Backpacks, caps and other licensed products for the 2008 Beijing Olympics are being made in Chinese factories that use child labor and force employees to work long hours for less than minimum wage, a report released yesterday said.
The report, compiled by PlayFair 2008 -- an alliance of global trade unions and labor groups -- identified four factories that it says are abusing Chinese and international labor standards to produce Olympics-licensed products.
The findings are likely to prove embarrassing for organizers of the 2008 Olympics and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The Chinese government wants to use the Beijing Games to project a positive image of China to the world, and Beijing is spending an estimated US$40 billion on a complete makeover, bulldozing low-rise neighborhoods and replacing them with glittering skyscrapers.
"Licensing of the Olympic brand is a major source of income for the IOC and national Olympic committees," said Guy Ryder, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, a PlayFair campaign member and worldwide union association that is headquartered in Brussels.
"It brings shame on the whole Olympics movement that such severe violations of international labor standards are taking place in Olympic-licensed factories," Ryder said.
The Beijing Olympic organizing committee (BOCOG) declined to comment, saying its officials had not seen the report.
The IOC said it does not have direct control over all official products that carry the Olympic label but that it has created policies on fair labor standards that it expects Olympic host cities and licensed manufacturers to follow.
"The IOC is committed to being a socially responsible leader of the Olympic Movement that takes care of the Olympic brand in the best way possible," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said in a statement.
"It matters to us that sourcing is done ethically," she said.
The Beijing Olympics are expected to be the most profitable in the Games' history, attracting 500,000 foreign visitors.
Corporate sponsors have swarmed to BOCOG, hoping to use the event to raise their profiles in China's rapidly growing consumer market.
The PlayFair report, entitled No Medal for the Olympics on Labor Rights, said the sale of official Beijing mascots alone would bring profits of more than US$300 million.
According to the IOC, the 2004 Athens Olympics brought in US$61.5 million in revenue from the sale of licensed merchandise.
PlayFair said it looked into four factories producing Olympic-licensed products in southern China. Investigators, some of whom managed to get jobs in the factories, found forced overtime, 12-hour work days, failure to pay overtime, child workers as young as 12, wages below the legal minimum, long working hours and hazardous working conditions.
The factories investigated were Lekit Stationery Company, Yue Wing Cheong Light Products (Shenzhen), Eagle Leather Products and Mainland Headwear Holdings.
The Associated Press attempted to contact the four companies and reached three. Calls to the fourth were unanswered.
The three contacted said they had not violated labor laws.
"I cannot agree with the report," said a woman at Eagle Leather who identified herself only as Ms Chang. "Our plant is making bags for the Olympics. Our working hours are 8am to 6pm, no extended hours, no child labor."
Anita Chan, a sociologist at Australian National University, said working conditions at four factories cited in the report were common in China.
"All these factories tend to be like that; nothing unusual at all," said Chan, who studies Chinese labor practices. "It's a matter of degree. Because of the Olympics, maybe this will become some sort of an issue."
Chan said the government ordered minimum wage in southern China, where the four factories are located, was 700 yuan (US$90) per month. She said child labor was becoming more common because demand for young female employees who make up the bulk of workers in clothing plants was outstripping supply.
The report saved some of its sharpest criticism for the IOC, accusing the Olympics body of looking the other way on labor standards.
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