Merry Christmas! Meet the kids who are making decorations sold at Walmart...

[IndyOp]

At Wal-Mart, Christmas ornaments are cheap, and so are the lives of the young workers in China who make them.

The Guangzhou Huanya Gift company describes itself as being “among the top three Christmas ornament producers in mainland China,” with “long term, friendly, collaborative relationships with industry leaders Wal-Mart…” There are 8,000 workers in the factory.

Grueling Hours: Ten to 12 to 15-hour shifts, seven days a week are the norm during the long, eight-month busy season. Workers can go for months without a single day off. At a minimum, workers are at the factory an average of 84 ¼ hours a week, while toiling 77 hours. However, at least half the workers, some 4,000 people, are routinely at the factory 105 ¼ hours a week and working 95 hours, including 55 hours of overtime, which exceeds China’s legal limit by 562 percent. Any working daring to take a Sunday off will be docked 2 ½ days’ wages as punishment.

<snip>



The legal minimum wage in Guangzhou, China is 55 cents an hour, but factory management respects neither the minimum wage nor the mandatory overtime premium. Workers are paid by a piece rate, with some workers earning just 26 cents an hour, which is half the legal wage.

<snip>

Management also illegally withholds one month’s wages from each worker, making it almost impossible for workers to leave the factory without forfeiting that month’s wages.

<snip>

The 12 and 13-year-old workers hired during the summer were required to work the same 10, 12 and 15-hour shifts, seven days a week, as the older workers, including the all-night shifts from 5:45 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. or later the following morning.

Workers Handling Potentially Dangerous Chemicals: Workers in the Spray Paint department lack even the most rudimentary protective gear—going without gloves or the cheapest disposable respiratory masks—while handling potentially dangerous paints, “gold” dust, thinners and solvents. Workers who develop serious skin rashes or sores have no choice but to leave the factory, as management will not pay medical bills or for days missed.



<snip>

Prison-like discipline and fines control the workers’ lives. Workers can be fined for just about anything. Management even has a receipt book to keep track of the individuals fined. Many workers were fined 30 to 50 RMB ($3.98-$6.63) for missing a day. Another worker was fined 20 RMB ($2.65)—the loss of nearly five hours’ wages—for placing large Christmas ornaments on the floor.


Oops! Sorry... I didn't mean for you to think about the poor workers. Quick - look at the pretty baubles!






You can see them here, too...



National Labor Relations Committee -- A Wal-Mart Christmas. Brought to you from a Sweatshop in China

[Auggie]

Jesus Christ...

[Sabriel]

51. ...would most likely not support this being done in His name... n/t

[EnviroBat]

1. Thanks for posting this.

Re-enforcing my whole Christmas mantra. I will not support this endentured servitude by purchasing Chinese manufactured products. It's getting damn-near impossible though.

[texastoast]

20. Here's a place to go.

http://www.buyamericanmart.com /

However, unlike Walmart, Target, BigLots . . . some items are not priced at slave labor levels.

[piedmont]

2. Another good reason to just trim the tree with popcorn this year (and every year) nt

[FloridaJudy]

28. Or to make your own ornaments

My sister and I used to exchange ornaments made of felt with sequins, glitter, etc. Mostly so that when the kids/cats knocked the trees over nothing would get broken. We still have these to trot out during the holidays.

If you have kids, this is a great way to commemorate the holidays. Younger kids can cut stuff out of felt or construction paper and go to town with the Elmer's glue. There's also Fimo and Sculpy clay for the more artistically gifted. Older kids might get a kick out of origami, or patchwork. The best part is you can save these for use in later years. The stuff your five-year-old made will treasured for years - unlike the stuff some eight year old made in a sweat shop.

[Shallah Kali]

30. One of my happiest memories was the year we made our own ornaments

lots of glitter, sequins, beads, bits of felt, cloth scraps and foam balls. We touched up old ornaments with the glittery designs worn off with glitter writing everyone's names including the pets with glue and dusting with glitter.

factories

I HAVE shut my little sister in from life and light
(For a rose, for a ribbon, for a wreath across my hair),
I have made her restless feet still until the night,
Locked from sweets of summer and from wild spring air;
I who ranged the meadowlands, free from sun to sun, 5
Free to sing and pull the buds and watch the far wings fly,
I have bound my sister till her playing time was done—
Oh, my little sister, was it I? Was it I?

I have robbed my sister of her day of maidenhood
(For a robe, for a feather, for a trinket's restless spark), 10
Shut from love till dusk shall fall, how shall she know good,
How shall she go scatheless through the sin-lit dark?
I who could be innocent, I who could be gay,
I who could have love and mirth before the light went by,
I have put my sister in her mating-time away— 15
Sister, my young sister, was it I? Was it I?

I have robbed my sister of the lips against her breast,
(For a coin, for the weaving of my children's lace and lawn),
Feet that pace beside the loom, hands that cannot rest—
How can she know motherhood, whose strength is gone? 20
I who took no heed of her, starved and labor-worn,
I, against whose placid heart my sleepy gold-heads lie,
Round my path they cry to me, little souls unborn—
God of Life! Creator! It was I! It was I!

[AndyA]

3. This is exactly the reason I don't shop at Wal-Mart.

I also avoid buying anything made in China whenever I possibly can, but it can be difficult to do, depending on what you're buying. Goods made in this manner should not be allowed into the United States.

[gatorboy]

7. We went to Toys R Us one year to check their "Amercian Made" section.

Basically it was some shelves of carved animals, etc.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. There is a great documentary

Mardi Gras Made in China

http://www.mardigrasmadeinchina.com/

[mikelgb]

6. u broked teh padgez

[IndyOp]

8. Whoa the padgez is rully broked.... U wasn't kiddn. (n/t)

[NMMNG]

5. Good thing I haven't had anything to eat yet

Otherwise I might just .

[progressoid]

9. HEY! We're liberals. We say Happy Holidays no Merry Christmas.

Sheesh. Get it right.

Now, I gotta buy some more garland. We have one room in the house that is undecorated.

[Arugula Latte]

23. Maybe you should be more like the families on HGTV.

They have shows featuring "designers" that come in to decorate houses for the holidays. The budgets are in the thousands of dollars.

First of all, what a waste of money.

Second of all, a lot of these families have kids. I know when I was a kid, decorating the tree was one of the things I looked forward to most in the year. These people are denying their kids that experience, all in the name of decorating perfection to impress their friends and neighbors.

Third of all -- Why do these people think that every inch of their house should be draped in color-coordinated Xmas decorations?

[progressoid]

27. Ugh, that's the truth.

I know someone who's neighbor's job is to hang Xmas lights and decorations. That's all his company does for about four months. Hang lights and take them down.

And every year he fills a dumpster with strings of lights where a few bulbs have gone out. It's cheaper to buy a new strand (from China no doubt) than to replace the dead bulbs.

[truedelphi]

63. If you are aghast at that - these upper income people

Also have facial surgery done on their chidren's jaws to correct the fact that the jaw may not be symetrical or whatever. Some surgeries make sure that no one has a tooth "bite"that is even one sixty fourth of an inch off.

There are websites devoted to discussing that.

In my day, kids got braces. Which probably actually are warranted.

But this is just some sort of obsession compulsion gone awry.

[Hekate]

10. Is there any way to find out about Costco's policies re China?

Much of Costco's merchandise is from China.

Hekate

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. I am sure they try to avoid it

but problem is that we increasingly don't have any industry left... and increasingly you have no choice.

Honestly Mattel no longer makes toys, for example, just distributes them

[BonnieJW]

64. Toys made in America

http://toysmadeinamerica.com/

[ThomCat]

11. This makes you look a bit differently at Christmas Trees.

What, exactly, do they symbolize now?

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. slavery

PURE AND SIMPLE

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Thanks, just showed my mother why I despise them

And will use the gift card, why? NOT using it is 100% profit

[lumberjack_jeff]

55. Of course, if you were to return the item...

... your refund is in cash.

[The Straight Story]

14. Yeah, but America is worse, we just want to villify China, it's christians saying this about china

because it is an atheist country, America once had slavery so we cannot morally judge others cause we suck so bad....etc and so on.

If they don't like china and working there, they should leave....

I know I left some excuses/defenses out that people use (I need to read more castro/chavez/iran threads).

Seriously though, thanks for posting that info.

[piedmont]

15. I wonder if these workers would be free to have their own Christmas tree if they were Christian? nt

[K Gardner]

16. Thank you for a dose of reality... n/t

[BuyingThyme]

18. Kick for confusion.

[Bitwit1234]

19. Did you know in early 1900's woman were treated the same way

they had sewing factories and woolen mills. Women applied for the jobs. They were given two week trial. No pay. At the end of the two weeks they were fired and more hired and fired. They were also fined for tiny infractions like these workers. Children were worked 12 hours a day. They organized unions. And things changed. This is why the industries today want to go back to no unions. then they can treat the workers like these in China and overseas. Why do you think they moved a lot of the jobs..because they could screw employees.

[Shallah Kali]

31. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factor...

every so often somewhere in the US illegal immigrants are found in sweatshops in similar condition working like slaves in dangerous conditions like locked firedoors to prevent them leaving.

[BonnieJW]

65. My grandfather came to this country in the early 1900's.

He was a tailor in Chicago and the conditions were grim. He had to bring his own sewing machine and during the freezing winters, the workers had to bring their own coal.

[Shallah Kali]

67. too many forget that Scrooge was based on REALITY and just enjoy the show

instead of remembering not long ago that was the norm in the US and still is in the rest of the world.

[Kurovski]

21. K&R. (nt)

[Fierce]

22. People, spend a day and read your labels.

It'll probably surprise you, unless you're a constant label-reader like me.

It's easy to think, "Oh, wait, my Levis say they're made in China, but I bet they've got a much better plant than this Wal-Mart one."

Reading labels and thinking about stories such as this one make it much easier to just not shop.

[fed-up]

24. check your local thrift store for Xmas decorations-reduse, recycle, reuse etc....nt

[OzarkDem]

25. But they do have universal health care coverage

something their better paid US counterparts are lacking.

[debbierlus]

26. It isn't difficult to find bulbs made from Poland or Italy....

Or, just buy vintage off eBay. I picked up a few Italian ornaments this year in TJ Maxx. They are last years, but WHO CARES.

Since many European companies have made Christmas ornaments for so long, there are still a few to choose from....

Just read the label. Make sure it says MADE IN...instead of Old World European Style. The latter is a scam term, & these are
usually made in china.

[emilyg]

60. I get my Polish made ornaments at EBay. They are beautiful.

[orleans]

29. k&r. i hate fucking walmart. n/t

[ClayZ]

32. We are not buying ONE THING that

does not fall in the following category:
1.) hand made arts and crafts
2.) a thrift store find (antiques
3.) books
4.) gift certificate to a BLUE store
5.) something eco-friendly/green
9.) lessons (ie. piano or violin)

We wrap our gifts with cotton dishtowels or cloth napkins, and throws for anything larger. This encourages our kid's families to use cloth napkins rather than paper towels. We have four grown kids, 5 grandkids, and several more in the extended family to buy gifts for. I watched the story of stuff http://www.storyofstuff.com / and it makes me a true believer. We have been wrapping gifts with linens and "buying alternative" a lot for many years. Now it is a RULE! I would almost rather go to the dentist than walk into a mall.



We have lots more fun shopping, too! We have been renovating a 1978 VW Campmobile and she is running like a kitten. Just in case I find that "antique" desk I have been looking for for my granddaughter, I will have room to bring it home. You won't find us in a Wall Mart!

K and R

[pamela]

35. Totally off topic but ...

I would love to hear more about your 1978 VW Campmobile. I'm into camping van conversions.

[Dammit Ann]

33. There is a Dickensian pun in here somewhere...

Ah yes... "God bless us, everyone." Or something like that. merry christmas.

[Swamp Rat]

34. k&r

[Pooka Fey]

36. KICK

[rosesaylavee]

37. K & R

[parkerll]

38. Thank you

Thanks for posting this.

Every dollar you spend is a vote for something.

I read an article about Chinese labor conditions in the June 4th issue of The Nation. "A Letter From China" by Jehangir S. Pocha outlines the working conditions there. The third paragraph really caught my attention:

This power imbalance between owners and workers in China means that almost 200 million Chinese workers go to bed every night in overcrowded dormitory rooms after having worked eighteen-hour days in Dickensian factories where some employees are literally worked to death. The phenomenon has even added a new word to the Mandarin vocabulary: guolaosi, or overwork death, where fatigued workers fall off their stools bleeding from the ears, nose and anus.


There is the start of a labor movement in China but it seems to me that Americans could certainly help them by demanding better working conditions. Refusing to opt for the cheapest clothing, gadgets, etc., is a good place to start. We have so much in this country, even those who are in the lower classes. Ask yourself if you really need that cheap item that someone suffered to make. Do you really need that item that some child has sacrificed a childhood for?

[gollygee]

39. If I were a person who shopped at Walmart, I certainly wouldn't be after that

our actions have consequences.



Thanks for posting that.

[GeneCosta]

40. Have I ever chimed in about how much I love capitalism?

[SammyWinstonJack]

41. Yeah, it's great, ain't it?

[tuvor]

42. It's not just Wal-Mart. Other stores are profiting from this, too.

The same NLRC report is referenced by Senator Dorgan:

U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) released results of a new investigation Wednesday that found Christmas tree ornaments sold across the country in Wal-Mart and other U.S. stores were produced under illegal sweatshop conditions in China.

http://dorgan.senate.gov/newsroom/record.cfm?id=288833

No one should be getting a pass on this issue. I want a list of all who're benefiting from this.

[EvilAL]

52. Fuckin right.

I used to work for Loblaws in a huge grocery store in Canada and about 8 years ago when they tried to take off with their big shit in the GM (General Merchandise)department. all the shit that was, and must still be coming in was from China, Thailand, Vietnam, those are the ones i remember from about 2 years ago. I'd often open a big box, only to find 48 smaller boxes in it taped shut as well. Open each of those boxes to find some 2 dollar Xmas trinket wrapped in plastic and taped. Take 20 minutes to do a box like that.. Glad I wasn't over there putting them all together taking that long.

[Deja Q]

59. THANK YOU!

Other stores' "store branded" products are often the same material that Wal-mart has, just priced $5 higher for Target's name instead of Wal-mart's.

A slew of kitchen racks instantly springs to mind; that day I was comparing prices.

Mind you, Target and Daytons also sold the same pair of slacks. $18 under the name Cherokee and $60 under Dayton's posh brand name... The unique stuff at high prices makes Dayton's nice, but in our society, anyone who looks different is bad. Which is why I avoid looking different.

Like the Devo song, it's "freedom of choice". Which is actually "freedom from choice". But it's still a choice. Who wants to get beaten up and mocked all the time?

[BrklynLiberal]

43. K & R

I have encountered too many younger folks who cannot figure out why we need unions....
They think the heads of the corporations just gave them paid vacations, paid sick days, 40 hour work weeks, etc..out of the goodness of their hearts..and they also assume that they can never lose those perks. Boy, are they in for some rude awakenings and shocks if things keep going the way they are now.

[8 track mind]

46. damn!

Makes me thankful i'm in a union. People say to me that good 'ol ball cap wearin' pick-up drivin' Saint Sam Walton would never EVER allow something like this to happen. Har dee har freakin har........

He knew damn good and well what was going on. How can these people sleep at night........

[BrklynLiberal]

56. I agree 100%.

[Vinca]

44. That's disgusting. The wealthy getting wealthier off the backs of these poor kids.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the people put out of jobs because their work is now being done by Chinese kids have to buy the stuff because they can't afford to shop anywhere else. It's like hamsters on a wheel that never stops. How do the CEOs sleep at night? Don't buy, don't buy, don't buy.

[Romulox]

45. This is the definition of "comparative advantage"--Still support "free trade"???

Basic economics suggest any country willing to abuse its workers have a competitive advantage over those that don't. When our politicians sign "free trade" agreements with these countries, this is the entirely predictable result.

[Unca Jim]

47. Someone beat me to it, but the European ornaments are very nice.

I've been to one of the ornament factories in Italy and it looked nothing like the pictures above.

It's not just ornaments and toys made under these conditions, but it really hits you in the heart that things that are supposed to help celebrate the best qualities of human nature or make children happy are produced through dehumanizing forced labor. Merry Christmas Wal-Mart, and every other retailer in the world. Not a freaking dime from me for this stuff.

When are we going to actually enforce the regulations on the books? When we do, it works: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9503E4D9...

I suppose we'll have to wait 'til at least 2009.

[qanda]

48. This just made me sick to my stomach

I'm so glad I decided to scale back Christmas this year. I know my children wouldn't ever want to participate in the destruction of another child for their own personal enjoyment and pleasure-- I guess that's what we're asking our kids to do when we buy stuff from China for them.

[IndyOp]

54. The DemocracyNow! story that knocked me for a loop...

Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the National Labor Committee, discusses recent scandals linking children’s products to sweatshop labor. National Labor Committee recently found forced labor of up to 90 hours a week and pay as low as 46 cents an hour in Chinese factories linked to Mattel.

The Barbie Pet Doctor set... was made in a factory called Xin Yi by young women forced to work fourteen-and-a-half hours a day, six days a week, at a minimum. Sometimes they work until midnight, sixteen-and-a-half-hour shifts. They’re at the factory eighty-seven hours a week, paid fifty-three cents an hour as their wage and then cheated of their overtime wage. ...it’s a big factory, like 5,000 workers there. All the workers are temporary workers, so they have zero rights. When they hire them, they hire them on ten-day contracts or twenty-four-day contracts. The ultimate would be three months. And then the company just renews them. So if the workers were there a year working full-time, they’re always temporary workers, which means they have no legal rights. So right from the beginning, they’ve got zero rights. The workers can be fired if they’re inattentive at work. They can be fired if they’re seen speaking to each other during working hours. They can be fired if they don’t reach their production goal. The workers tell us they’re sweating all day; the factory is incredibly hot. They have to sit on hard wooden benches with no backs. They say after a few hours—they’re prohibited from standing up; after a few hours, their legs go numb, their arms hurt, their backs hurt. They have no right. The supervisors will yell and scream at them to go faster. You’re not allowed to answer back or even look at the supervisor, or you’ll be fired. Their housed in primitive dormitories. It’s a sweatshop of enormous abuse. The workers are cheated of about two days’ wages every single week.



The interesting part about this toy is it sells for $29.99. We purchased it at Toys “R” Us, $29.99. We have the customs shipping documents with this toy entering the United States with a landed customs value of just $9. The landed customs value is the total cost of production. So the packaging, the materials, the accessories, the direct labor—indirect labor, profit to the factory in China, the total cost of production is $9. So that means Mattel and the other companies are marking this up by $20.99. That’s a 233% markup.

This is astonishing, because why are they producing toxic toys when it would only cost ten cents per toy to check all the toys, screen all the toys, for hazards or toxic chemicals? They could screen every toy for ten cents. So why aren’t they doing it, when the markup is $20.99? Why are they paying the workers such pitifully low wages and then cheating them of their wages, cheating them two days of wages every single week. It doesn’t have to be this way. This toy is marked up 233%. As a matter of fact, Mattel has spent about $200—about $2 billion over the last three years in advertising. So we know that Mattel spent $3.45 to advertise this toy. You know what they paid the workers to make it? Less than nineteen cents. So Mattel spends eighteen times more to advertise the toy than it pays the workers to make it. The system’s out of control.

[KoKo]

62. You should take this out as a Post on it's own. It's an incredible example

of what's going on.

[Xenotime]

49. All to satisfy America's fucking greed. What a great nation.

[EvilAL]

50. Looks like bring your kid to work day.

Maybe they have bring your kid to work summer.

[Deep13]

53. All I want for Christmas is to be a child laborer.

[femrap]

57. It's not only Walmart....

I have boycotted Chinese made goods since 1989. Please check the labels and try NOT to buy Made in China.

Thx.

[Twist_U_Up]

58. When BushCo gets done with AmeriKa, I suppose this is what our kids get to look forward to.

People need to wake up!!
There are those who are working their asses off trying to stay afloat in this trickle-up economy, and don’t have the time or energy to learn or think about what the demons in D.C.are doing.
But the day of reckoning will soon be upon us.

What will you do ?

[Donkeykick]

61. K&R Check Out My Signature.

Nothing has ever been more true!

[Clintonista2]

66. Ever hear the term RMT?

It stands for Real Money Trader. Any online gamer who plays world of warcraft type games knows the term. They are players, 99.9% of the time from China, who are paid under 1$ an hour to level up characters, which they later sell to buyers for hundreds of dollars. I used to speak to many of them in-game, many of them spoke english, and it was very sad to listen what their job was like. 15+ hour shifts, 7 days a week. It was heartbreaking, and the RMT industry is becoming almost as large as the video game industry itself, so they are utilizing chinese slaves as much as they can.

[Sabriel]

68. K&R for consumer awareness

No more "Made in Unverified-Working-Conditions Country" for me.

[zorahopkins]

69. Popcorn And Cranberries

This is precisely why my holiday decorations are homemade.

Of popcorn and cranberries.

[KoKo]

70. kick...

[create.peace]

71. this is part of 'the story of stuff'

http://www.storyofstuff.com /

a twenty minute presentation about stuff. from extraction, production, consumption, disposal ( i missed something there, you will have to go see it! )

christmas has become a sickness. and i did love it once, even after i had no religion. we have a wonderful family reunion in its place.

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/NatureChallenge/newsletters/...

david suzuki's site about to tree or not to tree.

[Shae]

72. You can find tons of info on boycotting Chinese products here ...

http://www.boycottmadeinchina.org /
There is detail on China's human rights violations with heavy emphasis on Chinese repression of Tibet.

One of the statements by noted individuals here comes from the Dalai Lama's brother who says:
"I am confident that the campaign to boycott Chinese products will gain the support of freedom loving people around the world, and will eventually succeed in forcing China to respect the rights of its own people and acknowledge Tibetan independence."

There is a boycott forum which is, unfortunately, temporarily closed.

You can sign a pledge here to boycott made in China items.
I did this. I was in Costco yesterday, and I found almost everything I was considering buying was made in China.
I left the store with not much else than cheese and tomatoes.

[Leopolds Ghost]

73. How come this isn't on Oprah or Nightly News?

[lonestarnot]

74. Chinese haute couture jingle bells. hmmmf. Us in 5 years.