NEW YORK — A labor-rights group alleged Tuesday that crucifixes sold in religious gift shops in the U.S. are produced under “horrific” conditions in a Chinese factory with more than 15-hour workdays and inadequate food.
“It’s a throwback to the worst of the garment sweatshops 10, 20 years ago,” said Charles Kernaghan, director of the National Labor Committee.
Kernaghan held a news conference in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral to call attention to conditions at a factory in Dongguan City where he said crosses sold at the historic church and elsewhere are made.
Spokespeople for St. Patrick’s and another New York landmark, the Episcopal Trinity Church at Wall Street, said the churches had removed dozens of crucifixes from their shops while they investigate the claims.
Kernaghan said the factory’s mostly young, female employees work from 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. seven days a week and are paid 26 cents an hour. Workers live in filthy dormitories and are fed a watery “slop.”
Kernaghan said factory workers took photos and smuggled out documents detailing practices there. While none of the crucifixes sold in New York were identified as made in China, they bore serial numbers matching products made at the factory in question, Kernaghan said.
Trinity spokeswoman Diane Reed said her church had been “under the impression that these were mass-produced in Italy.”
St. Patrick’s and Trinity bought the crosses from the Singer Co., a religious-goods company based in Mount Vernon, N.Y. Co-owner Gerald Singer said the items were purchased through Full Start, a Chinese manufacturer.
“Whether they came out of a sweatshop, we do not know,” Singer said.
