http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=498

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.

At the Guangzhou Ornaments factory, every single labor law in China, along with internationally recognized worker rights standards, are being systematically violated on a daily basis.

thanks to a bunch of highschool students who were hired and abused, we have all this information.





The boss told one worker that if he wanted Sunday—the legal holiday—off,
he would have to quit.

One worker described switching from the day to night shift on Sunday, July 1, 2007.

The boss notified us that we were changing shifts. We did not have to work in the afternoon between 11:45 a.m. and 5:45 p.m. We were to start the night shift at 5:45 p.m. I felt too tired. I work over 10 hours every day. I only slept five hours today, and I had to start the 12-hour night shift. I felt as if my body couldn’t take it, so I asked the boss if I could take the day off. The boss firmly refused. I told him it was Sunday. Why couldn’t I take the day off? The company never gives days off. It is enough to make a body collapse from fatigue. I really needed to rest. The boss told me that if I wanted to take the day off, then I needed to quit. Otherwise, I had to come to work. I already worked five hours in the morning. I must now continue working in the factory and won’t get off until 6:30 a.m. Working in this factory is exhausting. They do not treat people as human beings.