Crucifixes Made Under Horrific Sweatshop Conditions In China Linked to St. Patrick's Cathedral and Trinity Church in New York, and Nationally to the $4.63 Billion Association for Christian Retail

NEW YORK, Nov. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- At a press conference today in front of Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, Charles Kernaghan, director of the National Labor Committee, released a 73-page report documenting the brutal sweatshop conditions under which crucifixes are made for Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Trinity Church and the Association for Christian Retail at the Junxingye factory in Southern China.

Holding up a crucifix made in the Junxingye factory and sold at Saint Patrick's and Trinity, Kernaghan said, "This crucifix was made by young women -- several just 15 and 16 years of age -- who were forced to work 15 1/2 hours a day, from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., seven days a week, toiling for months on end without a single day off. Workers were routinely at the factory over 100 hours a week. Before the crucifixes had to be shipped to the U.S., there were also mandatory 22 1/2 to 25-hour all-night shifts from 8:00 a.m. straight through to 6:30 or 9:00 a.m. the following morning. Workers were paid just 26 1/2 cents an hour, $2.12 a day and $10.61 a week, which is less than half China's legal minimum wage. After deductions for primitive company dorms and food, the workers' take-home wages actually drops to just nine cents an hour."

The report, titled: "Today, Workers Bear the Cross" details:

-- Primitive dorm conditions with workers sleeping in narrow, double-level metal bunk beds. Dorm walls are filthy and smudged with black, while spider webs cling to the ceiling. The bathrooms are so damp and dirty that moss grows on the floor.

-- Workers describe the company food as "awful." The soup is just water with a few vegetable leaves and drops of oil floating at the top.

-- Workers are stripped of their rights, denied paid maternity leave, sick days and holidays.

-- Anyone missing a day is docked 2 1/2 days wages.

-- Workers fear they may be handling toxic chemicals, paints and solvents--which sting their eyes and cause skin rashes--but they are not allowed to know the names of the chemicals they are working with, let alone their health hazards.

Kernaghan said, "I don't believe that Saint Patrick's Cathedral or Trinity Church had any idea of the abusive and illegal conditions under which their crucifixes were made...but I feel certain they will now respond immediately and with compassion." Kernaghan will ask Saint Patrick's and Trinity to help clean up the factory in China and to guarantee that the legal rights of the workers will finally be respected.

Kernaghan commented that something has gone terribly wrong, "The Association for Christian Retail has decided, en masse, to follow Wal-Mart to China, where they can exploit defenseless workers and pay them pennies an hour to make their religious goods. These are workers who have no freedom of religion, no freedom of association, and no human or worker rights protections."

"Especially during the holiday season," he continued, "the American people can draw a line in the sand, refusing to allow crucifixes and other religious items to be turned into just another cheap sweatshop commodity. As things stand now, there are enforceable laws backed up by sanctions to protect corporate products and trademarks, but no similar laws to protect the legal rights of the young people around the world who made the religious or other goods we will purchase this holiday. This is morally wrong and must change.

The report includes production orders and photos, including images of an assembly line, the dorms and crucifixes made in the plant which were smuggled out of the factory. (Photos will be made available upon request.)

The Junxingye factory also produced licensed collegiate goods for the Universities of Michigan, Rutgers, Auburn, Brigham Young, South Carolina, Montana, Washington, Colorado and others.

To access the new report, go to: http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=479

Visit National Labor Committee at: http://www.nlcnet.org/

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: National Labor Committee

CONTACT: Barbara Briggs of NLC, +1-212-242-3002, +1-412-417-9384

-------
Profile: labor-news