Action Alert

[bummer...these are comfy shoes...but I'll never own any now!]

Workers making New Balance sneakers at the Hongyuan Shoe factory in China are being paid just 41 cents an hour, while they are forced to work grueling 14 ½ to 15.8-hour shifts, six and seven days a week. There is no regularly scheduled day off. Workers are routinely at the factory 96 hours a week. Workers are forced to work 36 hours of overtime each week, but then cheated of their legal overtime pay. Workers are fined 1 ½ hours’ wages for each minute they are late. Workers who bring “outsiders into the factory,” disseminate “rumors” or encourage strikes will be immediately fired and face criminal charges. Workers are housed in primitive, crowded dorm rooms sleeping in triple-level bunk beds. Women workers must shower in front of the men. The sickening smell of plastic fumes hangs heavy in the factory air, and in some departments the noise level is so high workers have to shout and gesture with their hands to be understood. Workers say factory food is so awful they have to force themselves to swallow it—including rice contaminated with rat feces. Workers must pay for the water they drink in the factory.

Click here to read the full report.