The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG) announced on Tuesday
that it had terminated the Olympic product license of a stationery
company in south China's Guangdong Province for using child labor.
BOCOG said in a statement on its website that investigations
into child labor allegations by PlayFair 2008, a global alliance of
trade unions and labor organizations, had found that Lekit
Stationery Company Ltd. did use child labor, albeit not for
products which were related to Olympic products.
The Labor Department of Guangdong Province, the Ministry of
Labor and Social Security and BOCOG conducted the
investigations.
The BOCOG ordered the Guangdong company to cease manufacturing
and selling the products immediately.
Investigators said that three other companies involved in the
scandal had not used child labor. But they did suspend the
examination and approval of new product designs created by the
three companies after finding they had forced employees to work
overtime. The investigators ordered these three companies to
"rectify their mistakes".
The companies in question are: Eagle Leather Products Co. Ltd.,
Yue Wing Cheong Light Products Ltd. and Mainland Headwear Holdings
Ltd.
In January and February of 2007 Lekit Stationery Co. hired eight
vacationing students of unknown age to package their products, the
statement said.
Charges also allege that the companies hired workers without
signing labor contracts.
(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2007)