A labor watchdog yesterday slammed the London Olympics organizers over alleged human rights abuses at Chinese “sweatshops” producing Games merchandise.
The group said laborers at two Chinese factories producing merchandise including Olympics mascots Wenlock and Mandeville worked up to 120 hours of overtime a month, or nearly three times the legal limit.
The workers were exposed to hazardous chemicals without sufficient protective gear, leading to illnesses, and some had to buy their own face masks to guard against paint mist.
“We are disappointed as these practices are unacceptable,” Hong Kong-based Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) spokeswoman Debby Chan (陳詩韻) said.
SACOM said it based its findings on interviews with 90 workers at two factories in southern Guangdong Province in May and last month.
The factories were run by Hong Kong companies Key Pine Ltd and Zindart Manufacturing Ltd (鑫達製造).
Some of the workers reported inhaling paint, being docked half a day’s wages if they were five minutes late, and being required to start shifts at 8am after finishing at midnight the previous day.
SACOM said the conditions breached the London Organising Committee’s (LOCOG) -ethical and sustainable procurement codes.
“The rampant rights violations reveal that the LOCOG codes are really no more than lip service, with no commitment to the enforcement of labor rights standards,” the group said in a report.
SACOM, which has previously highlighted conditions of workers producing Apple products in China, urged LOCOG to investigate the Chinese factories.
It also demanded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) prevent such labor abuses in the future.
Zindart said it was investigating the claims, while a representative at Key Pine said the company was not aware of the report. Both declined further comment.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS