Chinese labour law allows a maximum of only 36 overtime hours a month. The investigators said that the average working week was 68.3 hours. The basic monthly wage was £188 and the maximum take-home pay after overtime, allowances and deductions was £337. The factory employs about 4,200 people, and workers again claimed they worked more than 100 hours a month overtime at peak periods, starting on a base wage of £1.08 an hour. A large pink Barbie banner hangs on the outside of the building. The prize was a pack of paper towels.Īt the Chang’an Toy factory, investigators photographed toys from Mattel’s Monster High range of dolls and spoke to workers who said that they made the company’s Barbie dolls. Staff also claimed that the company offered prizes for the three most productive workers every day. The investigator worked on a production line and came into direct contact with the substance, reporting that some workers had complained to management about the strong odour. Working all available overtime and with all allowances and deductions applied, a worker takes home far less than the average wage in Chinese cities of £715 a month.Īn undercover investigator who joined the company as a worker described having to work with isoamyl acetate – commonly know as banana oil – which can soften and dissolve plastics. Toys photographed inside the factory included Thomas the Tank Engine Minis and Hot Wheels Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as the Cars Piston Cup racing garage and the Fisher-Price Learn with Me Zebra Walker. At the Foshan Nanhai Diecast Company factory the basic salary for workers was just 86p an hour. Some of this year’s must-have brands were made in the factories visited by the undercover team. Photograph: Gethin Chamberlain/China Labor Watch We want to know how many hours are worked in the factories, so we can make sure workers are paid for every minute that they work.”ĭormitory-style accommodation for workers at the Foshan Nanhai Diecast Company, which makes toys for Mattel. “The reality is, across the board, most factories, or the vast majority at least, work way beyond legal limits in China, and legal limits are almost universally ignored,” said Mark Robertson, ICTI Care’s director of communications. The investigators said that they found workers making toys in factories supplying Disney, Mattel, Fisher-Price and McDonald’s who reported having to do more than 100 hours of overtime a month – nearly three times the legal limit in China.īut the toy industry’s own watchdog, the ICTI Care Foundation, says it is powerless to stop many Chinese factories breaking the law on overtime. Undercover investigators infiltrated four factories, and the group shared wage slips and pictures with the Observer to support their findings. The group’s founder and executive director, Li Qiang, said: “We can’t tolerate that children’s dreams are based on workers’ nightmares, and we must fight against the unfair oppression of workers who manufacture toys.” In some factories – including one producing Happy Meal toys for McDonald’s from the new DreamWorks movie Trolls – that means some are on 12-hour shifts and have to work with hazardous chemicals.Īccording to China Labor Watch, the world of toys may be heaven for children, but it is a world of misery for toy factory workers. Overtime can run to nearly three times the legal limit. Xiao is one of thousands of workers in Chinese factories making some of this year’s must-have Christmas toys.Īn investigation with the US-based NGO China Labor Watch reveals that toys including Barbie, Thomas the Tank Engine and Hot Wheels were made by staff earning as little as 86p an hour.
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