Chinese Workers Get Just 1.25 Cents for Each Disney Doll They Produce

The Chinese workers who make one of Disney’s hit Christmas dolls, Princess Sing & Sparkle Ariel, are earning little more than a cent from each doll they manufacture, though the toy retails for close to $40.  An investigation by rights groups Solidar Suisse and China Labor Watch in conjunction with U.K. newspaper The Guardian, found evidence of excessive and illegal overtime, basic pay rates as low as $1.10 per hour, no holiday or sick pay, and high levels of exhaustion among the largely female workforce making toys for Disney, Mattel, and other international toy companies at large factories in the city of Heyuan. The investigation found that, when costs were broken down, each of the women on the production line was receiving the equivalent of just 1.25 cents for every doll produced. This figure represents the total monthly wages of the 36 women on the production line, working an average of 26 days a month, divided by the total number of dolls produced each month. Disney and Mattel are both members of an industry body that seeks to improve working conditions in toy factories, which promised to “work directly with factories to address any issues identified.”