Most of us know that the toys we give to kids during the holidays tend to be made in China. However, this is a fairly abstract concept; we don't really know the people on the assembly line. German-born photographerLog In is looking to change that with his latest photo essay. The pics highlight the jarring contrast between the often grim factory workers and the cheery toys they create. (Not all workers are downcast; a few are smiling.) Wolf heightened the dissonance with an exhibit in California that framed the worker's faces within a mosaic of colorful toys. In his online gallery, Wolf dropped some troubling stats about Chinese factory workers. For instance, their average monthly salary in 2010 was $240, which was "insufficient to cover basic needs for workers and their families." In 2009, around a million workers suffered industrial injuries; about 20,000 were victims of occupational disease. But in an acknowledgement that the truth isn't always binary, Wolf also linked toLog In by Leslie T. Chang, who presented a nuanced view of the workers' lives and motivations. In 2010 the average monthly salary, including overtime, for a migrant worker was CNY1,690 (UK£150 / US$240), insufficient to cover basic needs for workers and their families. In 2009 alone, approximately 1 million workers suffered industrial injuries whilst about 20,000 were victims of occupational disease. (Source: War on Want:Log In Source:Log In I'm getting an error saying the maximum number of images that are allowed to be posted is 4, so if you want to check the whole gallery, please visit the source.
Oh my...This reaffirms my belief in cutting back on toys this year. I am doing the "need, want, wear, read" thing for my daughter for Christmas. I can't believe how little those people are paid!
What's even more depressing than the low wages is the fact that some of the workers in the photos look like little girls aged 14. 14 year olds don't belong in a factory working 12 hour days. My daughter is too old for toys, but she's the same age as some of these girls. It makes you feel helpless because we can't do a lot as individuals to mitigate the situation.
Does anyone believe huge corporations are moral? How many have seen the documentary The Corporation. Anyway welcome to the new world order. If the corporations can make products to sell in the U.S. Britain and Canada and use workers who make $5 a day not $15 or $18 an hour, they will. Ryder13
I had no idea that workers in Chinese factories sleep in their workplace in only cardboards as beds? Although I know that the reason that most products are made in China is because the labor there is quite cheap. The Chinese government is partly to blame for this, because China is a Communist country, that's why if they can afford it, Chinese people migrate to other countries to escape communism.
Yeah, the child labor laws are completely different there. They do tend to be better now than in the past, but I don't know how much to actually believe the studies and laws. As for the pictures, they don't really do much for me. The statistics affect me more. Rarely are factory workers going to be happy, so seeing an unhappy one in another country seems pretty normal to me unfortunately.
Those are pretty damning statistics. It's getting harder and harder to find toys and even other categories of items that aren't being made in China. I can't even remember the last time I saw an item that was made in the United States.
It's not like you can do anything about it. If you take this from them, where will they work? It's not because you buy or don't a product that comes from there that this kind of thing will stop. Also, i bet that you will soon forget about it after a week, so false pity just makes it worse.
This is sad.. my children have never been into toys (sounds odd, I know, but they're more creative and toys always collect dust), so this makes me thankful for that, thank you for the reminder. As someone said above though, it's getting harder and harder to find anything from our own countries anymore.
Here's the trailer for The Corporation for anyone that wants to check it out. Watching this tonight, thanks for mentioning it Ryder: Log In
Doesn't really matter whether you buy the toys or not. The Chinese will keep forcing kids and underpaid drones to make them. Until the Government of China stops treating workers as slaves, things like this will never end. Not to mention this goes on in India as well. Sadly, there are corporations here in America that are trying to orchestrate the same thing. By reducing workers rights.
Countries should not be able to do this to children. Do you notice that they are mostly girls considering China's policy on children. This is not right. It only takes one person to make a difference. Hopefully someday these children will be protected.
It's really a sad situation, but it's also not a simple one to solve. They are relying on these goods being sold so that they can continue to live, but of course it's not right. The wages they receive is a bare minimum. China really does have some horrible policies and laws I must say.
