Appeal n°301 (15th December 2006 to 15th February 2007)

With toys, books, clothes, films, television programmes and theme parcs, Disney has made generations of children’s dreams come true since its creation in 1923. With a turnover reaching almost 32 billion dollars in 2005, the multinational company is today one of the largest entertainment groups in the world. But when one considers the working conditions of the Chinese workers who make their products, the "wonderful world" of Disney seems more like a living nightmare... In a recently published report, the SACOM(1), a Hong Kong based scholar and university student organisation fighting for the rights of workers, reveals the negative side of many of Disney’s subcontractors in China and denounces the firm’s passivity regarding the systematic violation of workers’ rights.

A first investigation led by SACOM during the summer of 2005 among four factories subcontracting for Disney in the industrial estates of the Guangdong(2) Province, had already revealed multiple violations of workers’ rights. During the following summer in 2006, a new investigation was conducted among three other Disney suppliers, which showed SACOM, to its great vexation, that the problems criticised in its first report were far from being resolved.

Grave violations of workers’ rights

SACOM’s reports reveal that factory workers are given starvation wages. These are distinctly lower than the legal (4) minimum wage, and also vary considerably from month to month. During the low-season, when orders become rare, workers are forced to take unpaid leave through lack of work. The employees of the Kam Long toy factory testified that they were compelled to take up to 16 days of unpaid leave in one month. During these slack periods, salaries diminish almost by half. Even during the busy season when there is an influx of orders, salaries remain too low to ensure workers a decent standard of living. And yet they work between 11 to 16 hours per day. Some workers say they have been made to work up to 30 hours non-stop in order to meet order deadlines. However, the numerous extra working hours imposed on the workers are not paid at the legal rate. Sometimes they are not even taken into account at all. During these periods, workers work six to seven days a week without being allowed to take a day’s rest, even in case of illness. If they refuse these conditions, workers are liable to have their salaries arbitrarily docked, and can even face dismissal. In order to dissuade those who would like to leave or denounce the company, one to two months’ wages are kept back by management as a deposit and the workers do not receive a copy of their working contract.

Numerous workers also fall victim to the reckless use at frantic speeds of the machinery. Squashed or amputated fingers and mutilated limbs are rife. Many factors contribute to the degradation of the hygiene and safety conditions in the workplace. These include the handling of dangerous chemicals without adequate protection, a lack of information on safety measures regarding the handling of this kind of product and machinery, the sometimes unbearable heat in the workshops, and the unbalanced diet fed to the workers. In such factories, industrial accidents occur on a daily basis and injured or sick workers cannot generally have access to medical care, for lack of means, as the management very rarely pays for the social insurance as they are meant to by law.

Disney’s inefficient code of conduct and audits

The working conditions observed on the premises of Disney’s subcontractors are contrary both to Chinese legislation and to the Disney Code of Conduct, in which the company commits itself to adopt "responsible and ethical conduct" and to "respect the rights of all individuals"(6). For all Disney’s boasts of having carried out tens of thousands of audits, supposedly to ensure the effective implementation of the clauses set out in its Code of Conduct, investigations revealed that these audits were ineffectual. In practice, the management of the factories about to be audited receives prior warning of the inspectors’ arrival. It thus has enough time to forge false working contracts and pay slips before the inspectors arrive. One of the workers at the Qi Sheng factory described the "training periods" that were organised to help workers memorise standard answers to the upcoming inspectors’ questions. In exchange for bonuses and under the threat of getting fired, workers are encouraged to give the "right answers". On the day of the audit, some workers are dismissed for the day and others are transferred to a different factory. Thus only a few, pre-selected workers remain at the workplace.

In the wake of Christmas preparations, Réseau-Solidarité appeals to you to give support to SACOM’s appeal and insist that Disney stop making our children’s presents from "the sweat, blood and tears of Chinese workers"(7).

(1) Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour, Hong Kong.
(2) Nord Race Paper International and Lam Sun in Dongguan, Hung Hing Printing in Shenzhen and Hung Hing Printing and Packaging in Zhonghan
(3) The Huang Xing and Qi Sheng factories in Shenzhen, and Kam Long in Zhuhai.
(4) Workers are paid between 2,04 and 3,41 Yuans per hour (approx. between 0,19 and 0,32 Euros) depending on the company, whereas the minimum legal wage is set at 4,02 or 4,12 Yuans per hour depending on the location.
(5) Between 500 and 1000 Yuans per month (approx. between 47,7 and 95,4 Euros).
(6) Disney’s Code of Conduct is available in English on: http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/conduct_manufacturers.html.
(7) Letter from SACOM to Robert Iger, CEO of the Walt Disney Company.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

The international campaign against Disney
Led by SACOM, this campaign brings together many organisations defending the rights of workers, including: United Students against Sweatshops (USAS), Writers Guild of America (WGA), National Labour Committee (NLC), Sweatshop Watch, Clean Clothes Campaign Austria and Peuples Solidaires.
Within the scope of this campaign, SACOM has published two reports which are available on its website in English: http://www.sacom.hk. Peuples Solidaires will soon be publishing a French version of the latest report. An 11 minute documentary describing the workers’ working conditions in the Hung Hing factory in Shenzhen is also available for download on SACOM’s website.

Disney voted most socially irresponsible company
In 2006, the Berne Declaration and Pro Natura, two Swiss organisations, awarded a "Public Eye Award" to Disney, due to its particularly irresponsible corporate behaviour. Nominated in the "social rights" category, Disney won the award given its grave human rights violations.For more information on "Public Eye Awards", go to the Berne Declaration website: http://www.evb.ch/fr/f25000188.html

TO WRITE...

By email: mark.spears@disney.com - Cc : sacom@sacom.hk
By letter: copy the standard letter below or use your own wording; you can download it directly by clicking on the attachment at the bottom of this page. Don’t forget to date and sign your letter and to add your name and address.
Solidarity message: Please send a solidarity message to SACOM so that they can get a concrete feel for the support they can rely upon.
Reaction time: on reception, and until 15th February 2007.

PROTEST LETTER:

Mr. Rober IGER
CEO of The Walt Disney Company
500, South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521 USA

Dear Mr Iger,

I have been informed by Réseau-Solidarité of the reports published by SACOM and concerning the deep-rooted, systemic sweatshop conditions in Disney’s suppliers’ plants in China.

I am extremely concerned about the workers’ situation in this country, and urge you to:
  publish the complete list of your suppliers in China;
  consult with SACOM and concerned labour groups to provide workers with training programs and to work out a detailed timetable for participatory training;
  support democratic elections run by workers for the establishment of Workers’ Committees;
  collaborate with workers on factory monitoring for the long term.

Sincerely yours,

Name - Surname :

Solidarity message to SACOM:

SACOM
Room 1204, Wing Lee Industrial Building
54-58, Tony Mi Road
Mongkok, Kowloon
Hong Kong
CHINA

Dear friends of SACOM,

I have been informed by Réseau-Solidarité of the campaign you launched against the Walt Disney Company in respect of the deep-rooted, systemic sweatshop conditions in Disney’s supplier plants in China.

I support your action and sent a letter to the CEO of the Walt Disney Company, Mr. Robert Iger, requesting that he takes immediate action to implement your demands.

With warm regards,

Name - Surname :