Olympic mascots made for Locog in Chinese 'sweatshop' factories – report

Staff making Wenlock and Mandeville toys say they were paid as little as £6 a day and forced to work illegal overtime hours

Olympics merchandise for London 2012 is being produced in sweatshop conditions with staff earning as little as £6 a day, despite organisers promising to clean up its supply chain, according to a new report.

Activists in China spoke to dozens of factory workers and discovered staff were forced to work up to 120 hours overtime a month, nearly three times the legal limit.

At one factory, staff had to buy their own safety masks and were fined half a day's salary if they were five minutes late to work.

Some of the 50 workers interviewed said they left the factory constantly covered in paint and even their saliva had changed colour, while others were left feeling sick.

During the busiest period of production for the Olympics, between last December and April this year, staff worked six day weeks for 11 to 12 hours a day, clocking up 120 hours a month in overtime – despite Chinese labour laws stating overtime should be no longer than 36 hours a month, the report said.

At the Shiwei factory in Shenzhen City, which also produced plastic toys for London 2012, 40 workers were interviewed and revealed they were working similarly long hours, not finishing until midnight, before starting work at 8am the next day.

They also revealed managers would fine them half a day's wages if they were five minutes late.

If they were more than five minutes late they would be fined one-and-a-half day's salary for causing a "work stoppage". Two work stoppages led to a six-day salary deduction.