Johnny’s sweatshop scooter

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Those faddish Razor scooters today’s kids are hankering for are made in a sweatshop in China, according to the National Labor Committee in Support of Human and Worker Rights.

Recent Must Reads

12/28 – UK says gay sex OK overseas

12/23 – Globalization of sushi

12/22 – The choice erosion

12/21 – Activists under siege

The NLC doled out its “Golden Grinch” anti-awards to retailers this holiday season, giving one to Sharper Image for carrying an exclusive edition of the Razor scooters (other retailers also carry the basic model). According to NLC research, the scooters are made at Yuan Da Metal Factory in China, where workers are paid just 14 cents for every scooter they produce. The scooters sell for $89 to $119 each.

Another Grinch award went to the Department of Defense for importing apparel made in Burmese and Nicaraguan sweatshops for sale at military installations. Other “awards” went to Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Farberware, and the ubiquitous Nike.

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2022 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate