COSATU welcomes Chinese firm’s suspension Football

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    Discovered: 2010-03-16 04:12:51 | Author: | TheZimbabwean.co.uk Source: TheZimbabwean.co.uk

JOHANNESBURG – The the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) last week welcomed the suspension of a Chinese company from manufacturing light-up models of the 2010 World Cup mascot, Zakumi, allegedly because the firm was exploiting its workers and using child labour. (Pictured: Zakumi – Chinese firm banned from manufacturing models of the mascot)
COSATU threatened in February that it would hold nationwide demonstrations at 2010 Fifa World Cup venues in the country in protest over the awarding of tenders for the biggest world soccer showpiece to foreign companies. This was after revelations that Shanghai Fashion Plastic Products had been awarded the tender to mass produce the Zakumi, a move Cosatu said flew in the face of the 2010 showpiece being touted as an African World Cup from whose spin-offs locals and fellow Africans should benefit.
Although the world soccer governing body did not respond to COSATU’s threats, its worldwide licensing company – Global Brands Group (GBG) – last week ordered the Chinese company to stop work in response to accusations that it was running a sweatshop. This followed a Gbg ethical and social compliance investigation over allegations that the Chinese company was exploiting its workers, who were reportedly being paid R23 per day of hard labour under inhuman conditions.
The company was also accused of child labour, in which teenagers were being forced to work 13-hour shifts to manufacture Zakumi figurines. The contract for manufacturing the figurines was originally awarded to Ascendo Industrial, a company based in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, and owned by South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) legislator Shiaan-Bin Huang and his wife Su-Luan, who subcontracted the work to the factory in China. While welcoming the news this week, Cosatu latched out at Huang, a member of its ruling alliance partner for his involvement in the alleged scandal.
“It is outrageous that a public representative of the ANC, which is committed to policies to create decent work, can take such a callous decision which has deprived South African workers of employment,” said Cosatu spokesman, Patrick Craven in a statement last week. “If the Chinese company has indeed agreed to increase the workers’ salary, that is a small but welcome victory, but COSATU is adamant that the work should never have been outsourced to China in the first place. “All World Cup related manufacturing must be sourced in Proudly South African factories and the federation will continue to monitor all products on sale to check that we are not losing out on the extra job opportunities offered by the World Cup.”
Shanghai Fashion had agreements with companies in Europe, North America and South Africa to make 2.3 million toy figures of the dreadlocked leopard mascot and about 100 000 of the figurines were reportedly destined for Ascendo Industrial, the Kwazulu-Natal-based heavily guarded factory and distributor owned by Huang, when the suspension was announced.
The Fifa group did not disclose the length of the suspension, but said the company will be audited again.
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