Walt Disney isn't all innocent as it looks or seems. Behind the scenes of this "glamorous" company, there are human rights violations committed daily around the world. In one of their factories in a small Caribbean Island of Haiti, workers are paid 28 cents to stitch an Aladdin t-shirt. After taxes, workers at this sweatshop earn around 15-20 dollars a month. In Vietnam, Walt Disney runs a sweatshop that produces the plastic toys for happy meals. These workers make only 17 cents an hour. Three years ago, 200 women from this factory were hospitalized due to being exposed to acetone, and a toxic substance. Yet, the factory refused to make any changes in ventilation system or health code. (http://ihscslnews.org/view_article.php?id=67)
Besides poor conditions, the workforce is composed of almost entirely women and children. Most workers are between the ages of 10 and 30. Women are encouraged not to get pregnant because they usually get fired. There are also numerous accounts of supervisor's selecting mistresses out of their workforce. The worker is left to choose between complying and losing her job, devastating when she is living in dire poverty. These conditions are found frequently throughout most of the Asian sweatshops.
Recently, people have begun to encourage Disney to take responsibility for the quality of their overseas factories. Shirley Slesinger Lasswell, husband of the late Stephen Slesinger who acquired the rights to Winnie the Pooh in the 1930's, has taken a stand. When, she found out about beatings, 14 hour days, and poor wages at Disney's Dhaka sweatshop, she began to argue for better conditions. The National Labor Committee has taken her side in the fight to improve Disney production facilities worldwide. (http://ihscslnews.org/view_article.php?id=67)
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