Toy trouble: A man dressed as Santa

Dongkeng, Dec. 22: It is the week before Christmas, and Santa?s helpers are restless. In fact, they have been demonstrating their discontent by striking, smashing their factories, and not turning up for work.

As most adults know, Santa has outsourced production from Lapland to China, in particular the sweatshop grottoes of Guangdong province, near Hong Kong. The plain between Shenzhen and Dongguan makes 70 per cent of the world?s toys, assembles its Playstations, stitches its shoes and produces a host of other Christmas gifts.

Pay and conditions in Chinese factories have led to strikes. But after years of compliance, the worker-elves have begun defying their bosses and even the Communist Party. There has been a series of strikes and protests for better pay in recent months, and the delta is also facing a new phenomenon for China: a labour shortage.

Hou Zhenggang, the labour exchange manager in Dongkeng, near Dongguan, estimates that the town is 10 per cent short. ?They are voting with their feet,? said Robin Munro, a research director for the monitoring group, China Labour Bulletin.

As China?s manufacturing has taken off, its workers have endured long hours and sometimes dangerous working conditions for pay that appears negligible. The minimum wage in the Dongguan area is 450 yuan a month ? about ?30.

But cases like that of Wei Meiren are pushing even these workers to their limits. Wei, a 32-year-old mother of three, left her impoverished village in April to make extra cash in Dongkeng. Two months later she was dead.

?We work from 7.30 in the morning to 5.30 in the afternoon, with half an hour break for lunch,? said a worker. ?Then when it is busy, we have to go back for another three or four hours after supper. We work 360 days a year.?