Paid less than price of Kanye’s trainers for one month’s work
Factory making star’s footwear
£147 a month, just £6 more than the minimum legal wage there. Apache staff are paid the equivalent of 85p an hour based on a five-day week. By working an extra 20 hours a week, meaning six 10-hour days, they can raise their take-home pay to £329 a month.
The average wage in Chinese cities is £714.69 a month.
The 80 hours’ overtime exceeds the 36 hours permitted by Chinese labour law.
Worker Fang Lee, 39, told how she was expected to stand for 10 hours a day.
She said: “I am way too weary to stand for such a long time without rest.” She added that workers had to arrive at 7.15am, 15 minutes early, or face being sacked.
Mum-of-two Fang said: “I have to get up at 6am and take my children to school as my husband is working. The work and taking care of the children has worn me out. For the family’s sake, I must keep holding on.”
The family share a single room, paying £40 a month rent. Fang said: “My basic wage is too low, so I have to work overtime to make ends meet.
“But even if I work 80 hours’ overtime every month, there is nothing much left.
“Everything goes on rent and living expenses.
“I have to take every opportunity to work overtime and not take leave or we will be in financial trouble.” Adidas argue that their suppliers are allowed to take advantage of a loophole allowing some employers to use an average overtime figure for the year.
It is believed that Adidas paid 39-year-old rapper Kanye £7million to collaborate on the Yeezy trainers.
War on Want’s Owen Espley said the use of cheap labour was “shameful exploitation” and called for Adidas to be “held to account for the shocking conditions in their suppliers’ factories”.
Adidas said they were investigating the allegations of the early morning meetings and agreed that workers should be paid for attending them outside working hours.
The company said when bonuses and allowances were taken into account, the average take-home pay for an Apache worker was £329 a month.
A spokeswoman said: “We are fully committed to protecting workers’ rights and to ensuring fair and safe conditions in our factories.
“We only conduct business with overseas manufacturers who work in a fair, honest and responsible manner.
“We have strict procedures in place to ensure employees are paid and treated fairly.”