Fifa accuses China firm of sweatshop conditions
China - Global football governing body Fifa suspended a Shanghai manufacturing plant's contract over accusations that employees making the 2010 football World Cup mascot worked in sweatshop conditions.
Global Brands Group (GBG), the licensee for 2010 World Cup merchandise, said it was withdrawing its contract from Shanghai Fashion Plastic Products.
GBG said its audit of the company found the plant failed to meet standards required of a supplier by allegedly employing underage workers in poor conditions and paying minimal wages.
"The approval for this factory to manufacture these figurines has been temporarily suspended, affording them the opportunity to put in place corrective actions and measures," GBG said in a statement.
But a spokeswoman for the Shanghai firm told AFP the accusations were "completely made up" and the company was a victim of South African politicking. "It was only because of the high unemployment now in South Africa. Some of their politicians used our working conditions as an excuse," the spokeswoman said.
The work was outsourced by a member of South Africa's ruling ANC party that had won the contract. South Africa's largest trade union Cosatu criticised the decision to move production to China, saying jobs should have stayed at home. "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," the union said.
"Cosatu is adamant that the work should never have been outsourced to China in the first place," it added.
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