FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK – Today China Labor Watch (CLW) published the investigative findings of a Shenzhen-based toy factory where workers recently went on strike to demand severance compensation and unpaid insurance and met heavy suppression from authorities. The factory, called Jingyu Toy Products, is a supplier to Hasbro, Takara Tomy, and Mattel. In particular, the factory produces Transformers line toys for Hasbro and Takara Tomy.
According to interviewed workers, the strike was sparked by company management demanding that workers come in the morning to begin their normal day shift despite having workers toil until 2 in the morning. The deeper grievance, however, was related to an approaching plant relocation.
Interviews also revealed that workers at Jingyu earn the local minimum wage (2,030 RMB or $327). The company pays workers normal wages for 6 hours and 40 minutes each weekday, and workers, currently in a low season, do an additional 2 hours 20 minutes of work paid as overtime. This time arrangement is used to shift the 1 hour and 20 minutes of each weekday onto Saturday, during which workers are paid normal weekday wage rates for Saturday work, which is usually paid double rate.
Hour shifting and wage theft is something that CLW has revealed in previous Chinese toy factory investigations. Yet this unfair wage practice continues.
For more information and photos, read the full report on Jingyu Toy Products.
About China Labor Watch
Founded in 2000, China Labor Watch is an independent not-for-profit organization. For more than a decade, CLW has collaborated with labor organizations and the media to conduct in-depth assessments of factories in China that produce toys, bikes, shoes, furniture, clothing, and electronics for some of the world’s largest brand companies. CLW’s New York office creates reports from these investigations, educates the international community on supply chain labor issues, and pressures corporations to improve conditions for workers.
Contact
(For English)
Kevin Slaten
Program Coordinator, China Labor Watch
E-mail: clw@chinalaborwatch.org
Phone: +001 212-244-4049
147 W 35 St Ste 406
New York, NY 10001
(For Chinese)
Li Qiang
Executive Director, China Labor Watch
E-mail: clw@chinalaborwatch.org
Phone: +001 212-244-4049