Publication-Date: 27.08.2000 Publication: SCMP
Author: Martin Wong
Headline: Children toil in sweatshop
Byline: Martin Wong
TOYS sold with McDonald's meals are being made with the help of child labourers
who work 16 hours a day and earn 1.5 yuan an hour in sweatshop conditions.
City Toys Ltd in Shajing, Shenzhen, employs children as young as 14 who work
from 7am until as late as midnight for 24 yuan (about HK$23) a day, packing toys
for McDonald's.
The company - a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Pleasure Tech Holdings Ltd - is
contracted to produce the toys by McDonald's supplier Simon Marketing (Hong
Kong) Ltd. City Toys director, Hong Kong businessman Jack Lau Kim-hung, told the
Sunday Morning Post yesterday that he "knew nothing about the underage
workers" and would try to find out.
Young workers at the factory say they produce Snoopy, Winnie the Pooh, Hello
Kitty and other toys sold with McDonald's meals in Hong Kong and in branches of
the fast-food chain around the world.
A Post investigation has found that underage workers use fake ID cards to get
jobs at the factory and are estimated to make up about 20 per cent of the
workforce.
Last night, McDonald's issued a statement saying it had a strict code of
practice governing labour rights - including a clause outlawing child labour -
and carried out periodic audits.
It had no reason to believe its supplier was in breach of the code of conduct.
Simon Marketing spokeswoman Vivian Foo denied the plant employed child labour
and said regular announced and unannounced audits were carried out. The most
recent one in May had seen City Toys fully comply with McDonald's code.
When asked if it was aware that youngsters used forged identity documents to
falsify their age so they could work at the factory, Ms Foo replied: "We
have to go on the documents. It's not a wishy-washy process, it is
thorough."
But the Post found youngsters living in crowded dormitories next to the factory
who said they only got one or two days off a month.
Their only entertainment was old films shown at the factory. They dared not
venture out to see prosperous Shenzhen as they were unable to pay the 350-yuan
permit fee.
Without such a permit, workers are not allowed to work in Shenzhen under
mainland law.
The Christian Industrial Committee, a labour union that visited the factory on a
number of occasions over the past two months, said the firm was exploiting
workers. The group estimates that of the 2,000 workers in the factory, more than
400 are underage.
"All people aged under 16 are forbidden to work in China," said
researcher Parry Leung Pak-nang. The firm was breaching the mainland's labour
ordinance on minimum wage and minimum age, he claimed.
Monina Wong, another of the group's researchers, said: "McDonald's and all
the transnational corporations should stop employing child labour. They should
respect mainland laws."
Hiring underage workers carries a fine of 3,000 to 5,000 yuan. Different places
in the mainland have various wage requirements, which are calculated according
to the area's conditions.
"At Shajing town, the minimum wage is 419 yuan a month in 2000," Mr
Leung said, explaining that the minimum wage was on the basis that a worker does
eight hours a day, five days a week. "The firm therefore is against the
ordinance."
Mr Leung said many of the underage workers they interviewed used forged identity
cards to get work.
"However, we believe the company knows they are underage as the girls look
very young. We did see the fake IDs they showed us, and the pictures looked
nothing like them."
Asia Monitor Resource Centre, a labour monitoring body, said it was common for
people to use fake ID cards to get work.
"Child labour is a common problem in China, It exists in rural small firms
and big factories run by transnational enterprises," said May Wong Yuet-may,
project co-ordinator of the group.
She said many children living in the poor provinces such as Sichuan, Guizhou,
Henan and Hunan wanted to work in Shenzhen or Dongguan where there were many
firms and a demand for labour.
She said the firms knew that children used forged IDs. "They accept it and
sometimes even the district government helps the firms to cover up. Government
officials even risk breaking the law in order to lure more investment to help
the development of the area."
The latest report by the International Labour Organisation revealed that among
children aged 10 to 14 on the mainland, 11.6 per cent were working, which
translates into 13.3 million youngsters.
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