They also withheld two month salaries from the workers and keep their I.D. cards, practices which directly violate the labour law. According to a survey we conducted in December 1996, Zhongshan International, which is owned by the chairman of the Toy Manufacturers Association of Hong Kong, stood out as one of the worst example of labour law violators. When first joining the factory, workers must pay RMB50 for the working I.D. and pay RMB30 for a deposit. Moreover, they need to pay RMB5 for the labour service fee each month and RMB60 for meals. The workers work 16 hours a day on average but get a mere RMB0.3 per hour for overtime work.
Workers often work over night.
Despite the long hours, the workers only get around RMB300 per month, which is in violation of the Labour Law given the hours worked. A group of labour NGOs in Hong Kong are monitoring the working conditions of workers in the toy industry. We drafted a charter on the safe production of toys and demanded the endorsement by the Hong Kong Toys Council. In July 1997, the Hong Kong Toys Council responded positively and circulated a code of conduct to their members. When asked to discuss the adoption and implementation of the code, the chairman of the Toy Manufactures Association of Hong Kong became defensive and refused to discuss the code of conduct.