Maquila Barbie.Tepeji del Rio Del Rio (rē`ō), city (1990 pop. 30,705), seat of Val Verde co., W Tex., on the Rio Grande opposite Ciudad Acuña, Mexico; founded 1868, inc. 1911. , Hidalgo Hidalgo, state, Mexico Hidalgo (ēthäl`gō), state (1990 pop. 1,888,366), 8,058 sq mi (20,870 sq km), central Mexico. Pachuca de Soto is the capital. , Mexico Rubie's Costume Company is one of the two largest in the world. Mattel licenses Rubie's to produce outfits under the Barbie label. In 2004, workers at Rubie's plant in Tepeji del Rio, Hidalgo, Mexico, complained about labor practices, alleging unsanitary un·san·i·tar·y adj. Not sanitary. and unsafe working conditions, unpaid overtime, and the use of underage workers. Mattel conducted an audit of the plant and found several violations of its own code of conduct, including the use of child labor child labor, use of the young as workers in factories, farms, and mines. Child labor was first recognized as a social problem with the introduction of the factory system in late 18th-century Great Britain. . Marc Beige, Rubie's president, disputes the contentions. He told Newsday in June that the workers' complaints at the Tepeji del Rio plant stem A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaves, inflorescence (flowers), cones or other stems etc. from a dispute between two labor unions competing to represent the workers. The U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project, a workers' rights advocacy group, is asking consumers to contact Mattel and demand that it suspend business with Rubie's Costume Company in Mexico until the labor issue is resolved. For more information, go to U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project, www.usleap.org. |
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