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We Demand Employment, Equal Labour Standards and Participation in Decision Making for All Women Workers


		News: Cadimium related work hazard continues in Chinese factories Published Monday, April 14, 2008 - 11:22 AM
		3998 Reads Paris, 28 March, 2008 PDF of this release: http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpQ_9j.EN.pdf As part of this years 28 April International Commemoration Day (ICD) for Dead and Injured Workers, the ITUC in conjunction with the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) will highlight the plight of workers who are exposed to cadmium poisoning when making batteries for Gold Peak Batteries International Limited, which is 53.4% owned by Gold Peak (Holdings) of Hong Kong. Gold Peak Batteries has become a symbol of an industry that endangers the lives of workers and damages their health yet denies the facts and refuses to recognize its responsibilities. The situation of workers making batteries for Gold Peak received international attention last year during the lead up to ICD. Since then, the case was brought to the attention of senior officials and corporate leaders attending meetings at the OECD, UNEP, ILO and of research and medical institutions, underlining the fact that human lungs, kidneys and bone tissue are particularly vulnerable to long term exposures to cadmium, which is a known carcinogen for humans. Gold Peak continues to operate, replete with reports of exposure abuses, deficient monitoring and suspicious risk analysis by company and local authorities, complicated by worker fatalities, sickness, unresolved disputes, strikes, court actions and non-reinstatement of workers to their jobs. Workers have also been denied full and fair compensation. The Hong Kong affiliate of the ITUC, the HKCTU, along with other local groups, continues to be the subject of a libel suit brought by GP to gag local activists. The ITUC is drawing attention to the case today at the World Health Organisation (WHO) when global trade union organizations expect to meet with senior officials in Geneva to discuss the implementation of the WHO Global Plan of Action for Workers' Health, which contains provisions for dealing with occupational cancers. Last February two of the largest toy companies, Toys "R" Us Inc, and Mattel Inc. agreed to phase out nickel-cadmium batteries and there is growing international pressure for other companies such as Canon, Casio, Fuji, JVC, Kodak, Konica Minolta, Nikon, Olympus Panasonic, Pentax, Ricoh, Sony and Toshiba to do the same. Gold Peak, along with its three Chinese subsidiaries - Huizhou Power Pack Company Limited (惠州超霸電池有限公司), Huizhou Advance Battery Technology Company (惠州先進電池有限公司) and Shenzhen Jetpower Batteries Limited (深圳捷霸電池有限公司) produces and markets batteries, electronic components, cables, acoustic and light-fitting materials. In addition to its operations in China and Hong Kong, the company has a manufacturing network that extends to Singapore and Malaysia and a marketing network that reaches Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Philippines, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Thailand, The Netherlands, Taiwan and the U.K. Cadmium-related issues involving Gold Peak have received wide publicity throughout Asia. Fatalities have been reported, as have sixteen cases of confirmed cadmium poisonings and 400 more with excessive exposure. An additional 600, mostly young female workers have been denied annual medical check ups and continue to be at risk. After the worker poisoning was exposed, Gold Peak claimed to have halted cadmium-nickel battery production but has instead sub-contracted its work to a factory in Hunan province with sub standard health and safety. see http://www.globalmon.org.hk/news.php?action=detail&news_id=44&class_id=15#). For more information contact Lucien Royer [[email protected]]


		Urgent Appeals: Release innocent Chinese workers! Published Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - 07:47 PM
		2666 Reads Tell Chinese Officials: Release Innocent Workers, Bring Corrupt Owner to Justice On February 13, the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, some 700 workers at the Panyu Li Chang Footwear Co. Ltd in Panyu district of Guangzhou City returned from their New Year holiday. They were expecting to receive their back wages ? estimated to be around 2,000 Yuan per worker ? and resume work. Instead, they found that the owner had stolen their wages, closed the factory and sold all the equipment. The gates to the factory and their living quarters were locked. Dozens of long-term workers discovered that the owner had not paid their social insurance and other entitlements for around ten years. Others found that payments had not been made for the last nine months despite being deducted from their monthly wages. In an attempt to seek justice, approximately 400 workers peacefully walked from the factory to the Guangzhou Municipal government offices. The police stopped the workers and detained about 50 of them. Five were formally arrested and detained on criminal charges for illegal assembly and demonstration. Please take action today to demand the immediate and unconditional release of the five workers who spontaneously and peacefully walked with their fellow workers to report the factory owner?s crime and call on the authorities for help. http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent/08-03-17.htm#action According to the report in the Panyu Daily, on February 28 the five workers were forced to stand on a podium while their arrests were publicly announced. Jian Xi Bo, the district standing committee and secretary of the politics and law committee, was reported to have said that workers who use road or bridge blockades to express their discontent will not be protected by law. The walk to the government offices, however, was both spontaneous and peaceful. The workers should not be penalized for blocking traffic since this was the inevitable consequence of the fact that so many workers were robbed and evicted by the factory owner in one day. It is time for China to stop its systematic repression of internationally recognized human rights, particularly freedom of expression and freedom of association. The ability of workers to engage in dialogue with employers and openly express their grievances is a fundamental part of a just society. Go to http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent/08-03-17.htm#action Or send letter to: Guangzhou Municipal Government 1 Fu Qian Road Guangzhou City, PRC 510032 Fax: 00-86-20-83123518 Email: [email protected] President Hu Jintao Zhongnanhai, Xichengqu, Beijing City, PRC, 100017 Fax: 0086-10-64729863 Email: [email protected]


		News: Toys 'R' Us Drops Nickel-Cadmium Batteries Published Friday, February 22, 2008 - 12:37 AM
		3306 Reads THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 18 Feb 2008 TOYS 'R' US Inc. said it will begin phasing out nickel-cadmium batteries, the making of which has caused widespread environmental contamination in China and poisoned hundreds of factory workers. The announcement is part of a wave of safety initiatives aimed at winnowing out toxins from toys sold in the company's more than 1,550 retail stores world-wide. In addition to the battery phaseout, the company announced stricter rules on lead content in toy surface coatings and tighter rules on phthalates, a vinyl additive that has been linked to cancer in rats. Most of the new safety initiatives aim to protect the health of the consumers. The cadmium-battery phaseout is a sign that toy retailers are also under pressure to consider the health of the workers and citizens of China, where the majority of the world's toys are made. Nickel-cadmium batteries pose no health threat to American children, but manufacturing the batteries has led to environmental and health problems in China. Toys 'R' Us said it would prohibit the use of cadmium batteries in all toys made exclusively for Toys 'R' Us but didn't say it would ban toys made by other companies that use the batteries. Some toy makers, including Hasbro Inc., have already launched their own bans on cadmium batteries. The latest Toys 'R' Us safety push comes as American toy makers and retailers are trying to reassure consumers about the safety of their products, and get ahead of proposed regulations that could tighten toy-industry restrictions after recalls last year. Proposed legislation includes an overhaul of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission that would strengthen its enforcement authority. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced stricter guidelines on lead content and phthalates in toys last week, and companies are exploring alternatives to polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, a type of vinyl that consumer advocates say contains dangerous chemicals. Nickel-cadmium batteries, a type of rechargeable battery commonly found in remote-control cars, power tools and cordless phones, are safe to use. But in recent years, hundreds of workers in China who assemble the batteries at factories have been exposed to unsafe levels of cadmium, a toxic heavy metal linked to kidney failure, lung cancer and bone disease. In addition, cadmium runoff from battery factories has leached into water and soil, and dozens of studies have found it in unsafe levels in vegetables grown in Chinese soil. Disposing of the batteries is another concern, since they are too toxic to throw in landfills and must be recycled. The health and environmental consequences of nickel-cadmium batteries were the subject of a page-one story in The Wall Street Journal last month that profiled Wang Fengping, a 45-year-old Chinese engineer who is suffering from kidney failure after working for years at a factory that produced toys for multinational companies. The company where she works, GP Batteries International Ltd., a Singapore-listed unit of Hong Kong-listed Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Ltd., ceased production of nickel-cadmium batteries in 2004, when hundreds of workers were found with unsafe levels of cadmium in their bodies. There are cleaner alternatives to nickel-cadmium batteries, including nickel-metal hydride batteries. But nickel-cadmium batteries are still used in the U.S. because they are the cheapest ones available, knocking about $1.50 off the price of an average toy. The batteries account for about 3% of world-wide battery sales. Jane Spencer


		News: Japanese CEO threatens to shoot strike workers Published Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 11:24 PM
		3031 Reads Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan-Kilusang Mayo Uno (PAMANTIK-KMU) Solidarity of Workers in Southern Tagalog-May First Movement NEWS 12 February 2008 Jap exec threatens to shoot workers Japanese CEO threatened to shoot workers should they tend to cross the premises of Chiyoda Philippines Integre Incorporated (CIPI). Some 24 protesting workers of Chiyoda Philippines Integre Incorporated who marched from the gates of Light Industry and Science Park I (LISP I) to the company gates at 8AM esterday, February 11, reported that President and CEO Mr. Shinsuke Ozaki, himself, pronounced the threat in an informal talk with the workers. �We were protesting and reminding Mr. Ozaki to abide by the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the workers and Chiyoda management. Instead, he welcomed us with threat,� said Felimon Alfiler, president of independent union Tunay at Lumalaban para sa Ikatatatag ng Manggagawa sa Chiyoda (TALIM-Chiyoda). The workers and management, after a strike, signed an agreement effective August 6, 2007, which includes payroll reinstatement for 52 dismissed employees and physical reinstatement of all union members. �It has been 6 months now since that MOA, but only eight had been physically reinstated and the remaining 44 received no payroll reinstatement since November 2007. We are legitimate regular workers of Chiyoda protesting within the bounds of the law. And Mr. Ozaki has no right to display his bullish manners at this point when our families are starving to death,� Alfiler firmly said. Aside from 16 company guards and seven VIP guards of Mr. Ozaki, two LISP patrol cars, Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA) Police, and the Laguna Industrial Park Police Assistance Group (LIPPAG) came immediately to the scene. A certain Capt. Apilas and Col. Marvin Saro headed the PEZA Police and LIPPAG, respectively. �Some men in civilian were also scattered around while the talks with the management is on-going,� Alfiler added. Close surveillance, posing threat Chiyoda union officials reported that some elements of LIPPAG, headed by Chief Saro, monitored the presence of 17 workers attending a hearing at the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB-RAB-IVA) at 9:40AM today, February 12, in Barangay Paciano, Calamba City. �What is Col. Saro doing here? The NCMB is an office where labor disputes are discussed and settled, and the LIPPAG has no business here,� questioned Alfiler who attended the hearing. The workers attended a hearing regarding the non-implementation of MOA. NCMB Conciliator Cynthia Foncardas handles the case of Chiyoda labor dispute. �We can say that these police are conducting a close surveillance, trying to intimidate and pose a threat to us workers. They are now exposing themselves, aside from the hooded motorcycle-riding men monitoring and threatening to abduct or kill some of our union officers in their homes and private activities,� concluded Alfiler


		News: Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women's rights Published Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 07:27 PM
		2292 Reads Afgan Islamic court sentenced a young man, a student of journalism, to death, for downloading an article on women's rights from the internet. The fate of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh has led to domestic and international protests, and deepening concern about erosion of civil liberties in Afghanistan. He was accused of blasphemy after he downloaded a report from a Farsi website which stated that Muslim fundamentalists who claimed the Koran justified the oppression of women had misrepresented the views of the prophet Mohamed. Mr Kambaksh, 23, distributed the tract to fellow students and teachers at Balkh University with the aim, he said, of provoking a debate on the matter. But a complaint was made against him and he was arrested, tried by religious judges without � say his friends and family � being allowed legal representation and sentenced to death. Source: The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk)

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	Women Workers' Declaration on FTAs This declaration is adopted by all delegates of the regional conference on "Informalisation of Work through Free Trade Agreements: Eroding Labour Rights" on 19-20 June 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand Download the Declaration



	Campaign: Domestic Workers Are Workers



	Coming CAW Events Regional Conference on Domestic Workers 26-27 August 2008 Bangkok, Thailand



	CAW Secretariat Executive Coordinator- Lucia V Jayaseelan Programme Coordinator- Deepa Bharathi Programme Officer- Niza Concepcion Information Communication and Media Officer- Juliette Lee Publication, Resource Centre and Thai Liaison Officer- Patima Kalumpakorn (Pui) Book-keeper / Administration Assistant- Suneerat Sangthong (Tuk) Finance Consultant- Leong Mee Nan (Mei Yun)

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