Target's suppliers use under-age labour: watchdog

Three mainland suppliers of giant US retailer Target have been accused by a workers' rights group of violating child labour regulations.

China Labor Watch claimed that its investigation last month uncovered the violations at the factories of Ningbo Lucky Craft Co, Hangzhou Ownseas Pen Co and Dongguan Fuxiang Garment (B&N Industrial) Co.

In a 30-page report released yesterday, the New York-based workers' advocacy group alleged that the factories of those three Target suppliers employed labourers as young as 15 years old to make toys, pens and clothing for Target.

It alleged that these labourers were being made to work between 11 and 13 hours a day 'in return for little compensation'.

It said they perform the same tasks as adult workers, including doing jobs 'under very dangerous conditions and operating industrial assembly machinery with little or no safety equipment or training'.

The mainland's Compulsory Education Law prohibits companies from hiring school-age children or adolescents for full-time jobs. This law covers minors, defined as those under the age of 16, who are supposed to be in school.

'While each of these factories actively deny and hide the existence of these child labourers, it is na?ve to believe that Target and other global companies are not aware of their presence on the assembly line,' said Li Qiang, the executive director of China Labor Watch.