A report on Hasbro factory

[VERT]

I just found this report on a Hasbro factory. This is where some of our TF are made.

Kinda expected this bit its not a nice place.

issuu.com/iglhr/docs/hasbro/search/13

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Probably standard Chinese factory etiquette...

[griffin]

It makes me sad reading that. So much of my happiness has been at the expense of slave labour. Hands up anyone who would want to sit at a cramped table for 11 hours a day, building 7 Transformers an hour, for about $1 an hour? If only there was some way of changing that situation.
(see, isn't this one of those situations that a UN should be addressing - protecting the rights and welfare of any disadvantaged people in the world... so that one country isn't taking advantage of others because they wouldn't be allowed to have slave labour in their own country)

This explains why Hasbro repeatedly refused my requests for some info or pics of the construction process (I've always been curious to see how these complex things are constructed, from start to finish).
It's a sad, but not surprising report. The western world is so dependant on cheap foreign "slave" labour, that economies would collapse if there were universal workers' rights and minimum wages... because we are so used to "cheap" imported goods, it now drives our economies (retail is apparently our biggest employment group, so imagine the reduced turnover of sales if we had to pay 10 times as much for the stuff that is imported - due to them being paid a tenth of what people here would be paid).

I remember a recent "off the record" comment from someone high up at Hasbro, talking about Mattel's manufacturing ethics and standards... either they are both as bad as each other, or Mattel is even worse... or propaganda within Hasbro isn't allowing too many employees realise how the company is managing to generate so much profit from such cheap product.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

It makes me sad reading that. So much of my happiness has been at the expense of slave labour.

Yeah, this.
It's not totally unexpected but kinda disappointing all the same.

[griffin]

At least with buying Australian made where-ever possible (which isn't easy these days), there is less chance that what you are buying was produced with slave labour like this.
(we do have sweat shops in Australia, often from people taking advantage of migrant workers who either don't know their entitlements, or don't want to risk being deported... they are illegal and should be shut down)

[GoktimusPrime]

The link doesn't work for me. However I remember Tiby posting this article from Choice magazine which showed Hasbro's ETI rating as - while certainly having room for improvement - being relatively okay by the standards of factories in developing nations.

Another alternative is to do what companies like Lego do and move their manufacturing to more developed countries (like Denmark, Germany, Croatia etc.) -- but then that would massively increase the cost of the toys... and even with the dirt-cheap Chinese labour, Transformers are expensive enough as it is. Makes you kinda wonder why Transformers are so expensive if their manufacturing costs are so cheap... (-_-)

[reillyd]

It makes me sad reading that. So much of my happiness has been at the expense of slave labour. Hands up anyone who would want to sit at a cramped table for 11 hours a day, building 7 Transformers an hour, for about $1 an hour? If only there was some way of changing that situation.

So imagine the reduced turnover of sales if we had to pay 10 times as much for the stuff that is imported - due to them being paid a tenth of what people here would be paid).

Well considering that we pay at least double what the RRP should be, and that deep sales in the US sometimes have toys at 30-60% off that, I'd gladly pay a little more if it would ACTUALLY get to the workers. And I'd much rather they get the markup than distributors like HasbroAU. Heck, I'd probably be willing to donate a portion of my purchases to a charity that would pass it directly on to the workers. I suspect many collectors would. Since we have big budgets anyway, if we have just a few less plastic robots in our collection to know that we weren't preying on the misery of others, it wouldn't be such a bad thing.

[VERT]

Im still disgusted at how hasbro is doing this. I always said they had slaves but never anything like this. And this is just one place in china. What about Vietnam? Wonder what that factory is like.

If Takara make them in a better factory I should boycott Hasbro TFs. Makes me feel better about all the shonky loose figure deals over the years.

Would be happy if some of the money would actually go to the workers

[Sam]

As I read this, a few thoughts are going through my mind.

By buying Hasbro's products, in a sense I am contributing to this system of practice, because I demonstrate that I am fulfilling the supply that they generate.

(By the way, just to clarify, I don't say this as a way of judging people that buy TFs, I am only referring to myself personally)

China also needs to shoulder its fair share of responsibility. The nation overall has serious ethical / corruption problems at all levels of society. Its people are not valued as human beings. In such an environment, it is not surprising that workers are not afforded the rights that workers in other nations have.

I am struggling with whether to continue buying TFs. Although I only buy a few each year, when I do see a nice TF figure I usually buy it.

[Robzy]

This is disgusting , but sadly not surprising

I agree that China has a lot to answer for... so does Hasbro. I was having this conversation with someone the other day, in regard to China's bad social and work practices.

I notice this hasn't been discussed on any other forum except here (at least at the time I'm writing this). Will be interesting to see what happens once it hits the international sites, and also what Hasbro's next move is. I will be following this closely.