abusesaffiliationarrow-downarrow-leftarrow-rightarrow-upattack-typeburgerchevron-downchevron-leftchevron-rightchevron-upClock iconclosedeletedevelopment-povertydiscriminationdollardownloademailenvironmentexternal-linkfacebookfiltergenderglobegroupshealthC4067174-3DD9-4B9E-AD64-284FDAAE6338@1xinformation-outlineinformationinstagraminvestment-trade-globalisationissueslabourlanguagesShapeCombined Shapeline, chart, up, arrow, graphLinkedInlocationmap-pinminusnewsorganisationotheroverviewpluspreviewArtboard 185profilerefreshIconnewssearchsecurityPathStock downStock steadyStock uptagticktooltiptwitteruniversalityweb

The content is also available in the following languages: 简体中文

Story

26 Feb 2015

China: Labour rights abuses in toy factories supplying major brands - companies respond

In November 2014, the NGO China Labor Watch (CLW) published a report "Investigations on Toy Suppliers in China: Workers are Still Suffering" which alleged that toy factories producing for brands such as Disney, Mattel, Hasbro, Crayola (part of Hallmark) and other companies were exploiting workers.

Concerns included mandatory overtime, wages below the legal minimum, unpaid overtime wages, unpaid insurance, harsh and high-pressure working conditions, poor living conditions, and abusive management.

The following month, China Labor Watch Executive Director Li Qiang stated in testimony to a Congressional Hearing that:

...the violations identified "suggest that labor conditions have failed to improve in toy industry supplier factories over the past seven years. And relative to other industries [such as electronics], conditions may even be deteriorating."

The report notes that toy companies tend to divide their orders among dozens of factories, so that “their orders in any given factory only consists of a small proportion of that factory’s total orders—usually no more than 20%”.  China Labor Watch alleges that this gives companies the ability to absolve themselves from any responsibility for poor labour conditions.

CLW also alleges that the International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI)’s certification process is ineffective, noting that factories can easily obtain official certification without complying with Chinese law or the ICTI’s code of practice.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited companies named in the report to respond.  Below are responses by Lung Cheong Group, Mattel, Disney, Target, and also the International Council of Toy Industries.  We have also contacted Zhang Jia Bian Enterprise Group 张家边企业集团 for a response and are continuing to follow up.

Company Responses

Mattel View Response
Walt Disney View Response
Target View Response
ICTI (Intl. Council of Toy Industries) CARE View Response

Timeline

Privacy information

This site uses cookies and other web storage technologies. You can set your privacy choices below. Changes will take effect immediately.

For more information on our use of web storage, please refer to our Data Usage and Cookies Policy

Strictly necessary storage

ON
OFF

Necessary storage enables core site functionality. This site cannot function without it, so it can only be disabled by changing settings in your browser.

Analytics cookie

ON
OFF

When you access our website we use Google Analytics to collect information on your visit. Accepting this cookie will allow us to understand more details about your journey, and improve how we surface information. All analytics information is anonymous and we do not use it to identify you. Google provides a Google Analytics opt-out add on for all popular browsers.

Promotional cookies

ON
OFF

We share news and updates on business and human rights through third party platforms, including social media and search engines. These cookies help us to understand the performance of these promotions.

Your privacy choices for this site

This site uses cookies and other web storage technologies to enhance your experience beyond necessary core functionality.