The Energon Pub

Hasbro, I find it absolutely disgusting that a company that produces a toy with the motto, "Freedom Is The Right Of All Sentient Beings", denied the rights, freedoms, and dignity of its own workers abroad. Brian Goldner, why not treat your workers like human beings?!


http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/rs/ ... cfm?id=237

Hasbro is the second largest U.S. toymaker and its brands such as Nerf and Playskool are household names. Hasbro works to uphold a positive image for children and families not just with its products, but also with its actions. The company has sponsored programs such as Kids Cafe in Rhode Island (its home state), which feeds needy children, and through its EPA Climate Leaders program commitment to cut 30 percent of its greenhouse gas emission from 2000 to 2007. Although these efforts are praiseworthy, Hasbro has been inactive in trying to stop sweatshop use. It continues to source toys from factories with documented labor and human rights violations, where people are forced to work for as little as 17 cents an hour and accrue countless hours of unpaid overtime labor. Filthy and dangerous working conditions are commonplace in toy factories. The issue has grabbed the attention of its shareholders who filed a resolution calling for increased efforts by Hasbro and others to end human rights abuses by suppliers.
Bottom line: keep the pressure on Hasbro to end sweatshop sourcing and use its influence to persuade others to do the same. In the meantime, get creative and find green toy options for your children by visiting Go Green.

-- Profile Updated 11/27/2007


About Hasbro
Hasbro Inc. manufactures and licenses a wide range of toys and games, including favorites such as G.I. Joe, Play-Doh, Scrabble, Monopoly, and Trivial Pursuit. Based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the company employs 5,900 and reported revenues of approximately $3.152 billion in 2006.

Contact Hasbro
Hasbro
1027 Newport Ave.
Pawtucket, RI 02862 USA
Phone: 401-431-8697
Web: http://www.hasbro.com

Complaints, Abuses, and Scandals
Labor

A 2005 report by China Labor Watch called “The Toy Industry in China: Undermining Workers’ Rights and Rule of Law,” highlights the violations of worker rights in toy plants in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province. The report specifically highlights the Kai Long manufacturing plant in Hong Kong, which exports toys for Hasbro, Mattel, McDonald’s, and KFC. Violations of international labor laws and those of China include:


Routine 14.5 hour weekdays with only one day off a month
Wages at 59 percent of the local minimum wage standard in Dongguan City
No overtime compensation
Workers deprived of 43 percent of their legal wage, earning .0125 to .025 cents per toy they produce
Inadequate and unsanitary working conditions and dorm rooms
No insurance for regular workers
No independent trade unions
Li Qiang, the executive director of China’s Labor Watch commented: “Abusive conditions persist, threatening to undermine any gains made in workers’ standard of living and hindering the development of rule of law in China.”

-- China Labor Watch, 09/01/2005
Source URL: http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/upload/t ... report.doc



Hasbro's operations in China made it one of the targets of the National Labor Committee's "Toys of Misery" campaign which demanded that toy companies disclose the names and addresses of the factories used to make toys in China and allow third party independent monitoring of these facilities. The "Toys of Misery" report states that toy workers in China--mostly young women-- are forced to work 16 hours a day, seven days a week, for 17 cents an hour. Hasbro and other companies have responded to the allegations by stating that they employ Codes of Conduct and strict monitoring systems in their plants in China.

-- National Labor Committee, 12/01/2004
Source URL: http://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/he-yi/he-yi.shtml



Health and Safety

The Consumer Product Safety Committee (CPSC) listed Hasbro’s Nerf Big Play Football as one of its 10 Hazardous Recalled Toys for 2004. According to the CPSC, “The football contains a hard plastic interior frame that can pose a risk of facial cuts if a child is hit during play. There have been nine reports of facial injuries, including eight requiring stitches or medical attention.”

-- PR Newswire, 11/22/2004
Source URL: biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041122/dcm003_1.html



Hasbro received an 'Incomplete' grade on Greenpeace's 2003 Toxic Toy Report Card, which rates toy manufacturers on their efforts to eliminate PVC and toxic additives from toys. Greenpeace stated that the incomlete was for, "No reply after repeated inquiries." Hasbro had achieved a "D" grade on the organization's previous Report Card in 2000, for eliminating phthalates in mouth toys only.

-- Greenpeace, 01/01/2003
Source URL: http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/bin/view.f ... e/287.html



Human Rights

Hasbro was removed from the FTSE4Good Index series as a result of failing to satisfy supply chain labor standards. The FTSE4Good Index encourages investment in socially responsible companies that are included in the index only after meeting strict criteria. Companies are screened and evaluated on products the company sells, countries that supply the products, and exposure in these markets in terms of revenue.

-- FTSE4Good, 09/01/2006
Source URL: http://www.ftse.com/Indices/FTSE4Good_I ... d_Sept_2...



The New York City Employees Retirement System (NYC Pension Funds), holds 11 companies (including Hasbro) in its portfolio, and has filed a resolution with each company asking for the development of a code of conduct that is based on the International Labor Organization's core labor standards and the UN's Draft Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations with Regards to Human Rights. ILO conventions include the right to form and join a union, a prohibition on discrimination and intimidation, and prohibition against forced labor, child labor, and prison labor.

-- New York City Comptroller's Office, 01/01/2006
Source URL: http://www.comptroller.nyc.gov/press/20 ... 2-019.shtm



Ethics and Governance

Hasbro Chairman and CEO, Alfred J. Verrecchia, earned $8,406,288 in total compensation for 2006 according to the SEC and $9,625,296 according to the AFL-CIO's calculations.

-- AFL-CIO, 02/17/2007
Source URL: http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/pa ... r=HAS&pg=1



In 2002, Hasbro was fined $7.9 million by the United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading for price fixing by setting prices on toys and games with wholesale distributors. A second charge of price fixing with retailers was dropped after the company cooperated with the investigation. But the OFT did fine UK toys retail chains GUS PLC's Argos and Littlewoods $36.1 million. The company initially appealed the verdict but in 2003 dropped its appeal, saying "The time was right to put this matter behind us and to move forward."

-- Providence Journal, 04/04/2003
Source URL: none available



Brands and Affiliates
Brands: 1313 Deadend Drive, 2-In-1 Tummy Time Gym, Abc Song Game, Acquire, Action Attack, Action Man, Aggravation, Air-Tibity Table, All Thumbs Pop, Ants In The Pants, Are You For Real Game, Arthur, Avalon Hill, Axis & Allies, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Bakushin-Oh, Barney, Barrel Of Monkeys, Batman, Battle Cry, Battleball, Battlebots, Battleship, Beast Wars/Transformers, Beyblade, Big Ben, Bill Coleman, Bingo Is His Name-O!, Bistool Top, Bob The Builder, Boggle, Boggle Jr., Boohbah, Bop It, Bound Defender, Brain Warp, Bratz Dolls, Btr, Bug Factor Lolipop, Bulls Eye Ball, Bump King, Busy Ball Popper, Busy Beads, Canasta Caliente, Candy Land, Cap Candy, Careers, Cat And The Fiddle, Charles Wysocki, Chatitude, Chutes & Ladders, Clone Wars, Clue, Clue Fx, Clue Jr., Connect Four, Cool Crew, Cootie, Cosmic Encounter, Cover-To-Cover, Crocodile Dentist, Croxley, D20 Modern, D20 System, Diplomacy, Disney Brother Bear, Disney Lion King, Disney Princess, Disney Wild Racers, Doh Doh's Beach Buggy, Dohville, Don't Break The Ice, Don't Spill The Beans, Draciel, Draciel Fortress, Dragon Strike, Dragoon, Dranzer, Dreamworks, Driger, Duel Masters, Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures, Duotron Launcher, E-Kara, Easy Grasp, Easy-Bake Oven, Easy-Bake Real Meal, Eberron, Electronic Battleship, Electronic Catch Phrase, Elefun, Engine Gear, Epic Duels, Express Yourself, Fab Fish, Family Game Night, Finding Nemo, Forgotten Realms, Frog Tennis, Fun Funky Fingernails, Furby, Furreal Friends, Furreal Friends Go Go My Walkin' Pup, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe: Spy Troops, Ga Ga's, Galeon Attacker, Galman, Galoob, Galzzly, Game Keeper, Game Of Life, Gekiryu-Oh, Get Together Games, Girl Talk, Gloworm, Go Go My Walking Pup, Go Goddess, Go-Bots, Grip Attacker, Guess Who?, Guesstures, Guild, Gum Bitz, Hands Down, Hangman, Hard Metal System, Harry Potter, Hasbro, Hasbro Interactive, Heads Up, Hi-Ho! Cherry-O, Hidden Spirits, History Of The World, Hitclips, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Hyperblades, Ice Cream Shoppe Lick 'N Dip, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Jack Diamond, Jenga, Jenga Xtreme, Jumping Base, Junior, Jurassic Park, Kenner, Kidclips Disney Tunes, Larami Limited, Lights Out, Lilo And Stitch, Lite-Brite, Lite-Brite Cube, Littlest Pet Shop, Lord Of The Rings, Luv Cubs, Magic Screen, Magic Talkin' Kitchen, Magic: The Gathering, Magic: The Gathering Online, Magical Princess Castles, Magna Pop, Magnacore, Major Powers, Makendo, Marjolein Bastin, Medabots, Metal Masters, Micro Machines, Micro Prose, Milton Bradley, Mission Command, Monopoly, Monsters, Inc., Moods, Mousetrap, Mr. Mouth, Mr. Potato Head, My First Games, My Little Pony, Mystery Date, Naknak, Navy Seals, Neopets, Nerf, Nerf Big Play Football, Nerf Tech Target, Nibble Notes, Nu Jam Guitar Game, Nursery Rhyme Games, Nutty Elephant, Oddzon, Old Mcdonald Had A Farm, Operation, Operation Brain Surgery, Orbs, Original Memory Game, Ouija, Outburst, Outburst Junior, Parcheesi, Parker Brothers, Pastel Pets, Payday, Perfection, Phantom Force, Pictionary, Pictionary Junior, Picture Perfect, Pitch Six, Play-Doh, Play-Doh Creativity Table, Play-Doh Doh Doh Island, Playskool, Pocket Neopets, Pokemon, Polta, Pop Toppers, Pop-O-Matic Trouble, Power Air Surfer Sky Wolf, Pretty Pretty Princess, Projax, Puzzle Medley, Queasy Bake, R2-D2 Interactive Droid, Racko, Radical Rollin' Rachel, Raggedy Andy, Raggedy Ann, Rainsticks, Remote Possibilities, Ride2roll Scooter, Risk, Risk 2210 Ad, Roller Attacker, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Roller Defenser, Rook, Row Row Row Your Boat, Royal Hearts, Rubbadubbers, Rubik's Cube, Scattergories, Scrabble, Seaborg, Seascapes, Secret Central, Secret Message Pop, Showdown Sports, Silly Soccer, Silly Sports, Simon, Sit 'N Spin, Sorry!, Spark Knight, Speedstars, Spin Pop, Spin The Beetle, Spirograph, Spite & Malice, Splat, Split, Stacking Battle, Star Wars, Star Wars Roleplaying, Starting Lineup, Step Start Walk N' Ride, Stickerizer, Stikfas, Storytime Game With Mother Goose, Stratego Game, Stratego Legends, Stuart Little, Super Soaker, Super Soaker Monster Rocket, Super Stunt City, Superman, Superplexus, Taboo, Taboo Junior, Team Builders, Teletubbies, The Simpsons, Thintronix, Throw Me A Bone, Thumb Thing, Tickle Toes, Tiger Games, Tinkertoys, Tiny Tins, Tonka, Tonka Tough Truck Adventures, Tonka Town, Toughest Mighty Dump, Toy Story And Beyond, Transformers, Treasure Planet, Trivial Pursuit, Trivial Pursuit Junior, Trouble, Trygle, Trypio, Tummy Time Picture Show, Twinkletwirls Dance Studio, Twister, Twister Moves, Ultimate Saizo, Unicron Battles, Upwords, Valor Vs. Venom, Vampire Hunter, Videonow, Weebles, Whac-A-Mole, Wheels On The Bus, Wing Attacker, Wing Defenser, Wizards Of The Coast, Wolborg, Woodboard Puzzles, Yahtzee, Yard Crew, Zoids

Affiliates:
- Cap Toys, Inc. - Napa, CA
- Galco International Toys, Ltd. - Kowloon, China (Hong Kong)
- Hasbro Bradley Far East Ltd. - Kowloon, China (Hong Kong)
- Hasbro Canada Corporation (Branch) - Longueuil, Canada
- Hasbro Europe UK Limited - Uxbridge, United Kingdom
- Hasbro Foreign Sales Corp. - Charlotte Amalie, VI
- Hasbro France S.A. - Le Bourget, France
- Hasbro Games - East Longmeadow, MA
- Hasbro, France - Le Bourget, France
- Irwin Toy - Toronto, Canada
- Kenner Parker (N.Z.) Ltd. - Auckland, New Zealand
- MB Ireland - Waterford, Ireland
- Milton Bradley (Switzerland) AG - Mutschellen, Switzerland
- OddzOn, Inc. - Napa, CA
- Parker Brothers/Kenner Parker Australia Ltd. - Alexandria, Australia
- The Avalon Hill Game Company - Pawtucket, RI
- Tiger Electronics, Ltd. - Pawtucket, RI
- Tonka Corp. Pty. Ltd. - Rhodes, Australia
- Tonka Italia S.p.A. - Milan, Italy
- Wizards of the Coast, Inc. - Renton, WA

When our enjoyment intersects with the real world, we often have much to ponder. Where will our ethical impulses take us.

Thank you for this information. I don't think people reflect enough on where their possessions come from and how.

Transformers come from China. So what, they have since a point in BW.

Who cares? I don’t. I really don’t like them coming from China, but that isn’t going to stop me from buying them.

Most all toy come from china so what are we going to do stop buying toys untill companies stop producing there toys in china. I don't think so the average parent or collector doesn't think about things like that a toy is toy no matter where it comes from.

I hate the idea of ppl overseas working in harsd conditions but the truth of the matter is.............must of items other then toys come from oversea from the shirt on your back 2 the shoes on your feet.

That jus how Corp America works nowadays. You need 2 make that a issue 2 the government of our country cause the the Businesses wont stop what they r doin unless the higher step in......which probably wont happen unless our country goes belly up in finances

This topic probably would have been better in the General discussion forum.

Can you really go into a Wal-Mart and find much of anything that isn't made by someone being exploited

America is a consumer culture, and we want our stuff cheap, that doesn't happen if the products can't be made cheaply.

Would most of you really be collecting TF's if a basic figure cost upwards of $15? Probably not. So what exactly is Hasbro incentive to use factories that don't exploit their workers?
Sure you can form a group and petition, protest and try to get people to not by their products... but some people will still buy their products, and probably enough of them that Hasbro (or any other company for that matter) will still be making more than they would if they used more expensive labor and had to raise their prices, driving off their casual consumers.


Don't get me wrong, I'd sign a petition against Hasbro in a heartbeat, hell I might even stop buying their products if I was properly convinced.... but right now I do not believe that it would change a thing.

Like I said before, so many of the cheap products flooding the American markets nowadays have some ties to exploited labor that you'd have to live a commune-hippy to get away from it all.

For me to live as I choose, and provide for my family, I can't afford to spend more than necesary for anything, nor do I want to live with hippies, therefor my buying habits will remain unchanged.

I'm fairly certain nobody else's long-term buying habits here will change, anybody who claims otherwise is either a liar or a hippie.

Ew. Our beloved toys that we snuggle up to are made in sweatshops? Bullshit. It's a freaking factory overseas. The people on the article are just comparing their posh working environments to the commonplace way of life in those countries overseas. Sorry, but that won't compell me to stop buying my toys.

Support Chinese workers by buying stolen prototype Transormers.

I agree with Stormy, this belongs in TFGD.

However... thank you for this article. It is very sad to accept the fact that many many children brake there backs and sweat till it hurts just to make less then the cost of a happy meal each week.

At least they are getting paid though. Some people don't even get paid. There called slaves. Either way, life isn't fair.

Magnimus wrote:When our enjoyment intersects with the real world, we often have much to ponder. Where will our ethical impulses take us.

Thank you for this information. I don't think people reflect enough on where their possessions come from and how.

I went on a very disturbing trip to Tijuanna yesterday that got me to thinking about the disturbing side of Sweatshop labor. It was hosted by my Woman's Studies class and a grassroots organization in Mexico trying to bring awareness to the plight of its local sweatshop workers. Many myths associated with sweatshop labor were dashed and the reality proved to be far worse than what is believed or being reported.

At least in Mexico, contrary to popular belief, Maquiladoras have not improved the lives of Mexican citizens, most of them being women workers. Yes, they have provided a source of jobs, but with other detrimental costs that did not exist prior to them moving to Tijuanna.

Contrary to popular belief, these Mexican sweatshops pay only SLIGHTLY more than average employment jobs in Mexico. Contrary to popular belief, the costs of living in Tijuanna, Mexico, in many respects, is about the same as that of neighboring San Diego. Yes, the rents are significantly cheaper. The average rent in Tijuanna is about $100 per month. But food and utilities cost about the same, and in many cases slightly more. Most people have to import water, since their own drinking water is too poluted to drink for the most part (maquiladoras being BIG contributors to this kind of polution).

So the average woman worker with 2-3 kids (single women workers make up the majority of workers in maquiladoras)is paying about $4.00 for a gallon of milk, $4.00 for a jug of water, and $8.00 for some tortillas and beans. She probabely has to buy two of each kind a week just to feed herself and her kids. And she doesn't have much money for anything else because she is only making $6.00 A DAY! Then she has to pay $100 for rent each month and $50-$100 for utilities.
According to the lady sponsoring the program, it takes an average income of at least $300 a month just to live at the poverty line there. The average maquiladora worker there makes no more than $180 a month assembling TVs and other electronics that they sell for HUNDREDs and THOUSANDS of dollars in the United States!

But it gets WORSE. FAR WORSE!

I saw it with my own eyes. The poverty and pollution there! Big time!

We went to a place that used to be a battery recycling plant. The plant was an American company owned by an American. They recycled lead batteries there, and part of the recycling process involved releasing tons of lead into the air right near a community. Several of the workers were getting lead poisoning, cancer, and having babies born with parts of their brain missing! Same with the community members! So what does the owner of this company do when this grassroots organization filed charges of environmental breaches against him? He ups and runs to San Diego completely ignoring his and his company's responsibilities. Since NAFTA had no provisions in it placing the responsibility of any environmental and health damages on the foreign companies themselves, the Mexican government wound up with the bill for 7 MILLION dollars to clean up the contaminated mess! Though this was a United States company, the United States did nothing to help either!

We went to another site that use to have a clean river that people fished out of! Not anymore. The river is completely filty and smelled really bad. It was covered in a greenish-black haze. Massively polluted, with most of the pollution coming from a local maquiladora. People there, maquiladora workers, lived in some of the most wretched poverty one can imagine. Their shacks looked like a pile of splinters thown together. The kids were running around barefoot and filthy playing nearby the river. I was told they often played in the poluted river as well. Tires, trash, and factory waste just covered the area. My professor, who is from India, told me that the level of poverty there is on par with her native country.

And never mind the fact that in addition to paying the maquiladora workers practically nothing, the foreign factories, many of them United States and Japanese factories, treat their workers like total sh*t and expose them to all sorts of contaminates without even informing them. One former maquiladora worker stated that she was developing kidney problems, because she was not allowed to go to the bathroom the entire time she was employed. Also, because she was exposed to high levels of lead dust with no protection, she couldn't even hug her own children right away when she got home. She had to take off her cloths and bath so she wouldn't get any lead dust on them!

These factories don't care about the fact that most of the women they employ have kids. They work them ten hours a day at night (but rarely pay them for a full ten hours) while there kids are left home all day in the shack to fend for themselves. These women are paid to little to afford babysitters.

One former worker stated that her company, and American company, decided to up and move to Indonesia, because the labor was cheaper there than in Mexico. According to laws, she and the rest of the workers were supposed to get severance pay when this happened. But the company didn't want to pay them anything!

My professor told me that many companies in China, several of which, like Hasbro, being American ones, are treating their workers in similar ways and exposing them to all kinds of pollution and poluting the environments there like crazy since they can get away with it!

I'm disgusted! That trip was a real sobering eye opener! I'm disgusted with the United States government and its companies even more so than the countries that host their labor!

I cannot believe that the United States, which calls itself the "land of the free and the brave", which blabs on and on about human rights and how other countries are violating them, is ONE OF THE BIGGEST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATORS THERE IS BY ALLOWING ITS COMPANIES TO ACT LIKE ABSOLUTE EXPLOITATIVE WHORES IN THE REST OF THE WORLD!

According to our constitution, the government has the power to "regulate commerce". THIS GOVERNMENT HAS THE POWER TO STOP ITS COMPANIES FROM COMMITTING HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES ALL OVER THE WORLD AND TRASHING THE PLANET IN THE PROCESS, BUT DOES NOTHING!

Bun-Bun wrote:Would most of you really be collecting TF's if a basic figure cost upwards of $15? Probably not.

OT, but I guess you're not familiar with the prices people are paying for TF's overseas.

$15 = €9.50

Check out how much a real gear cost back in January(and this was at the cheapest):


Wages in Europe aren't any higher than in the U.S. If we can afford to pay more than double U.S. prices, you can to. Don't forget prices have already come down dramatically since the eighties in relative terms. Why should people be working in sweatshop conditions just so kids today can afford more toys than we could at their age.

moldavite wrote:I cannot believe that the United States, which calls itself the "land of the free and the brave", which blabs on and on about human rights and how other countries are violating them, is ONE OF THE BIGGEST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATORS THERE IS BY ALLOWING ITS COMPANIES TO ACT LIKE ABSOLUTE EXPLOITATIVE WHORES IN THE REST OF THE WORLD!

According to our constitution, the government has the power to "regulate commerce". THIS GOVERNMENT HAS THE POWER TO STOP ITS COMPANIES FROM COMMITTING HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES ALL OVER THE WORLD AND TRASHING THE PLANET IN THE PROCESS, BUT DOES NOTHING!

You can't totally blame the U.S. Don't forget, many of these are multinational companies. If US government starts penalizing corporations, they may decide they don't want to be in the U.S. anymore. Last year, Haliburton moved its headquarters from Texas to Dubai. Any company could do just the same, to avail of lower taxes and be less legally vulnerable.

It's the same deal with China. People complain about their lack of regulation. But if they try to tighten things up, they'll increase costs and lose business to Vietnam and other emerging countries(already Hasbro want to move production to Vietnam).

Down_Shift wrote:I agree with Stormy, this belongs in TFGD.

With all due respect, no it doesn't. It's about toys. It belongs in the Toys forum.


I know people love to compartmentalize things, and push things to the side, not think about them, but these toys were made on the same planet as you and I, by people just the same as you or I. The toys you or I buy in our local store don't just materialize there from some other dimension, entirely divorced from any production process.

Bumblethumper wrote:

Down_Shift wrote:I agree with Stormy, this belongs in TFGD.

With all due respect, no it doesn't. It's about toys. It belongs in the Toys forum.

It does not belong in he toy forum. There is no discussion about a particular toy in here. This is why we have subforums, for example if someone wants to talk about thecharacter, they can do it here. Of course we know that the character has a toy, but sinice it is not related directly to a single figure, but to a corporate process, it belongs here.

Technically it belongs in Philosopher's Forum, because that is where discussions like this take place, but that is locked. SO keep it civil in here (not saying it hasn't been, but we know what usually happends).

Governments are always in the pockets of business because it in turn earns them money. The only way the government will take action is if there is enough media attention to make it embarrassing for them, and even in that case only until the attention goes away.

Big businesses operate under a model of generating maximum profit exponentially year on year. If profit margins stagnate, corners are cut, workforces are reduced, and work is outsourced to cheaper locations.

I don't claim to know how these foreign factories are operated, but I will hazard a guess that those currently running them are themselves foreign workers on a higher (though still low in comparison to western standards) wage than their employees. And those in charge of the factories are given budgets that they must meet or be replaced. I

It all comes down to money and unless the quest for exponential profit comes to an end, these business practices will not change. Companies are machines, they don't see foreign workers as people they seem as numbers on a budget sheet.

While the examples in less developed countries are more extreme, it translates across the world, even in our own countries.

With retailers straining to increase their profits staff cuts have become part of their solution for continuing to generate exponential profit. This is not the only thing however... Premises are left to degrade, and equipment to age.

During my five years in retail I saw the walls in my workplace turn from white to a creamy yellow, the roof leak and flood two levels of the sales floor and never be given more than a patch that would not last through another storm.

Repairs were never carried out until a severe string of rainstorms put an entire department out of commission. Even then the repairs were ordered grudgingly because the cost did not factor in to management's budget.

The walls, packed with asbestos, were chipped and crumbling, no repairs on them have been carried out to this day. The carpets were filthy and ragged, and have not been replaced.

In a high crime environment the company was not even willing to provide one of my stores with a security guard.

While I'm sure a foreign worker being exposed to these conditions would see them as a haven in comparison to what they are used to, you can see how neglect is present in all businesses simply because it is not acceptable to damage profits. It's merely a matter of scale.

Companies will trundle along with profit maximization however because those responsible for drawing up budgets and managing finances are detached from those actually doing work on the floor. They aren't working side by side with those they administer so it is hard to have feelings for their situation.

Anyhoo... I'm rambling.

It is all business practice that needs to change. If health and welfare can take presidence over profit then things can change, though that is extremely unlikely and I don't think I'll see it happen in my lifetime.

In the grand scheme of things I'm sure this little planet's problems won't amount to much, and our struggles as a species are even more insignificant. My only wish is that one day we'll realize the constant dedication of our lives to amassing material wealth will only lead us down the wrong road.

With what we as a species have accomplished over the years, things like poverty and neglect in the workplace should no longer exist. If only it weren't for our inherent greed.

And now I've depressed myself.

Sometimes it sucks to be a dreamer.

GetterDragun wrote:

Bumblethumper wrote:

Down_Shift wrote:I agree with Stormy, this belongs in TFGD.

With all due respect, no it doesn't. It's about toys. It belongs in the Toys forum.

It does not belong in he toy forum. There is no discussion about a particular toy in here.

Okay, that's quite straightforward. I see your point.

Nevertheless, I do feel that the conditions under which a toy is produced should be of interest to the toy collector, and I was sorry to see such a thread moved to a forum that appears to generate lower traffic. When TakaraTomy announced their intention to move production to Vietnam and Thailand, that was discussed in the Toys forum. There was the question of whether it would affect the quality or price of the toys. Well I think the working conditions of production can also affect toys such matters.

But fair enough, mods have decided otherwise, and I respect that.

Bumblethumper wrote:Okay, that's quite straightforward. I see your point.

Nevertheless, I do feel that the conditions under which a toy is produced should be of interest to the toy collector, and I was sorry to see such a thread moved to a forum that appears to generate lower traffic. When TakaraTomy announced their intention to move production to Vietnam and Thailand, that was discussed in the Toys forum. There was the question of whether it would affect the quality or price of the toys. Well I think the working conditions of production can also affect toys such matters.

But fair enough, mods have decided otherwise, and I respect that.

We're not here to bust balls, just keep things neat and tidy. I do like how it started in toys because it gave alot of people who don't usually see article such as this the chance to read up on the un-happy side of our hobby.

I cannot believe that the United States, which calls itself the "land of the free and the brave", which blabs on and on about human rights and how other countries are violating them, is ONE OF THE BIGGEST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATORS THERE IS BY ALLOWING ITS COMPANIES TO ACT LIKE ABSOLUTE EXPLOITATIVE WHORES IN THE REST OF THE WORLD!

I think you are putting a lot of blame unfairly on the U.S. government when the blame resides on the governments where the factories reside. Why aren't you focusing on the Chinese government? The Chinese government regulates the factory conditions in China, not the U.S. government. The only two things that the U.S. government can do is ask the American corporations to self-regulate themselves, which they sometimes do; or if it becomes a real problem - they can ban or restrict importations. In some cases, like NAFTA, special regulations can be pre-set in an accord.

The U.S. government has been putting pressure on the Chinese government for years to crackdown on piracy and improve human rights. Very little progress has been made. How is the U.S. government going to succeed at regulating factory conditions in another country when the U.S. government officials cannot enter the foreign factory to inspect it?

I will give you an example how hard it is for an outside government to regulate factories in another country. The Japanese government has been having serious problems with tainted food which is made in China. In one recent case, a fertilizer poison was added to several thousand dumplings during the manufacturing and packaging process in a Chinese plant. Several Japanese people died and many got seriously ill. Even though the company is Japanese owned, the Japanese officials have not been allowed to inspect the plant in China. The Chinese government has refused, and the Chinese government is doing little resolve the issue (they have been keeping things very secretive). It has turned into a big bruhaha. What makes you think that the U.S. government is going to get any luckier with factory condition regulations?

Look what's happening right now with the Olympic torch relay protest and Tibet. Many countries have been putting pressure on China, including the U.S. - and China still remains undaunted.

There are a lot of things that I don't like about China right now; but I don't blame the American government, I blame China. Personally, I would love to see the manufacturing in China moved to countries that have better working conditions, and make safer and improved products. But by doing so, many Chinese workers will be unemployed. Is that right? I don't know, but it would fix the problem.

College is great time in ones life. I remember how much my professors opened my eyes to many issues. But I also remember how many of my college professors were socialists and anti-American, and they often seemed to give only one side of the story and painted the American government as evil.

The sweatshop labor is a valid issue but it is a dual edged sword. We all want to conditions to improve, but what is the best way of doing it without disrupting life on both sides? I think grassrooting and encouraging companies to improve their workers' conditions is a good method, but I also think that workers need to be educated. Change comes from within their government, and the workers need to understand the issues to enact.

I am watching this thread and the first sign of things getting out of control and it is getting locked down.

Also please stop double and triple posting.
Thanks.

It is the fault of the corporation, the nation it is operating out of, and the nation which is housing its manufacturing. And the governments of both nations and the corporation itself are generally all in bed together. That is the problem.

Yes there are some mulitinational corporations that don't belong to anyone nation. But many of them stemmed from a single nation, such as the United States. And that nation often allowed them to relocate and run amuck without doing anything in its power about it, despite the negative consequences.

I am just especially upset with U.S., as well as its corporations that run amuck, because a country which blasts human rights, the United States, is the most hypocritical for allowing its companies to export jobs to other countries and violate human rights left and right in other lands.

This country cannot do much about the political policies of other countries other than put political, and perhaps, economic pressure on them. But it has the power to stop the abusive and exploitative practices of its own companies, and instead, has allowed them to do practically what they want in other lands all in the name of special interest money!

And though not all companies are based in the United States, a GREAT deal of them are! A great deal of companies that have exploited people and lands left and right are U.S. based companies. And even many of the multinational companies began as U.S. based companies.

Actually, from what I learned in my Women's Studies class, globalization has affected the political policies of other countries making such policies much worse in many cases, especially towards women. Since Western companies have operated out of Western patriarchal paradigms, those companies have diverted the cultural traditions and politics of many cultures and nations, making things worse especially for those hardest hit: women and their children. (In many nations, women make up the majority of sweatshop laborers.)

An example of this involves patriarchal Western companies changing the gender roles of an existing culture to worsen the repression and conditions of the women there. For example, in communities that traditionally employed women to do Western labeled "male jobs", like farming and non-domestic production, Western companies have changed all of that. They have gone in, and, operating out of the paradigm that men should be confined to the public sphere of public paid work while women belong to the domestic sphere of undervalued unpaid work, they have caused men to acheive a greater percentage of employment in paid work like farm work and factory labor. This has caused the economic conditions of women to worsen throughout the world, with their power and status being greatly reduced in the process.

However, in many cultures and nations, especially more recently, more than one income has been required to make needs meet. Thus, a great deal more women have had to enter the workforce. This is where sweatshops come in. Again, a great deal of sweatshop workers are women. This is no accident. Women have been employed mostly by sweatshops for at least four reasons. Women are unable to get any higher paying jobs since men have taken over and controlled the higher paying ones for the most part, largely due to patriarchal globalization changing established culture gender roles. Women, because they have smaller hands, are often able to do more required delicate tasks. A great deal of sweatshop labor (but certainly not all) involves Western female genderized roles such as textile making and sewing, which are, for the most part, undervalued and given less pay for performing. And last, these sweatshops prefer women because they feel that women will not be as willing as men to protest their working conditions and unionize under the belief that women are more docile.

I'm not trying to bash men or say they aren't repressed by globalization and sweatshop labor. They sure are! But the facts that I have learned from my class are that women bare an even greater brunt from it than men on average. But all in all, globalization and corporations have actually detrimentally effected the culture and politics of a particular land or nation in their favor at the expense of their citizens in a great many cases.

Also, from what my professor stated, the Olympics torch protest isn't entirely about human rights. At least not from the U.S. political side. It is also about politics and competition with China. The U.S. wanted this olympics to be hosted in the U.S.A., but China got it instead. So there is some antagonism against China from the U.S. political side. Though U.S. political protests against China's human rights abuses are not the product of this antagonism, the Tibet issue is being used politically here by many to get back at China for getting the olympics instead.

Now, don't get me wrong. I do not agree one bit with what China is doing in Tibet. It's just that it isn't all about Tibet. It's also about other and much more selfish reasons.

Also, many in politics love to bash China to death. Again, I am not agreeing with China's human rights record. But the positives of China often get much more glossed over compared to those of other countries that have committed human rights abuses as well.

Since communism came to China, the status of women actually increased for quite a while under it. They were also given more economic power and status while many of the traditional patriarchal Chinese customs, such as foot-binding, were outlawed. China has actually made more progress towards the rights of women in a small amount of time than other countries. Communism in China has done some positives, but these get glossed over greatly in favor of the negatives.

But in the end, it is more about politics and power than anything else. The U.S. corporations wants to continue exploiting China's cheap labor and its lack of government wage and labor regulations for their benefit and the benefit of the politicians in both countries.
But the U.S., at the same time does not want China to become a major world power that can rival it and reduce its political and economic negotiating power. But China's rise to power is being fueled by this nation's money for all of its products.

The U.S. politicians want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to continue to exploit China for its cheap labor and lack of labor and environmental laws. But they don't want China to rise to power and pose any serious economic and political threat to it at the same time. The Olympics issue is about this as well. Again, the Tibet issue is being used by many politicians and elites in the country for very selfish reasons not having to do with human rights.

You know, if they stop using sweatshops, the price of toys will skyrocket.

Here's another eye-opening essay about sweatshop labor:

http://feminist.org/other/sweatshops/sweatfaq.html

What is a sweatshop?
The Department of Labor defines a work place as a sweatshop if it violates two or more of the most basic labor laws including child labor, minimum wage, overtime and fire safety laws. For many, the word sweatshop conjures up images of dirty, cramped, turn of the century New York tenements where immigrant women worked as seamstresses. High-rise tenement sweatshops still do exist, but, today, even large, brightly-lit factories can be the sites of rampant labor abuses.

Sweatshop workers report horrible working conditions including sub-minimum wages, no benefits, non-payment of wages, forced overtime, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, corporal punishment, and illegal firings. Children can often be found working in sweatshops instead of going to school. Sweatshop operators are notorious for avoiding giving maternity leave by firing pregnant women and forcing women workers to take birth control or to abort their pregnancies.

Sweatshop operators can best control a pool of workers that are ignorant of their rights as workers. Therefore, bosses often refuse to hire unionized workers and intimidate or fire any worker suspected of speaking with union representatives or trying to organize her fellow workers.

I thought sweatshops were a thing of the past. Why are we hearing so much about them again?
The notorious sweatshops of the age of Big Business (the late 19th and early 20th centuries) virtually disappeared after World War II because of increased government regulation of monopolies and the rise of trade unions. Sweatshops began to reappear again, however, during the 1980's and 1990's because of economic globalization. Today1s economy is described as global because advancements in technology have made it possible for large corporations that were once confined to a specific geographic location to become large "multi-nationals."

The popularity of the "free" market following the fall of Communism and a rise in anti-union sentiment, coupled with government programs (like NAFTA and GATT) designed to encourage free trade, have hastened the globalization process. Large corporations are now free to seek out low-wage havens: impoverished countries where corporations benefit from oppressive dictatorial regimes that actively suppress workers' freedoms of speech and association. Even in North America, where the North American Free Trade Agreement is supposed to enforce a minimum stardard for workers' rights, corporations concentrate in maquiladoras, "free trade zones" that were created by NAFTA, where the workers' rights provisions of the Agreement simply do not apply.

Corporations have been fleeing countries with relatively prosperous economies and stable, democracies in droves not only to take advantage of cheap labor, but to escape government scrutiny and criticism from human rights and workers' rights organizations. Guess? Clothing Co., for example, has always produced the majority of its goods in the U.S. but threatened to move 75% of this manufacturing to Mexico last year in response to Department of Labor citations and highly publicized humanitarian campaigns about Guess?'s California contract sweatshops.

Are there sweatshops in the U.S.?
According to the Department of Labor, over 50% of U.S. garment factories are sweatshops. Many sweatshops are run in this country's apparel centers: California, New York, Dallas, Miami and Atlanta.
Source:Department of Labor

Where are most sweatshops?
There are probably sweatshops in every country in the world - anywhere where there is a pool of desperate, exploitable workers. Logically, the poorer a country is the more exploitable its people are. Labor violations are, therefore, especially widespread in third world countries. Nike has been criticized for unethical labor practices in its Chinese, Vietnamese and Indonesian shoe factories, and Haitian garment factories. Non-profit groups have documented the labor violations of retailers like Philips-Van Heusen and the Gap in factories throughout Latin America.

As mentioned above, however, developing countries are not the only ones with sweatshops. Guess? Clothing Corporation, for example, has been cited numerous times by the Department of Labor for the use of contract sweatshops in California.

Who is a typical sweatshop worker?
In the garment industry, the typical sweatshop worker is a woman (90% of all sweatshop workers are women). She is young and, often, missing the chance for an education because she must work long hours to support a family. In America, she is often a recent or undocumented immigrant. She is almost always non-union and usually unaware that, even if she is in this country illegally, she still has rights as a worker.

Which companies are operating sweatshops?
Many of the companies directly running sweatshops are small and don't have much name recognition. However, virtually every retailer in the U.S. has ties to sweatshops. The U.S. is the biggest market for the garment industry and almost all the garment sales in this country are controlled by 5 corporations: Wal-Mart, JC Penney, Sears, The May Company (owns and operates Lord & Taylor, Hecht1s, Filene1s and others) and Federated Department Stores (owns and operates Bloomingdale1s, Macy1s, Burdine1s, Stern1s and others).

Several industry leaders have been cited for labor abuses by the Department of Labor. Of these Guess? Clothing Co. is one of the worst offenders - Guess? was suspended indefinitely from the Department of Labor's list of "good guys" because their contractors were cited for so many sweatshop violations.

Other companies contract out their production to overseas manufacturers whose labor rights violations have been exposed by U.S. and international human rights groups. These include Nike, Disney, Wal-Mart, Reebok, Phillips- Van Heusen, the Gap, Liz Claiborne and Ralph Lauren.

Don't these company officials feel guilty for using sweatshops?
Large corporations almost always use contract manufacturing firms to produce their goods. In this way, corporations separate themselves from the production of their own goods and try to claim that the working conditions under which their goods are produced are not their responsibility.

In fact, it is the corporations that dictate the conditions of their workers. Corporations squeeze their contractors into paying sub-minimum wages. Large retailers and retail chains pressure contract manufacturers by refusing to pay more that a rock-bottom price for manufacturing orders. They also demand that their manufacturing contractors guarantee them a profit by buying back unsold merchandise at the end of each season. Manufacturers deal with this financial squeeze not by cutting their own profits, but by cutting workers' wages and benefits, and by compromising workers1 physical safety.

Many corporations also refuse to contract to union shops. So, even if a contractor does want to pay their workers a reasonable wage and allow them their freedom of association, he/she will probably be run out of business. In the end, it is the workers who pay for corporate greed.

How do American companies get away with running sweatshops?
Unfortunately the Department of Labor does not have enough personnel to inspect every workplace for labor violations. The Department of Labor only requires companies to have an internal monitoring policy, as opposed to an external monitoring policy where site inspections and evaluations would be unannounced and conducted by impartial parties. With internal monitoring there is no way to know whether companies are telling the truth about the conditions in their own factories. Many companies, like Nike, pay private accounting firms to come into their factories and assess the working conditions as "independent" monitors.

Even when companies are caught violating workers' rights, the punishment is often nominal. Fines that may seem hefty to us are insignificant to companies reaping multi-million dollar profits.

Why do foreign governments let foreign companies come into their country and exploit their people?
The truth is, business and government are a lot more connected to each other than most people think. Our economy rewards the highest bidder among consumers and the lowest bidder among producers. Foreign governments, desperate for economic gain, often deliberately set their national minimum wage below what it would actually take a worker to support herself and her family. The citizens of a country starve and suffer while the elite class and corrupt government officials reap the benefits of globalization.

What is the U.S. government doing about sweatshops?
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 officially prohibits sweatshops. However, because of understaffing at the Department of Labor and corporations' strategies for distancing themselves from the production of their goods by contracting production out to many different manufacturers, enforcement is lax. Earlier this year Stop Sweatshops Bills were introduced in Congress that would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to hold companies responsible for the labor violations of their contractors.

President Clinton has also created an Apparel Industry Task Force of both labor rights and corporate interests to address the issue of sweatshops. The Task Force's first resolution, however, failed to address many important issues for workers. The Task Force does not require member-corporations to pay their workers a living wage, instead requiring only the, often substandard, minimum wage set by the government of a corporation's host country. The resolution allows member-corporations to force their workers to labor as many as 60 hours a week during regular business circumstances, and even more under vaguely defined "extraordinary" business circumstances. The Task Force is due to release its second report this November. However, reports indicate that corporate interests continue to be unyielding to the requests of human and workers' rights groups.

Can the U.S. government enforce U.S. labor laws on U.S. companies operating abroad?
No, it can't. This is precisely the reason that many U.S. companies move their production operations overseas. Multi-national corporations actively seek out markets where wages are low, unions are outlawed and desperate people will work for almost any price. Nike, for example, first moved production out of the U.S. to Taiwan and South Korea when American workers organized to demand a reasonable wage. Then, when democracy took hold in Taiwan and South Korea, Nike moved production again, this time to China, Indonesia and Vietnam, all countries run by dictatorial military regimes that violently suppress workers' rights.

What are relations like between the U.S. government and the governments of countries where U.S. businesses are operating sweatshops?
Ironically, the U.S. gives humanitarian and other types of aid to countries whose poverty is, in part, a result of unscrupulous U.S. business operations. The U.S. government gives lip-service to workers' and human rights while promoting the business climates most conducive to sweatshops, namely, through NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) and the U.S.'s "laissez-faire" attitude towards the growing markets in East and Southeast Asia.

What is the alternative to a sweatshop?
Corporations set up sweatshops in the name of "competition". In reality these corporations are not facing profit loses or bankruptcy, just too little profit! During this century, workers real wages have gone down while CEO's salaries have skyrocketed. In 1965 the average CEO made 44 times the average factory worker. Today, the average CEO makes 212 times the salary of the average worker.

Source:AFL-CIO

Corporations have skewed priorities. Many are putting expenses like CEO salaries and advertising costs before the well-being of their workers. For example, a Haitian worker sewing children's pajamas for Disney would have to toil full-time for 14.5 years to earn what Michael Eisner makes in one hour! Here's another staggering statistic: Nike could pay all its individual workers enough to feed and clothe themselves and their families if it would just devote 1% of its advertising budget to workers' salaries each year! Corporations falsely claim that they are victims of the global economy when, in fact, corporations help create and maintain this system.

Shadowman wrote:You know, if they stop using sweatshops, the price of toys will skyrocket.

Read section of article I just posted:

http://feminist.org/other/sweatshops/sweatfaq.html

Corporations have skewed priorities. Many are putting expenses like CEO salaries and advertising costs before the well-being of their workers. For example, a Haitian worker sewing children's pajamas for Disney would have to toil full-time for 14.5 years to earn what Michael Eisner makes in one hour! Here's another staggering statistic: Nike could pay all its individual workers enough to feed and clothe themselves and their families if it would just devote 1% of its advertising budget to workers' salaries each year! Corporations falsely claim that they are victims of the global economy when, in fact, corporations help create and maintain this system.