At least you're not forced to stand on your feet for 10 - 13 hours a day and compelled to make toys even when you're sick like the workers at Mattel's third party vendors!
http://lawstreetmedia.com/issues/business-and-economics/tale-two-barbies-mattels-labor-law-violations-fly-radar/
http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-buildings-collapse-in-southern-china-landslide-20151220-story.html
@EKqQHMJ-9doc Yes. Hundreds.
I've been auditing factories in China longer than many Mattel employees have been alive. I have seen major suppliers for Mattel come and go.
I once audited 30 factories of potential partners during one trip.
If you think things ar bad now you should have been around in the old days.
F--- that. You want cheap toys that's what it takes. Manufacturers chase poverty all over the world. Your iPhone would be 2 grand if it was made in America genius.
You don't like it go play with rocks.
@EKqQHMJ-fce - "hundreds of factories" - really?
Compassion. Try it --might surprise you.
Please. China is outliving it's usefulness and soon enough we will find another impoverished country to exploit for cheap labor with the promise of baubles and a roach infested dorm room for them to stay in. Look at malaysia. whats next on the map for us to exploit. its the only way we are going to avoid cost reducing the magic.
I disagree with the assertion that Mattel should not be responsible for China's lack of work ethics. We are ALL responsible for the way people are treated in the supply chain. I don't want a piece of plastic garbage for my kid if I know it was made on the backs of slave labor so that the master could get rich.
It's all too easy to look the other way when this is happening because we are not directly doing it to these people. But in fact we are. And if those of us that have more and are in power positions can't do the right thing then we are all doomed as a society and culture. And sooner or later you do have to pay the piper.
That last post precisely describes the "culture" within Mattel: "the people working in the electronics labs that are considered "unskilled labor." There is no value for the worker, they are considered a disposable commodity". Our fearless leaders import work ethics from China in addition to cheap cost-reduced feature-free toys. Merry Christmas to all.
As someone who travels to china multiple times a year for Mattel I can honestly say that the situation has always been bleak there. Watching teenagers line up outside the factory every morning to get picked for day laborer jobs within the factories, the horrid living conditions in their dormitories, and the people working in the electronics labs that are considered "unskilled labor." There is no value for the worker, they are considered a disposable commodity by their government and the factories in that over populated pollution filled cesspool of a country. Mattel shouldn't be blamed for a country's lax attitude towards the welfare of their citizens. Let's not forget the human rights atrocities that the chinese government commits on a daily basis against their own people. screw them.
China rocks
Why don't they name the factories?
I've been to hundreds of toy factories in China. I rarely see any workers standing. Mostly they are sitting on wooden stools.
I'm sure workers do put in long hours during peak season. I know MOST of them WANT to work as many hours as possible, more than ICTI or local laws allow!
With the current labor situation in south China it is difficult for a factory to force the workers to do anything. They can go down the street and find work every day.
Sweet Christmas!