UK Sky News undercover investigation: (Chinese) Child Workers Scandal

[DeepModem Mom]

CHILD WORKERS SCANDAL


These children supply high street chains


A Sky News investigation has revealed that your Christmas toys could be made in factories where workers are paid little more than £1 a day.

China is the world's largest toy manufacturer, but undercover filming has revealed evidence of child labour, low pay and excessive working hours....

***

Sky reporter Dominic Waghorn posed as a toy buyer at a Silverlit factory in southern China, filming secretly.

Silverlit makes toys for sale in Europe and America and lists Toys R Us among its clients....(Workers interviewed outside the factory, away from supervisers) said some of the staff were just 12 or 13 years old. They used fake IDs to get their jobs knowing they would not be checked very strictly.

Workers said they routinely did a 18-hour day, starting at 6am and often working until midnight....


http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1163548,00.html

[Blue Gardener]

1. Not Surprising

I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. It is getting increasingly difficult to do the Christmas shopping if you want to avoid buying anything made in China.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. I read somewhere

that Barbie clothes were made by children in third world countries because it was easier for them because their hands were so small. Of course, they weren't paid a living wage. As I recall, they said that the kids working in the factory would never make enough to buy one of the stupid dolls.

Make your kids their toys, or get them from American craftsmen who make them. www.spencertoys.com

[Career Prole]

3. There is one thing shocking about this story, and that is its source.

Sky News is a Rupert Murdoch operation.
Just the fact that they've reported this story has me wondering what his motives are.
All I can think of is that he's trying to hurt Toys R Us with this, or Silverlit is the actual target because they're in competition with a different slaver which Murdoch invests in.
The only thing I'm absolutely certain of is that there is no altruistic motive, no "Christmas spirit", behind this story on the part of Murdoch.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. I watch Sky News a great deal in the UK, and do not see an agenda --

others might disagree, but I can say with certainty that Sky is not Fox. Its news is presented with more bells and whistles than the BBC, but interviewers are tough, and coverage is serious. Whether Murdoch's 24-hour news channel in the UK says something about his business sense, the UK viewership, or both, I do not know.