Olympic Spirit with Chinese Brutality -- Child Labor as Young as 12 are
Used to Profit from Beijing Olympics

Globe and Mail

Beijing officials may get tough on companies

Associated Press

June 11, 2007 at 8:42 AM EDT

BEIJING ― Red-faced organizers of the Beijing Olympics threatened Monday
to cancel the contracts of companies allegedly using child labour and
violating minimum-wage rules to make Olympic-licensed products.

In a report released Sunday, PlayFair 2008 ― an alliance of global trade
union and labour groups ― cited four factories in southern China for
alleged labour violations and accused the International Olympic
Committee of doing too little to monitor the production of products
carrying the official Olympic five-ring logo.

"We have very clear requirements and specific rules and regulations to
manage the manufacturing," Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice-president of the
Beijing organizing committee, said Monday in Hong Kong.

"If they breach our regulations, then we will tackle this problem
seriously. If they very seriously breach this regulation, they will no
longer work as our manufacturer."

Officials of the organizing committee said they had not seen the 30-page
report until Monday. It details the use of workers as young as 12 and
accuses companies of falsifying employment records and coercing workers
to lie about their terms of employment. The legal minimum age for
employment in China is 16.

The Beijing Olympics are expected to be the most profitable in the
Games' history, attracting 500,000 foreign visitors. Corporate sponsors
have swarmed to BOCOG, hoping to use the event to crack China's rapidly
growing consumer market.

Beijing is spending about US$40 billion to rebuild the Chinese capital
for the Games ― yet the legal minimum wage in southern China is 700 yuan
(C$97) monthly.

"BOCOG attaches great importance to the production and sales of our
licensed products," Jiang added. "We have specific and explicit, very
clear requirements on the manufacturer of our licensed products. Right
now, BOCOG is investigating and if the issue really exists, BOCOG will
tackle it very seriously."

"To use child labour is also against the government's laws and
regulations," Jiang added.

BOCOG confirmed the four companies named in the report ― "No medal for
the Olympics on labour rights" ― received contracts to produce official
Olympic merchandise including caps, bags and stationery products.

The companies are:

― Lekit Stationery Company Ltd.

― Yue Wing Cheong Light Products (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd.

― Eagle Leather Products Ltd.

― Mainland Headwear Holdings Ltd.

Officials at Mainland Headwear could not be reached for comment. The
other three companies, contacted earlier by The Associated Press, said
they had not violated labour laws.

The Switzerland-based IOC said it does not have direct control over all
official products that carry the Olympic label. It said it has created
policies on fair labour standards that it expects Olympic host cities
and licensed manufacturers to follow.

"The IOC is committed to being a socially responsible leader of the
Olympic Movement that takes care of the Olympic brand in the best way
possible," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said in a statement. "It
matters to us that sourcing is done ethically."

Davies did not commit to additional monitoring. She said the IOC already
works with associations of sporting goods makers and retailers on codes
of conduct.

"Licensing of the Olympic brand is a major source of income for the IOC
and national Olympic committees," said Guy Ryder, general secretary of
the International Trade Union Confederation, a PlayFair campaign member
and worldwide union association which is headquartered in Brussels.

"It brings shame on the whole Olympics movement that such severe
violations of international labour standards are taking place in
Olympic-licensed factories."