Wal-Mart Plays Huge Role in Use of Sweatshop Labor say Congressional Panelists
ABC News’ coverage of yesterday’s hearing of the Congressional Commerce Committee highlights this quote from Bama Athreya from the International Labor Rights Forum:
The largest toy distributor in the United States is Wal-Mart, and Bama Athreya, director of the activist group International Labor Rights Forum, claimed the discount chain will sell $7 billion worth of toys this year.
It is that company’s ability to demand lower costs, she argued, that has contributed to some of the poor working conditions in China.
“Wal-Mart bears a lion share of responsibility for pushing the toy industry to a place where worker health and safety are basically nonexistent,” Athreya testified to Congress.
You can find archived video of the hearing here, live coverage from Consumerist here, the National Labor Committee’s report Toys of Misery, ILRF’s report on Wal-Mart’s sourcing practices and more on our toy safety blog.
Sweatshop Toys? China’s Goods Find U.S. Homes [ABC News]
With a spate of safety recalls already drawing scrutiny to the multibillion dollar toy industry and products manufactured in China, a Senate panel heard grim testimony Thursday on another aspect of toy production—the plight of workers in China who work in toy factories.
A panel of international labor activists said workers in toy factories are forced to work 14-hour shifts for six or seven days a week, with no job security and for extremely low pay—as little as 53 cents an hour.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, October 26 | 1 comments | Permalink
National Labor Committee Report Examines Conditions in Wal-Mart Supplier Factories
A new report from the National Labor Committee examines the inhumane working conditions of factories in China where toys for Wal-Mart are made. Click on the image at right to download the report, or on the headline below for a wbe-based version.
Xin Yi Plastics Factory Yu Lu Industrial Zone II Gong Ming Town. Shenzhen, China
The Xin Yi Plastics Company is made up of two factories – Xin Yi and Jia Li Bao – sprawling over a large 725,500 square foot compound in the Yu Lu Industrial Zone II. There are over 5,000 workers.
Conditions in both factories are the same.Xin Yi produces high-end electronic toys such as Barbie electric guitars and keyboards, Barbie cassette players, Barbie “Hug N’ Heal” Pet Doctor Sets; Thomas and Friends Engine Works Playset and Deluxe Cranky the Crane; and other plastic toys such as Wild Planet Toys’ “Sugar Snaps” and “Girls Living in Style Real Working Fan and Radio” as well as games like Hasbro’s Connect 4.
According to the workers, Xin Yi’s major clients are Mattel, Wal-Mart, and McDonald’s. All Xin Yi’s production is for export.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, October 25 | 0 comments | Permalink
Toys, Children’s Products, And The Chinese Sweatshops In Which They’re Made
Consumerist has live coverage today of the Senate Commerce Committee’s hearing on toy safety, children’s products and China’s labor conditions. Tens of thousands of toys have been recalled in recent months, and many of the recalled toys were sold at Wal-Mart stores. This hearing illuminates the fact that faulty toys are inherently tied to poor working conditions in the place where they’re made: in the overwhelming number of cases, that place is China. Consumerist describes Charles Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee as he discusses working conditions the country’s toy factories:
09:47: The average workweek is 87 hours, from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
09:48: Workers are required to stand as they are yelled at by supervisors, and if anyone speaks back they are immediately fired.
09:48: The standard salary is $0.53 per hour - overtime pay is regularly confiscated.
09:50: He’s holding up a Barbie, claiming: “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Bama Anthreya of the International Labor Rights Forum goes on to explain that “Mattel, Hasbro, Fischer-Price and Disney all use sweatshops, but the biggest beneficiary is Walmart.”
The issues being discussed have far-reaching implications for Wal-Mart, which sources more than 70% of its products from China and relies on the country’s lax labor standards for its low prices. Here’s a link to the video of the hearing, and we’ll be listening in. In the mean time, check out Consumerist’s live coverage, or our archives of Wal-Mart’s toy safety record and Wal-Mart’s relationship with China.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, October 25 | 0 comments | Permalink
Lunch Discussion on Wal-Mart and Product Safety
Wal-Mart Watch presents a lunch discussion in Washington, DC. with E. Marla Felcher, Writer, Consumer Advocate and Lecturer at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. If you are interested in discussing the impact Wal-Mart has on the production and regulation of products sold at its stores, you won’t want to miss:
THE CANARY IN THE COAL MINE:
How the Travel-Lite Portable Crib Killed Six Toddlers and Why the CPSC Can’t Do Much About it
Lunch will be provided by Wal-Mart Watch
WHEN: Tuesday, October 30th. 12:00 noon – 1:30 PM
RSVP: 202.557.7470
E. Marla Felcher is a freelance journalist, non-profit marketing consultant, and Lecturer of Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. In 2001, Ms. Felcher published, It’s No Accident: How Corporations Sell Dangerous Baby Products (Common Courage Press), an account of the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s inability to effectively regulate the manufacturers of high chairs, cribs, strollers and other products used by children. It’s No Accident has been endorsed by the country’s leading consumer groups and pediatric health care practitioners, and has been used as the basis of legislation by members of Congress, both at the state and federal level. Ms. Felcher has also testified before Congress about product safety multiple times.
This event is part of a lunch series sponsored by Wal-Mart Watch.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, October 23 | 0 comments | Permalink
The Women Who Make Your Children’s Toys
A photo slideshow from blog Shanghaiist portrays just a few of the thousands of women who work in factories in China. Working long hours for little pay, the women working in China’s manufacturing plants are only the first in a long line of women underpaid for their labor by multinationals like Wal-Mart. Whether in the factory or in the stores, Wal-Mart has been taking advantage of women for too long.
Click here to read more about Women’s Rights at Wal-Mart, and here to read more about Wal-Mart’s toys.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, October 23 | 19 comments | Permalink
Op-Ed: Why Isn’t Wal-Mart Begging Our Forgiveness?
An op-ed from the Modesto Bee in Modesto, California:
Op-Ed: Wal-Mart imports China’s problems [Modesto Bee (Calif.)]
Why aren’t more parents and pet owners screaming about Wal-Mart’s lack of concern for our kids’ and pets’ safety? Wal-Mart’s connection to the products made in China is now our problem. Wal-Mart’s use of inferior materials in baby bibs and lead paint toys in inexcusable. Finding traces of melamine (an industrial chemical used in making plastics) in pet treats is scary. How does melamine get into pet treats?
Why has this happened? Why isn’t Wal-Mart apologizing and begging for our forgiveness instead of blaming the manufacturer?
Let’s face it, if a local cannery had skimped on quality and melamine entered our food supply, heads would roll. Hopefully we wouldn’t just shrug our shoulders and say, “Oh well, I only paid a buck for it.”
When Wal-Mart jeopardizes our kids’ and pets’ safety, I cannot sit back idly twirling my thumbs. My kids and my pets are more valuable than shopping for specials at Wal-Mart.
Posted by Media Team on Wednesday, October 17 | 6 comments | Permalink
New Video Examines Wal-Mart’s Ties to China
WakeUpWalMart.com today released the second ad in its series investigating the “ultimate joint venture” between Wal-Mart and China. The ad will begin airing this week in 30 media markets around the country.
Click here to read more about Wal-Mart’s complex relationship with China, both as a major retailer in the country and as one of the largest buyer of Chinese products.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, October 16 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Hopes Consumers Will Ignore Dangerous Products
Pretending to be blissfully unaware of several months’ worth of product recalls, Wal-Mart has jumped in to the holiday season with both feet. Consumers Union, the non-profit behind Consumer Reports, maintains that retailers are not only foolish but foolhardy to think that the toys on their shelves are safe.
“It’s ridiculous, it’s laughable, to think that they are going to make sure that all the toys that come into our country meet standards,” said Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives for Consumers Union.
The group goes on to hold retailers primarily responsible for the state of toys in America, citing buyer pressure as the leading reason why manufacturers scrimp to cut costs.
While other manufacturers and retailers set aggressive standards for product safety, Wal-Mart sets aggressive standards for public relations. It would rather bully its suppliers for dirt cheap goods than ensure that its products won’t harm our children. Let your friends and neighbors know the important part that Wal-Mart plays in the safety of our children’s toys. Click here to write a letter to your local newspaper now.
Recall rebound [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]
Retailers are about to find out if nearly a year’s worth of bad news in the toy business is going to foul up their make-or-break Christmas shopping season.
They hope to entice shoppers with a combination of the latest play technology, time-tested names such as Elmo and Barbie and an old concept called physical exercise.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, October 16 | 2 comments | Permalink
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