A Chinese factory contracted to produce figurines of the 2010 World Cup mascots denied Wednesday allegations of sweatshop conditions and use of child labor, saying it operates in complete compliance of Chinese laws.
Global Brands Group (GBG), a Singaporebased company licensed for all FIFA World Cup 2010 merchandise, said Tuesday that it has suspended its approval of Shanghai Fashion Plastic Products to produce the leopardlike mascot Zakumi after an audit showed the factorys operations were flawed.
The audit was prompted after Britain's News of the World newspaper alleged that the company employed teenage workers, ran 13hour shifts and paid workers only 21 yuan ($3) a day.
"Our company, if not the best, remains one of the top two companies in the whole of the Yangtze River Delta area. We employ workers in strict compliance with Chinese laws," a company official who only gave her surname, Chen, told the Global Times Wednesday.
Shanghai Fashion Plastic Products, established in 1975 in Hong Kong, specializes in manufacturing plastic gifts, anatomical models, mannequins and other products to Japan, Europe, the United States and other countries.
It also manufactures mascots for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and this year's World Expo in Shanghai and currently employs more than 500 workers in Guangdong and Shanghai, according to the corporate profile published on its website.
Chen said the company's production of the Zakumi toys had been suspended but production of other products remains normal.
"The suspension of Zakumi does impact our business but will not paralyze our operation," he said.
A Global Times reporter was denied access to the factory Wednesday afternoon. There were no workers available for interview.
Shanghai Fashion was subcontracted by Ascendo Industrial, a factory and distributor based in KwaZuluNatal province, in South Africa. Ascendo is owned by African National Congress MP ShiaanBin Huang and his wife, SuLuan. It was contracted to produce 100,000 figurines of the leopard mascot, according to British newspaper The Times.
Huang expected the suspension to be lifted as early as next week and manufacturing to be resumed.
"There is no big issue. There was an inspection. But when the media reports began, the factory began paying its workers more and changing, so I think by next week they will be making the figurines again," he told The Times.
Chen denounced the allegation that their workers are underpaid as baseless, saying that the company would attract no workers if it paid less than average, since China is currently suffering from a severe labor shortage.
As the economic recovery has gained momentum, and especially since the beginning of the Chinese New Year last month, there has been a lack of labor in the Yangtze River Delta, home to a number of laborintensive enterprises.
Chen also denied that the company has employed children, saying it has issued a legal letter to News of the World and demanded it stop infringing on its rights and remove the report.
"The factory checks every worker's ID card when they are hired, and the company carries out all procedures stipulated by the current law," she said.
Henry Li, spokesperson for Intertek, an international organization authorized by GBG to visit the factory and conduct an ethical and social compliance audit of its operations, declined to disclose the outcome of the audit.
GBG spokesman Paul Zacks told The Times earlier that an audit identified a number of areas of noncompliance with GBG's policies.
"A corrective action plan has been put together with the manufacturer to close the gaps and make necessary improvements," he said.
Chen said the factory would fully cooperate with the investigation and make improvements on any problems.
"So far, the incompliance discovered is only limited to arbitrary placement of fire extinguishers and other equipment," she said.
Chen suggested that the incident was incited by the widespread resentment about high unemployment in South Africa, which was said to have reached 25 percent.
Her company has fallen victim to political struggle and protectionism in South Africa, she said.
The ruling party in South Africa is facing increasing pressure from its citizens who demand the government curb high unemployment.
Earlier reports about the company's practice were exploited by different parties in South Africa, with the Congress of South African Trade Unions challenging why the mascot was being made by lowwage Chinese workers while a large number of workers in South Africa remain jobless.
Reports about child laborers and sweatshops in China are not uncommon.
Last month, Apple Inc. admitted that some Chinese factories it had subcontracted to produce its computers, iPods and iPhones had used child labor, some aged 15 and working more than 60 hours a week.
A deadly explosion at a firecracker factory in southern China's Guangxi province in November led to revelations that children under 14 were working there for less than three yuan a day.
Under the Labor Law of the People' s Republic of China, Chinese employees cannot be forced to work more than eight hours a day and overtime must not exceed 40 hours a month.
(By Duan Wuning in Shanghai and Yin Hang in Beijing, Song Shengxia and Guo Qiang contributed to this story)
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