/Mattel's+real+toy+story%3A+slave+labour+in+sweatshops/article.do
This week Mattel recalled nearly two million Chinese-made toys over concerns they contain excessive levels of lead paint and loose parts.

Dirt-cheap labour and a massive expansion in capacity means China makes more than three-quarters of the world's toys, with an export value in excess of £7 billion.

But increasingly, there is evidence of inadequate safety standards, poor quality control and slave labour.

Here, in an extract from his book about the toy industry, ERIC CLARK reveals the real cost of cheap toys from China.

Behind high fences, sprawling factory compounds stretch mile after dusty, depressing mile along the congested roads.

Guarded gates control entry and exit.
========================================================
========================================================

Apple Approved Slave labor For The iPod

iPod maker admits breaking Chinese labor laws; says Apple approved sweatshop labor

http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/9988
"Apple Computer is getting into a deep PR mess over the antics of one of its Chinese partners," Nick Farrell reports for The Inquirer.

"After denying that it was running a sweatshop that would be familiar to Charles Dickens, Apple's Ipod manufacturer, Foxconn has finally admitted that it broken Chinese labour laws," Farrell reports.

:-(

[Neshanic]

3. Ah ah ahhh...no mention of Apple, it's products or you know who allowed.

The cult of personality is in full force, watch out.

[Horse with no Name]

4. Amazingly enough

None of this is reflected in the price of the toys.

The spin will be that this is all the fault of the consumer for wanting cheap toys...when in reality it is the fault of the CEO for not being willing to take fair profits from well-made, safe toys.

[EFerrari]

5. We're so bass ackwards. n/t

[sandnsea]

7. Their duty is to the shareholder

They tell us all the time. Of course cheaper labor doesn't equal cheaper products - it equals higher profits because that's their first responsibility.

We are just dumb as dirt people in this country, we really are.

[brentspeak]

11. I've noticed that too.

We hear all the time from the Thomas Friedmans in the Free-Trade Pundit Class how cheap labor "results" in low-cost goods, but it's a bunch of B.S. The cost of toys and games, for instance, and adjusted for inflation, is no less than it was for American-made goods decades ago.

[sandnsea]

6. Labor Exploitation, just like the Marianas

Tom Delay's Petri Dish. Exactly what will happen with the guest worker program. They don't care about communism or freedom or what kind of government a country has, it's all about money and power. The less rights people have, the better the corporatocracy likes it.

More:

"There are 32 rooms like it on this floor.

It is lit by a single fluorescent bar - her wages have the electricity costs docked - and the floor is concrete.

Double and triple bunk beds made of metal take up every inch of wall space.

During peak periods, when the factory takes on extra staff, girls often sleep two to a single bed.

Under the window, a grubby sink has a single tap. A notice is stuck to the wall, rules which another girl reads to her.

There are many, so she can remember only a few: 'No step on grass, offenders will be fined 50 yuan (£3.30).'

'No male or female staff going to the other gender's dormitory. The offender will be fired.'

Li Mei waits in a long queue of girls for the bathroom that two dozen people use to shower and wash their clothes.

She is still there at midnight, when everyone in the village has long been asleep, but the workers are only just off shift, too tired even to grumble as they wait in line.

Sometimes, the girl beside her says, 'there is no water even to brush your teeth, and the toilet is horrible.' The water (which, like lavatory paper, Li Mei is charged for) is cold.

By 2am she is finally in her lower bunk bed, separated from the hard surface by a straw mat even thinner than the one she uses at home.

Next morning she has no breakfast, for it is a meal she has to buy and prepare herself.

At 7.30am, in factory uniform of blue blouse with a white collar over trousers with her ID card displayed (she would be fined two days' wages if it was lost), she follows her guide through passages lined with cardboard boxes."

[silverojo]

8. Their toys are made in China. You know slave labor's involved. n/t

[Horse with no Name]

9. After I rid our house of the poisoned toys

Anything made in China will not grace the house.

[brentspeak]

10. Do you have a link to the story?

The link in your OP is simply the link to This Is London's homepage.

[Nomad559]

12. Mattel's Real Toy Story

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23408572-details/Mattel/'s+real+toy+story%3A+slave+labour+in+sweatshops/article.do

:)

[malaise]

13. Meanwhile the Mattel CEO is making over $5M a year

As I asked on another thread, why are we blaming China when American corporations are responsible for this mess.

[deacon]

14. Maybe they should put out a Barbie that makes 0.03 cents an hour...

on an assembly line.