Barbies are made by Chinese factory workers earning less than 2p a doll who face harrowing workers rights violations, a new Channel 4 documentary has claimed. The new dispatches documentary ‘Barbie’s Dirty Secrets’ with journalist Isobel Yeung, which will premiere on Friday 11 October, reveals inside footage from Mattel factories and legal tactics at the £6 billion corporation.Showing the harsh realities faced by workers who manufacture the world’s most iconic doll, Barbie, the documentary reveals the dangerous working conditions of staff.Staff were seen to handle scalding hot plastic for the dolls without proper protective gear – leading to burns and blisters. Workers were also given no safety briefing and were shown to be struggling with quotas, with some being tasked with producing 1,000 Disney Moana 2 dolls a day despite earning just £16.90 for an 11-hour shift – less than 2p per doll.Workers were required to sign agreements for mandatory overtime, often working more than 100 hours of overtime a month, three times the legal maximum in China. Pictured: Journalist Isobel Yeung who leads the documentary on Mattel factory conditions  Pictured: Dolls being manufactured in China. The documentary includes footage of unsafe working conditionsDescribing their working conditions, the staff said: ‘Every day I feel so much pressure I cannot breathe. The manager said, in the Mattel Factory, you must obey orders unconditionally. The contract I signed is a labour contract, not a slave contract.’Another commented: ‘I won’t f****ing finish it [his quota] even if I vomit blood.’A worker added: ‘I have a family too and I have to get by. You get paid that little a month at the Mattel factory. I’m financially drained. I haven’t got a penny.’Channel 4’s undercover reporter was also exhausted by his experience working on the factory floor. He said: ‘I worked for three days in total and was physically near my limit yesterday. I feel like this factory just doesn’t treat people like human beings. People are used as animals. It’s really hard work.’Over the past four years, NGO China Labour Watch have launched two investigations into a Mattel owned factory in Dongguan, Southern China, where they found evidence of bullying, excessive overtime, sexual harassment and unsafe working environments.In stark contrast to the workers’ pay, Mattel’s board recently awarded its CEO YnonKreiz £11million in shares.Mattel’s own company ethos includes creating a ‘safe and healthy workplace’ and treating workers with ‘dignity and respect’ through ‘humane working conditions’.Responding to the footage, Thulsi Narayanasamy, Director of International Advocacy at NGO, The Worker Rights Consortium, told Channel 4: ‘A workplace in which the workers themselves are being treated to be just as disposable as the dolls that they’re making’. She added: ‘I think what the working conditions illustrate is that this pink and joy and female empowerment is nothing but a facade for the exploitative conditions in which the women that are making the dolls are having to live.’Mattel, who owns more than 200 brands from Hot Wheels to Fisher Price and Thomas and Friends as well as Barbie, also comes under fire in the documentary for their aggressive legal tactics.The documentary claims that in the past five years, Mattel has filed 268 cases against other business for trademark infringement – more than the other four biggest toy companies combined.The company is also accused of failing to prioritise product safety.It comes after one of Mattel’s products, the Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleeper was linked to the deaths of around 100 newborns. Mattel maintains that it is committed to product quality and safety. The Rock ‘n Play Sleeper was marketed as being safe for sleep and made the company around £150million.  Mattel owns over 200 brands including Hot Wheels to Fisher Price and Thomas and Friends and Barbie Barbie’s message of female empowerment – a key message of the hit film starring Margot Robbie, above – does not extend to factory staff, critics say  The Rock ‘n Play holds the infant on its back at a thirty-degree angle, such that the infant’s feet are at a downward slope from the infant’s headMattel was warned about dangers of the product in Canada and Australia and it never launched  in the UK because in 2011 the Royal College of Midwives advised the company against it.After an investigation in the US into the Rock ‘n Play tragedies, Mattel’s CEO Ynon Kreiz was called to testify in front of lawmakers and did not accept the product was dangerous despite 97 linked deaths. A study by American scientists found inclined baby sleepers like the Rock ‘n Play are linked to a five-fold increase in sudden infant deathsDespite a ban on the product in the US and a product recall by Fisher-Price, Mattel’s CEO does not believe the product is dangerous. He told a committee:  ‘The Rock N Play sleeper was safe when used in accordance with its instructions and safety warnings.’However, the product continues to be resold, with just 10 per cent of the sleepers being returned after the recall.Leonard Aragon, a partner at law firm Hagens Berman, representing the parent of a baby who died in the sleeper, said: ‘They [Mattel] should have had ads out on the internet or on billboards and say, hey, we’re sorry we made a mistake. ‘Don’t use this product, don’t buy this product, don’t sell this product. They could have done a 10th of a hundredth of their marketing budget for the Barbie movie and advertise how dangerous this product is and why you shouldn’t be buying it on the secondary market or getting it from your friends’Mattel told Channel 4: ‘Mattel is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment and ensuring that all employees throughout the company, including at our manufacturing facilities, are treated fairly and respectfully. The company invests significant resources to support our employees and ensure their wellbeing.’