A workers’ rights group yesterday accused St. Patrick’s Cathedral of selling religious items made under terrible conditions in sweatshop factories in China. The group, the National Labor Committee, which has unearthed past examples of abusive work conditions, said it had bought crucifixes in the Roman Catholic cathedral that had been assembled by workers toiling under deplorable conditions.

They say the six-inch wooden crucifix and other religious articles were frequently made by women who toiled for pennies an hour in an unrelenting grind of assembly work, working seven days a week, 100 hours per week, with no days off, adding that they get meager soup to eat while staying in primitive dormitories with filthy walls and moss on the floor.

Joseph Zwilling, the spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, said that the charges would be investigated.

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