China souvenir makers fined for labor abuse

BEIJING (Reuters) - Two Olympic souvenir makers in southern China have been fined a total of more than 1 million yuan ($132,200) for exploiting workers, local media reported on Tuesday.

Yue Wing Cheong Light Products and Mainland Headwear Holdings, based in the boomtown of Shenzhen, were found to have "problems with exceeding overtime" and ordered to pay 833,700 yuan and 533,700 yuan respectively, the Shenzhen Daily said on its Web site.

The report did not say whether their workers were forced to work overtime or were paid for the work. Chinese firms regularly work staff beyond official limits, often for little or no compensation.

The companies' abuses were brought to light after a report in June by London-based labor rights group Playfair Alliance accused the firms, and two other Olympic souvenir makers in nearby Dongguan city, of illegal practices.

Le Kit Stationery Co. was stripped of its license to make Olympic souvenirs after a Chinese probe found it had used eight underage students for packaging work on non-Olympic products, and had failed to provide contracts for other workers, Beijing Olympic organizers said in a statement last week.

The Shenzhen-based companies and Dongguan-based Eagle Leather Products had not used child labor but were also suspended from producing Olympic products and ordered to "rectify" their business operations, the statement said.