Puma's Workers In China Facing An Olympian Struggle To Survive
 

You already know these things,but think of the numbers a bit....


Puma sponsors Olympic teams and star athletes around the world. But it is unlikely that even these finely conditioned athletes could keep pace with Puma's workers in China, forced to work up to 16.5 hours a day, from 7:30 a.m. to midnight, six or seven days a week, for wages of just 31 cents an hour. How many athletes could endure the constant production line speed-ups, the relentless numbing repetitive motions, being yelled and screamed at, humiliated, only to return home exhausted to a crowded dorm room shared by 12 workers, without hot water and forced to eat food resembling "pig slop." How many athletes could stand to be stripped of their most basic rights, knowing that if they ever dared to speak the truth, they would be fired immediately. Yet Puma workers in China endure just this, day in and day out, year after year.

In a very direct sense, these workers in China are toiling for the Puma Corporation, for the athletes Puma sponsors, and for us-for the consumers who purchase their products.

In fact, the workers in China are carrying Puma on their backs. Puma is making a net profit of $12.24 per hour on each worker in China making their sneakers. Annually, Puma is reaping a profit of $38,189 on each worker. In a single factory, Puma's profit from the workers can reach over $92 million a year. It is the workers in China who are actually paying all of Puma's bills, including the $206 million a year Puma spends on advertising. Puma spends $6.78 to advertise a $70 pair of sneakers-almost six times the $1.16 that they pay the workers to make those sneakers.


http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/reports/puma.htm