DORGAN: CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENTS SOLD ACROSS AMERICA PRODUCED UNDER ILLEGAL SWEATSHOP CONDITIONS IN CHINA

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

CONTACT: Justin Kitsch
or  Brenden Timpe
PHONE: 202-224-2551

Click here to view the report on Chinese Christmas ornaments.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator 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.

The report was released simultaneously in New York by the National Labor Committee, which conducted the investigation. The report documents conditions at the Guangzhou Huanya Gift company, one of the top three ornament manufacturers in China. The company employs 8,000 workers. Its Christmas ornaments are sold by Wal-Mart and other U.S. retailers.

“This report tells us that Chinese sweatshops now produce not only toys under our Christmas trees, but even the ornaments that hang on those trees,” Dorgan said. “It’s as if Christmas is being outsourced to the Grinch. We need to get serious about keeping the products of foreign sweatshops off American shelves. And we shouldn’t wait until next year’s holiday season rolls around before we take action.”

A particularly disturbing finding of the investigation, which was conducted on site in China by investigators for the National Labor Committee, is that some of the workers in the sweatshops in China are kids, some as young as twelve, Dorgan said.

Among the report’s findings:

• Workers at the plant included 500-600 16 year old high school students, along with other kids as young as 12. They worked 10-15 hours a day, seven days a week. Some worked months without a day off.

• Workers at the plant worked a minimum of 84 hours a week. At least half the work force was at the factory 105 hours a week.

• Workers who took Sunday off were docked 2 ½ days wages.

• Some workers were paid as little as 26 cents an hour, half China’s legal minimum wage.

• Workers in the spray paint department worked with potentially dangerous chemicals with little or no protection. Many developed skin rashes. The factory did not provide medical assistance or sick days. Workers who quit on short notice were docked one month’s pay.

“Our country needs to insist that our trading partners enforce their own labor laws and respect international labor standards,” Dorgan said. “Companies that buy low priced products overseas have an obligation to know why the price is so low. Claiming ignorance is not an acceptable excuse.”

Dorgan is the author of S. 367, the Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act, legislation that would ban products produced in sweatshops from being sold in the United States.

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