The Street: Workplace Injury Still Found In Chinese Supplier To Disney And Tesco

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Source: The Street: Workplace Injury Still Found In Chinese Supplier To Disney And Tesco

LOS ANGELES, April 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A Chinese factory that supplies products to Disney and Tesco was found to have violated local labor laws due to its practices, such as forcing employees to work an excessive amount of overtime with a serious lack of workplace security.

Employees are required to work for 13.5 hours per day during peak seasons between January and February. Employees are at the factory for at least 96 hours per week while working for at least 81 hours, with mandatory overtime on Saturdays and sometimes on Sundays.

Overtime work hours per month are more than 100 hours and up to 130 hours, which well exceed the permissible overtime hours stipulated by the 1995 Labor Law in China.

Employees are paid as low as $0.66/hour.

In the Yiuwah factory, machines are not subject to regular maintenance.

CLW found a case of work-related injury. In March 2010, an employee wounded her finger when operating a machine and the distal phalanx of her finger was crushed. The employee did not receive proper medical treatments for the crush injury.

The factory does not educate employees on occupational health and safety.

The factory withholds employees' ID cards for 3 days upon recruitment, in direct violation of Chinese law.

Many workers at the factory do not have social insurance.

Through in-depth investigations of labor practices, China Labor Watch (CLW) found a series of labor rights violation at the factory, Yiuwah Stationary. Investigators of CLW found a lack of compliance with pertinent Chinese labor laws at the factory on aspects of excessive overtime hours, a serious lack of workplace safety, ignorance of occupational health, and a lack of training and health examination. Some of the practices fail to meet the ethical standards adopted by Disney and Tesco.