Faithless
08-19-2005, 03:27 PM
http://www.todayonline.com/OthPictures/SGE.AJC64.190805084811.photo00.quicklook.default-245x156.jpg
No, that's not a pic of an asiaphile Mickey.
Disney's factories in China exploit workers: study (http://www.todayonline.com/articles/67661.asp)
Chinese factories making souvenirs and toys for Disney's new park in Hong Kong underpay their workers and have poor working conditions, with frequent accidents that maim employees, according to a study by labor activists.
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Employees were forced to work through the night during peak seasons, sometimes for 30 hours at a time, but were paid as little as 400 yuan (47 US dollars) a month with next to no overtime wages, it said.
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"Accidents that leave workers with maimed limbs are common," said the study by the Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, a group of Hong Kong university students and local and overseas academics.
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The study released Thursday was based on interviews between May and August with 120 workers at five factories in southern China's manufacturing cities of Zhongshan, Dongguan and Shenzhen.
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The factories involved have investment from Hong Kong and Japan and supply the 1.8 billion dollar Disney Hong Kong, due to open on September 12.
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A common injury at the plants involved fingers being crushed by factory machinery, the group said in a report illustrated with photos of injured employees.
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However workers were forced to pay for their hospital bills, it said.
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In one factory, a worker was killed after accidentally turning on a cutting machine while cleaning it but the company only offered 130,000 yuan compensation, the report said.
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In some factories female workers have no maternity leave and staff work in stifling heat in the summer without fans. "Workers would faint from the exertion and heat of the workshops," the report said.
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The group urged Disney to demand that its suppliers provide proper training for workers and set up monitoring committees to protect workers' legal rights, health, safety and welfare.
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"We hope that Disney will raise the price of their manufacturing orders to allow for reasonable costs of labor, so that their suppliers do not have the excuse that they need to exploit workers to keep their manufacturing costs so low," the group said in the report.
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Disneyland spokeswoman Alannah Goss said the group would investigate the claims.
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"Disney takes these claims very seriously. We were not aware of the violations that have been mentioned in the factories and we will investigate these claims diligently," she was quoted as saying in the Standard newspaper. — AFP
No, that's not a pic of an asiaphile Mickey.
Disney's factories in China exploit workers: study (http://www.todayonline.com/articles/67661.asp)
Chinese factories making souvenirs and toys for Disney's new park in Hong Kong underpay their workers and have poor working conditions, with frequent accidents that maim employees, according to a study by labor activists.
.
Employees were forced to work through the night during peak seasons, sometimes for 30 hours at a time, but were paid as little as 400 yuan (47 US dollars) a month with next to no overtime wages, it said.
.
"Accidents that leave workers with maimed limbs are common," said the study by the Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior, a group of Hong Kong university students and local and overseas academics.
.
The study released Thursday was based on interviews between May and August with 120 workers at five factories in southern China's manufacturing cities of Zhongshan, Dongguan and Shenzhen.
.
The factories involved have investment from Hong Kong and Japan and supply the 1.8 billion dollar Disney Hong Kong, due to open on September 12.
.
A common injury at the plants involved fingers being crushed by factory machinery, the group said in a report illustrated with photos of injured employees.
.
However workers were forced to pay for their hospital bills, it said.
.
In one factory, a worker was killed after accidentally turning on a cutting machine while cleaning it but the company only offered 130,000 yuan compensation, the report said.
.
In some factories female workers have no maternity leave and staff work in stifling heat in the summer without fans. "Workers would faint from the exertion and heat of the workshops," the report said.
.
The group urged Disney to demand that its suppliers provide proper training for workers and set up monitoring committees to protect workers' legal rights, health, safety and welfare.
.
"We hope that Disney will raise the price of their manufacturing orders to allow for reasonable costs of labor, so that their suppliers do not have the excuse that they need to exploit workers to keep their manufacturing costs so low," the group said in the report.
.
Disneyland spokeswoman Alannah Goss said the group would investigate the claims.
.
"Disney takes these claims very seriously. We were not aware of the violations that have been mentioned in the factories and we will investigate these claims diligently," she was quoted as saying in the Standard newspaper. — AFP