SHENZHEN (AFP) — When the world's children celebrate Christmas this year with their made-in-China toys, their parents probably will be unaware of what Xiao Lei has been through to make them.
She rises at 6.30 every morning and works 14 hours or more a day during peak season, churning out stuffed toys, dolls' clothes, handbags and plastic figurines in a factory in the booming southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
Overtime is mandatory. Xiao Lei has one day off every month, sometimes more, sometimes none.
Since the lunar new year in February, she has taken a total of 10 days off -- all for little more than 1,000 yuan (128 US dollars) a month.
"We have to get up so early every day after working long hours that we often feel tired already before we start work," said Xiao Lei, speaking outside a drab grey factory block where a thousand workers like her are hired to make toys for multinational companies, including US giant Walt Disney.
Chinese labour law restricts daily work hours to a weekly 40 hours, with overtime not exceeding three hours a day, but labour activists said many of the manufacturers ignored the law.
As the world focuses on the recent massive recalls of China-made toys because of excessive levels of lead and other hazardous chemicals, labour activists are also trying to draw attention to the poor working conditions in the country's southern factory belt.
Li Qiang, founder of New York-based China Labor Watch, said toxic toys are not only harmful to children, but also to the workers who are exposed to dangerous chemical substances for prolonged periods, and more frequently, while they are making them.
"Workers don't realise that the chemicals they come into contact with are harmful. Factories don't provide adequate training for them," said Li, who was recently in Hong Kong to meet with multinational corporations, urging them to improve working conditions.
Because of her long hours, Xiao Lei's colleague Zhang Ting had thought about leaving the job and finding a new one closer to her family in central China's Hunan province, but even that proved too difficult.
"They make it so hard to quit because they always hold a month's salary back," she said during her dinner break before rushing back for another four hours of work.
"They would keep the money if you quit. Some people are forced to give up the salary," she said and complained about the cramped living conditions where 10 workers are squeezed into a small room that has only one toilet.
Complaints to labour departments would be pointless as the company produces fake salary statements making it tough to identify violations, China Labor Watch said in an August report on labour abuse at factories.
Walt Disney admitted that some of the claims in the report were true but stressed it is working with the key stakeholders to improve working conditions.
The report also said some factories fined workers who arrived a few minutes late for work and many did not offer basic pensions, medical nor work injury insurance.
Li said multinational corporations often knew about the labour violations committed by their suppliers but chose to turn a blind eye and generally spread their orders across a number of factories to avoid blame.
"Some of these companies admit to knowing the problems, some flatly deny them and some have their excuses," he said.
He believes that poor product quality is due in part to the international companies' pursuit of lower prices, squeezing the factories' profit margins in order to maximise their own profits.
He said working conditions would be improved if the corporations increased the prices they paid manufacturers for the products. "Only if they pay more money for the products, a lot of problems can be solved."
Li is no stranger to the life of a factory worker. He trained as a lawyer and worked in a trading company before spending two years switching jobs between 10 factories in south China's manufacturing cities, for the experience.
"My friend told me about the poor working conditions in these places. I wanted to see it for myself. The working conditions there were worse than I thought," he said.
He worked 14 hours a day, saw staff being verbally abused and shared a small room and one bathroom with 16 other workers.
"You often had to work so late that you didn't have the energy to queue up and wait to take a shower," he recalled. "Life was miserable. It wasn't for human beings."
But, he added, workers seldom complained.
"They see it as a way of life because they become numb to the situation, they don't know anything else, they don't know their rights," he said.
Li has since become an advocate for workers' rights and built up a network of labour activists in China.
He said he was forced to leave China after drawing the attention of police and local authorities for encouraging workers to pursue their legal rights. In 2000 he moved to New York and established China Labor Watch.
As China's economy grows, Li believes more workers will learn about their rights and seek to protect themselves.
Before that happens, he says, his fight will go on.
"We are not here to criticise the multinational companies. They have the social responsibility to protect the workers," he said. "At the end of the day, all we want is to see improvement in the working conditions."
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