Cosatu says it welcomes the news that Fifa's licensing company, has stopped a Chinese factory from making the World Cup mascot, Zakumi to stop work, in response to accusations that it was running a sweatshop.
Global Brands has suspended its approval of Shanghai Fashion Plastic Products & Gifts after an inspection and audit of its factory. Workers are reported to be getting the equivalent of R23 a day and teenagers are forced to work 13-hour shifts to manufacture Zakumi figures.
The contract for manufacturing the figurines was originally awarded to Ascendo Industrial, a company based in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, and owned, by ANC MP Shiaan-Bin Huang and his wife, Su-Luan, who subcontracted the work to the factory in China.
Huang says there was an inspection at the factory: “But when the media reports began, the factory began paying its workers more and changing, so I think by next week, they will be making the figurines again."
Cosatu says 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”.
“If the Chinese company has indeed agreed to increase the workers; 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,” says Cosatu spokesperson, Patrick Craven.
