Gap, Mattel, Speedo, Wal-Mart Products Linked to Child and Sweatshop Labor in China and India

The clothing company the Gap has announced its cut ties with a subcontractor found to be holding children in slave-like conditions in India to make clothing sold by Gap Kids. The London Observer revealed Sunday that children as young as ten years old have been subjected to work long hours without pay and regular threats and beatings. Gap began auditing its labor conditions in 2004, years after reports of abusive conditions at its factories first emerged.

The Gap expose is only the latest scandal linking children's products to sweatshop labor. Earlier this year the toy giant Mattel recalled some 21 million China-made toys found to contain lead paint easily swallowed by children. Last week the National Labor Committee in Support of Human and Worker Rights released three reports documenting the conditions for workers making those toys. The reports found forced labor of up to 90 hours a week and pay as low as 46 cents an hour. Aside from Mattel, other companies using the factories include Wal-Mart, McDonalds and the swimwear manufacturer Speedo.

Charles Kernaghan is the executive director of the National Labor Committee, widely considered this country's leading voice in exposing the foreign labor abuses of major U.S. corporations. He joins me in the firehouse studio.

• Charles Kernaghan, Executive Director of the National Labor Committee.

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