Today the NLC is testifying in Senate hearings chaired by Senator Byron Dorgan and releasing three devastating new reports exposing production of MATTEL'S BARBIE, THOMAS & FRIENDS AND WAL-MART toys made under abusive conditions, with workers routinely kept at their factory for over 100 hours a week, cheated of their wages and stripped of their rights.

SPEEDO may be the most popular and best-selling swimwear brand in the world, and an Olympic sponsor, But SPEEDO workers in China are drowning in abuse. No Olympic athlete--no matter how committed--could endure what Speedo workers do day in and day out. It does not have to be this way. "Barbie Pet Doctor" toys made in China enter the U.S. with a total production cost of just $9.00, which Mattel then marks up by $20.92--233 percent--for a retail price of $28.99.

In fact, Mattel spends $3.45 to advertise the toy, which is more than 18 times what they pay the workers in China to make it. And Barbie is protected by enforceable laws, backed up by sanctions--Mattel sues an average of once a month to protect Barbie and its other toy brands. Yet Mattel say that similar laws to protect the basic rights of the workers who make Barbie would be an "impediment to free trade." This is wrong and immoral.

Please help make this a Holiday Season of Conscience. You can read the reports and see what you can do at:

Testimony before U.S. Senate:

http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=472

Toys of Misery: Report on Xin Yi Factory in China - making Barbie, Thomas & Friends, and other toys for Walmart:

http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=467

Report on SPEEDO, Carrefour, and Toys "R" Us:

http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=470

Report on Thomas & Friends:

http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=471