Since the blaze, fire-prevention measures have been taken more seriously on the mainland. But the plight of toy-workers, including the Zhili fire victims and their families, continues to be overlooked, insists a group of labour activists, the Hong Kong-based Coalition for the Charter on the Safe Production of Toys.

The three-in-one structure that was branded illegal is still common in the Special Economic Zone. In June this year, a Taiwanese-owned electric-fan factory of similar design caught fire. Sixteen people died.

In the run-up to Christmas, the coalition, comprising representatives from a number of labour groups in Hong Kong, will hold street campaigns to raise funds for the Zhili fire victims, many of whom are still unfit for work. Members will hand out Christmas cards carrying messages about the tragedy and the treatment of workers on the mainland in general. They are also keeping up pressure on Italian toy company Artsana S.p.A./Chicco, which the factory supplied, to honour its pledge made two years ago to pay victims a total of about 1.4 million yuan in compensation.

A key message that the group, with the support of some overseas non-governmental organisations, is trying to get across is that multinational corporations that rely on overseas subcontractors should take a share of responsibility for the protection of workers' rights.

Mr Lo was ordered to pay the mainland government 8.67 million yuan in compensation, but how much has been paid is unknown. Distribution of money to the victims, many of whom are back in their home villages in Sichuan province, has been of little help. Ageing parents of the dead have expressed worries about their future livelihoods.

'A mother who lost her daughter was given 5,000 yuan [about HK$4,690] and those who suffered serious burns got from 10,000 to 40,000 yuan,' says a co-ordinator of the coalition, Ban Lee, who visited about 20 victims and family members of the dead in Sichuan with two other activists in October.

'The medical fees for an injured person have already cost tens of thousands of dollars in the past several years alone.' There were emotional scenes when Ms Lee's team met parents who wept at the mention of their dead child, or victims with swollen limbs or extensive burn scars. They shot a video which they plan to show to the Italian company along with letters written by parents and survivors in their bid to press for compensation.

'It's difficult for them to find work in their villages,' Ms Lee says. 'Some worked in factories in the city but could not carry on and had to return to their village because they could not adjust to the working conditions there.

'Because of their wounds, they developed skin allergies and inflammation problems easily in factories with poor ventilation and a dusty environment.' One victim, 28-year-old Xiao Chun, recalls passing out after inhaling fumes in the Zhili fire. He suffered serious burns to his face and body. Believing he was dead, rescue workers placed him alongside a pile of corpses outside the factory. Fellow workers from Sichuan who recognised the tattoo on his body pulled him out and found he was still alive.

Now married, Xiao Chun has been unemployed since the fire because of immobility of his fingers. Like many other victims he can only seek temporary treatment from village doctors. He cannot afford proper care with the paltry 19,000 yuan he received in compensation.

The coalition, with its overseas support, has also launched an international campaign calling on consumers to boycott Chicco products until the company, known for its pram and baby toys, honours its compensation pledge.

Earlier this year, Chicco said the money would be given to charities instead because mainland red tape had thwarted its attempts to get a full list of victims.

Chicco is the first multinational to agree to offer compensation to victims at a factory linked to it.

Ms Lee, a former volunteer worker for labour groups and now organising secretary for the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, says Chicco's decision is absurd. 'We have tracked down about 50 victims and many are waiting for medical treatment. It's the company's responsibility to pay them. Why not give some of the money to them first? We can continue to supply them with information about other victims once we have it.' Fabrizio Goldoni, general manager of Chicco's office in Hong Kong, declined to comment on his company's position.

Angered by the neglect of labour rights in negotiations over China's entry into the World Trade Organisation, Ms Lee hopes the boycott campaign will raise international awareness about multinationals' responsibility for the welfare of labourers hired by their subcontractors. The coalition is also turning its attention to the general working conditions of toy workers. It hopes to make buyers more aware of the conditions under which some goods are made.

'The rights of a consumer include the right to know how products are produced, who produces them and under what labour conditions,' says May Wong Yuet-may, another coalition co-ordinator. 'Compared with people in Europe, local consumers have very limited awareness about the background of the goods they buy.' Giant companies such as Nike, Reebok and Mattel have codes of practice for their manufacturing process, but labour groups say those rules are not necessarily well-enforced at production sites in the developing world.

'Often the laying down of the codes is nothing more than a public relations exercise,' Ms Wong says. 'The workers themselves are unaware of what the code says and it took years for some codes to be translated into workers' native languages.' Despite the spate of industrial accidents that have taken their toll on its overseas image, violations of labour laws remain serious on the mainland - the world's largest toy manufacturer, accounting for more than a third of the global output. The formation of independent trade unions is suppressed.

A report by Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC) in March showed that improvements in toy workers' employment conditions were still needed. Researchers from the group talked to workers from 12 factories in southern Guangdong in the second half of last year. They found that workers had little idea about their rights.

Other findings were also of little surprise: a hot and stifling working environment, unpaid overtime, discrimination against migrant workers, below minimum-standard wages, delayed payment of wages, under-age labour and the taking of forced leave in times of limited orders.

Many of these factories are subcontractors for multinationals, making goods ranging from educational toys to Disney figures to Teletubbies.

One female employee working in a Shenzhen factory making Teletubbies griped to researchers: 'Our overtime wage is one yuan per hour. I always work till 1 am. Sometimes I am asked to work until noon of the next day in order to meet a delivery deadline.

'I always feel very tired because it's very hot inside the factory. Some workers fainted while working two days ago. They were sent back from hospital after some treatment. I am not sure who, the management or the workers, will pay for the medical expenses.' The Hong Kong coalition is producing publicity material to raise local awareness of working conditions of toy workers on the mainland, while the AMRC continues to monitor individual factories.

The coalition's Ms Wong agrees that it is a long-term battle. 'When the level of profit from Chinese factories drops, multinationals will move their manufacturing bases to Vietnam or Cambodia.'