Disney investigates Hong Kong labor abuse allegations News
Disney investigates Hong Kong labor abuse allegations

[JURIST] The Walt Disney Company [official website] asked the nonprofit firm Verite [official website] to investigate allegations of labor abuse in factories run by its Chinese contractors, according to a statement Friday. Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) [advocacy website], a non-governmental, Hong Kong-based organization created by students to protect workers' rights, made the initial allegations in a report titled "Recovering Mickey's Conscience" [PDF text]. The report claimed the factories paid workers below minimum wage, did not pay them for all hours worked, allowed them to work more than the legal limit of 204 hours per month, and did not pay triple hour pay as required on holidays. Furthermore, it accused the factories of coaching workers to answer auditors' questions and allowing unsafe working conditions. SACOM and its partner, the National Labor Committee [advocacy website], provide summaries of factory conditions. SACOM asked Disney to use nonprofit auditors, provide a public list of contractors and their addresses and publicly announce the findings of the investigation. In its statement Friday, Disney stated it "and its licensees will work closely with Verite to ensure a thorough investigation of these claims and take the appropriate actions to remediate violations found." AP has more.

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