DVDizzy Forum

I wonder if these kids also get to enjoy Stitch in the same way that ours can:

http://www.wvejc.org/displayarticle4.html

http://www.geocities.com/cslnews/ (1st article)

http://members.tripod.com/~cawhk/9904/9904art02.htm

http://www.labourbehindthelabel.org/cam ... disney.htm


Anyhow, I'm off... enjoy the articles

Worker rights at Disney is an issue that is quite often overlooked, particualrly by fans.

I noticed in the 'What would you do if running Disney...' thread that only a handful of people mentioned changing employee policy and only a small number of those people recgonised the appalling conditions under which some of the merchandise is made. Most people were like 'oh, I'd release this on DVD' and 'I'd make sure all of the DVDs had inserts...'.

In other words most people wanted the product - not caring how it came to be in your hands. I can understand that, I am a greedy consumer too But it is something that needs to be addressed. Eisner was getting $400 million payouts, compared to the pitiful wages Haitian and Chinese factory workers were getting. A little imbalance methinks....

Thanks for posting this, jonas. I hope this is something we can all have a good discussion over...

I don't know about Disney, but I know that in one year in the late 1990's Nike payed Michael Jordan more money to advertise and promote their sportswear than they paid their manufacturing workforce of around 25,000 all over the world.

(Of course, most of Nike's manufacturing is done by child labour in developing countries.)

Now that's seriously out of whack.

Greider, William. One World Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997, page 390.

Greider includes the following note for this statistic: the source of the information is Pharis Harvey, executive director of the International Labor Rights Education and Research Fund in Washington. "In 1992 Jordan reportedly earned $20 million from Nike, according to Forbes, Nov. 23, 1992. The 25,000 workers each earned $400 to $500 a year at most, or about $12.5 million in total" (496).

Didn't want to let this thread get away, so I thought I'd post a few more bits of info about the Wonderful World of Disney:

- a Disney contractor in Haiti was caught making Pocahontas pajamas under such impoverished conditions that workers had to nourish their babies with sugar water (1)

- In February 1999, a report revealed that workers sewing Disney clothes in several Chinese factories were earning as little as 13.5 cents an hour and were forced to put in hours of overtime (2). Makes you wonder how Eisner could earn that $400m.

I find this disgusting. I don't know what the situation is now, but I think it is our duty as fans and avid consumers of Disney products to find out. More than that - if we see injustices being done by the House of Mouse (or a subsidiary), it is the fans who have the power to stop it - but NOT buying the products in question.

Remember: someone is being paid/not paid to stick those inserts in the DVD too!

(1) N.Klein, No Logo (London: Flamingo, 2001) at 328.

(2) "Disney Labor Abuses in China". report produced by the Hong Kong Christian Industrial committee.[/u]