[Educationforall] spam con huevos, labor news, views and concerns, 11.25.11‏‏-I‏I

Sat Nov 26 04:04:53 UTC 2011

Unions and Occupy Demonstrators March Through Oakland‏

Strikes in China‏

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Unions and Occupy Demonstrators March Through OaklandPhotos by David Bacon

OAKLAND, CA - 19NOVEMBER11 - Unions join grassroots people and political activists from the Occupy Oakland movement to march through the city.  The march of about 4000 people protested the exploitation of 99% of the population by the wealthiest 1%, as well as police repression and removal of occupy encampments in Oakland, at the University of California campus in Berkeley, and around the country.  Marchers voiced solidarity with the original New York City demonstration, Occupy Wall Street.  The march ended at Lakeview Elementary School, where students and teachers denounce its impending closure and the closure of other schools.

For more articles and images, see  http://dbacon.igc.org

See also Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants  (Beacon Press, 2008)
Recipient: C.L.R. James Award, best book of 2007-2008
http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2002

See also the photodocumentary on indigenous migration to the US
Communities Without Borders (Cornell University/ILR Press, 2006)
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=4575

See also The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border (University of California, 2004)
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9989.html-- 

__________________________________

David Bacon, Photographs and Stories
http://dbacon.igc.org

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Strikes in China

Thousands of Workers Strike in Dongguan: New Balance,
Yucheng Shoe Factory Should Take Responsibility

http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/index.html

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York:November 18th, 2011,

In Huangjiang Township, near Dongguan in Guangdong
province China, over 7,000 workers walked off the job
at the Yucheng factory, owned by a Taiwanese investment
firm. They then surrounded the factory and blockaded
the town's main road in the largest protest against a
Taiwanese company in 2011. During the protest, dozens
of workers were injured in clashes with police and
public security personnel.

The anger behind this protest had been building for
some time. On October 27th, the factory suddenly
dismissed 18 section managers, in a move seen by
workers as a preparation for relocation. According to
several media reports, the riot erupted due to new,
widely-condemned regulations set by the factory
management. The new rules axed all bonuses regardless
of worker performances for as long as the factory was
suffering losses. The new regulations, which led to the
strike, also aroused fear among the workers that they
might be dismissed someday.

This protest and strike illustrates the unfairness of
the relationship between labor and capital in the
Chinese economy and the lack of channels for Chinese
workers to communicate their frustrations. It also
shows how factory management is opaque, releasing
decisions that have not been made with the consent or
even foreknowledge of workers. While workers have
become more conscious of their rights, managers still
often cling to the same antiquated management model of
using force to control their employees. This has only
intensified the conflict between workers and
management.

The specific grievances the workers have against
Yucheng factory management are as follows:

1. The factory fired workers illegally.

2. The factory did not respect the workers, and
managers would verbally abuse the workers.

3. The factory did not negotiate with workers before
they made the decision about moving their plant and did
not provide a reasonable plan for the workers to do so.

4. The factory did not negotiate with workers before
set their new rules. The reward system is not
transparent.

5. The labor union was not adequately protecting the
workers' rights.

China Labor Watch calls upon the Yucheng shoe factory
workers and management to sit down and have a full and
frank discussion about the situation at hand and for
the factory management to issue a statement recognizing
the workers' demands as valid. However, in addition to
Yucheng management assuming responsibility for the
workers' dissatisfaction, New Balance, the factory's
principal client, must also assume responsibility for
the situation. They bear this responsibility because
they have consistently driven down the price of their
purchase order, dodging the issue of labor costs,
therefore all but forcing Yucheng to keep worker
compensation and spending on working environments low
to meet New Balance's price and quality requirements.
The shortcomings at the Yucheng factory and the strike
that resulted from them illustrate the failings of New
Balance's social responsibility policy, to the extent
that workers must strike and protest to ask for the
respectful treatment that they deserve. New Balance
cannot completely avoid responsibility for what happens
at this factory. China Labor Watch calls on the Yucheng
shoe factory and New Balance to work together to
address the workers' demands.

1,000 Workers Strike at Factory That Makes Keyboards
for Apple and IBM

November 23rd, 2011-- Guangdong's rising tide of worker
unrest continues unabated, this time at a factory owned
by what is considered one of the world's largest
keyboard manufacturers. Yesterday, 1,000 workers staged
a strike at the Jingmo Electronics Corporation's 
Shenzhen factory, which is located in the 3rd
industrial district of Shajing township and employs
3,000 people. This corporation is owned by the
Taiwan-based Jingyuan Computer Group, which mainly
produces keyboards and other computer components.
According to its public statements, the company has
been an Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) and Original
Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) for name-brand
multinationals that have included Apple, IBM, LG,
Tulip, Legend and Founder Great Wall.

On the morning of November 22nd, 1,000 workers at the
factory held a meeting in which they decided to strike,
owing to the unreasonable overtime demands made on them
by management. One by one, they walked off the job and
moved to block National highway 107 in protest.By the
time the protesters decided to end the demonstration
and disperse, authorities had assigned several hundred
police officers, including riot police, to the protest.

According to what workers have told China Labor Watch,
the motivation behind the strike was the factory's
decision to make workers work nightly overtime. The
factory decided to require workers to work from 6 p.m.
until 12 p.m., and sometimes even until 2 a.m. the next
morning, in addition to their regular work hours
(7-11:30 a.m., 1-5 p.m.) Workers now commonly worked
anywhere from 100 to 120 hours of overtime a month.
Moreover, the factory refused to let the workers work
this overtime on Saturday, which would necessitate
paying them double wages in accordance with Chinese
Labor Law.

Apart from the overtime issue, the workers said that
they also had other grievances with the factory. These
include the high rate of workplace injuries (there have
been nearly 20 recently), mass layoffs of older workers
and the lack of any benefits. Apart from these more
tangible hardships, factory managers often verbally
abuse and bully the workers, causing them severe
emotional distress.

As a result of the strike, the factory now states they
will reduce each employee's average overtime and allow
them to work overtime on Saturday. China Labor Watch
calls upon Apple, IBM and the other clients ofthis
factory to assume responsibility for these workers'
dissatisfaction and work with the factory to improve
the working conditions in the factory. We particularly
urge Apple to take responsibility, as there are more
than 300 workers working on the Apple keyboard assembly
line. Additionally, Executive Director of China Labor
Watch Li Qiang added that the factory itself needs to
change its management system to accommodate the
workers' increased awareness of protecting their own
rights.

--

About China Labor Watch:

Founded in 2000, China Labor Watch is an independent
not-for-profit organization. In the past ten years, CLW
has collaborated with unions, labor organizations and
the media to conduct a series of in-depth assessments
of factories in China that produce toys, bikes, shoes,
furniture, clothing, and electronics for some of the
U.S.'s largest companies.CLW's New York office creates
reports from these investigations, educates the
international community on supply chain labor issues,
and pressures corporations to improve conditions for
workers.

Meanwhile, CLW's Shenzhen office works closely with
local factories and serves migrant workers in Guangdong
Province through several programs. These include the
Free Legal Consultation Hotline Program, community
training in collective bargaining, and the Train the
Trainer Program to enhance the capacity of local labor
movements.

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