Thursday, April 16, 2009

Cheap labour in Santa's Workshop

The health conditions of toy manufacturing companies in China is appalling, and this is not limited to the toy sector but throughout all manufacturing plants. Toys that we buy are not cheap, but it sure is cheap to manufacture them in China. That leaves a huge gap, expensive toys that are cheaply produced, so guess who's profiting?

What's worse about this issue is that the companies that orders these toys are not aware of the conditions of the factories. Or rather, they assume all is well and can't be bothered to step in until they're exposed.

These workers are forced to work overtime or else they would not get their monthly wages. In one case, one of them voice out that she has to work 7 days a week with no break and from 6 in the morning till midnight. During the peak where manufacturing contracts flood the factory, they are forced to work till dawn. Imagine that, 6am till to around 3am or 4am, and then you start work at 6am again.

This not forgetting the puny wages that they get from all the work done. 700-800 yuan per month if they work overtime. That is just a meager 100~110 USD. Workers union is a strict no no in the communist state of China, so there is basically no channels to voice out.



Mandarin is only used in the front and occasionally in the video, with subtitles. The video is narrated in English.


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