4. Case study: Top Toy, Brio and Coop in China - Swedwatch

Other working conditions
Only simple education about the rules at the factory is offered to the newly employed. No
health examination is offered. At factory A no contracts are signed with the workers. Instead
the workers maintain that the factory management has false copies, which are shown to the
buyers at the inspections. At factory B contracts are signed, but the employee don't get any
copies hereof.
– We have a contract, but we actually don't know what that means. If they tell us that we shall
sign a contract, we will do so. We don't have any copies of the contract either, says a young
man who works at factory B.
A fee is demanded when a worker starts at one of the factories, which is contrary to the
Chinese legislation.
Housing
At factory A eight people sleep in the same dormitory, at factory B eleven workers live in the
same dormitory. Workers at factory B pay 8,6 Euro for two meals a day and for electricity in
the dormitories.
Insurances
According to the interviews only the workers in the pressing department have industrial
injuries insurance, but not other workers. Only managerial staffs and technicians have old age
insurance, but not production workers. This is contrary to the Chinese legislation.
Health and safety
A part from the fire drills, the factory management does not offer its employees any health
and safety education.
Trade unions and co-decision
There is no trade union according to the workers. According to the factory management at
factory A there is however a trade union at the workplace. According to the interviews with
the workers, the factory management encourages them to say that there is a trade union if they
are asked about this during the buyers' inspections.
Complaints
The workers who are interviewed complain about long working days, too few days of rest and
too low wages. A young worker at factory B tells HKCIC that he knows very little about his
possible benefits, insurances and rights. If he encounters any problems he usually asks the
older workers at the factory. According to the workers this factory among other things
manufactures Barbie dolls. He winds up in telling HKCIC about the expectations he has on
his employer:
– We are only hoping that the factory management shall treat us better, that we shall get
somewhat higher wages and that the working time shall get shorter.
At factory A the working conditions are better. But even here the employees sometimes work
until 23.15 at night in order to finish the buyers' orders on time and the employees are only
free one to two days per month. The wages are considerably better. A female worker of 27
years of age, who has been working at the factory for four years, says that the workers can
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