NEW YORK - December 21 - Noted labor rights watchdog Charles Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee has released a report today documenting sweatshop conditions at a Chinese factory where Bratz dolls are made for California-based MGA Entertainment for sale at stores in the U.S. including Wal-Mart and Toys 'R Us.

The men and women who make the dolls, which now make up forty percent of the U.S. fashion doll market, well ahead of Barbie dolls this season, are paid 17 cents for each doll they assemble. The dolls typically sell in the U.S. for at least $15.89. The women are forced to work seven-day weeks of up to ninety- four hours.

Approximately 4,000 workers at the Hua Tai 4K Factory in Guangdong Province are part of the Hong Kong based Hua Cheng Group.

Principal findings for the study include the following conditions:

* Routine 13 1/2 to 15 1/2-hour shifts, seven days a week.

* Workers at the factory 94 1/2 hours a week.

* Paid just 51 1/2 cents an hour and $4.03 a day.

* Workers denied work injury and health insurance, in direct violation of China's law.

* Taking a sick day results in loss of three days' wages.

* Workers failing to meet their production goals must remain working -- unpaid -- until the target is met.

* Workers are not allowed paid days off to get married.

* Ten workers share a small dorm room, sleeping on metal bunk beds. There is no shower or TV.

* If a worker breaks a doll, she is docked five hours' wages.

* Before the gullible Wal-Mart auditors arrive, the workers are provided Cheat Sheets with a list of the "correct" answers, which they must memorize.

* Now the factory wants to fire every worker and then bring them back as temporary workers with contracts limited to just one to eight months -- which will strip them of any legal rights they have. The workers are planning to strike in January 2007.

* The workers are paid just 17 cents for each Bratz doll they assemble.

* The total cost of production for a Bratz doll made in China is $3.01. When the doll enters the U.S., the companies mark up the cost by another 428 percent, adding $12.88, for a retail price of $15.89.

"Many parents are already concerned about the big doe-eyed, super-sized lipped, scantily-clad, high-heeled and anorexic Bratz dolls being marketed to their very young children. Now we learn that they're made under sweatshop conditions in China. Once again we find that there's a very dark underside to Wal-Mart's "everyday low prices," said Kernaghan.

Full Report Available at http://www.nlcnet.org/live/article.php?id=197

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