Anarchoblogs

Last March Molly mentioned a solidarity campaign for workers at Gold Peak Battery in Huizhou China. Since then things have gone from bad to worse, and the latest incident involves the company hiring violent thugs to attack the workers. This is merely one incident out of many as workers in China are increasingly unwilling to accept poorly paid and dangerous sweat shop conditions. Here's the story in the form of a letter from the Good Electronics network.

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Violence used against protesting Gold Peak Battery workers in Huizhou, China‏
Dear Reader,

Earlier this year, you showed your support for the struggle of cadmium affected Gold Peak workers in China. Hundreds of protest letters were sent to Gold Peak. In response, the company sent a lame and noncommittal message, telling us to refrain from contacting GP’s customers as “facts show that GP is a responsible employer and our staff and workers are happy to stay with”. Globalization Monitor has continued working on this case. Today, I feel compelled to inform you about the most recent developments.


Since 16 August, ex-workers of Gold Peak Batteries who are suffering from excessive levels of cadmium are once again trying to engage the company into negotiations about compensation for their health problems. So far, GP has ignored the workers’ demands. On 24 August, over a hundred workers staged a protest outside Gold Peak's factory in Huizhou. Some hours into the demonstration, the protesting workers representatives were surrounded and beaten up by a large group of thugs. A number of workers were badly injured and needed hospitalisation. Shockingly, the thugs told that they were paid 50 dollars to beat up protesting workers. Reportedly, two GP security guards assisted in bringing in the thugs. Workers concerned point a finger at GP for staging this violent incident which is strongly condemned by civil society organisations in Hong Kong and elsewhere. Gold Peak however refuses to pay for the medical expenses. The workers raised fund among themselves in order to pay for the hospital bills.

In an open letter dated 25 August 2010, 200 workers express their shock and anger.


More information can be fund on the websites of the Hong Kong based labour rights group Globalization Monitor and GoodElectronics.
Sincerely,
Pauline Overeem
Network Coordinator
GoodElectronics
International Network on Human Rights & Sustainability in Electronics

The dispute at the Azteca restaurant in Warsaw Poland ( as reported the other day at this blog ) continues as do the pickets of the Polish anarchosyndicalist ZSP. Here from their website is the latest on their continuing actions.

The following appeal for online solidarity with workers at the Xerox corporation comes from the American Rights At Work group.

It always does my heart good to see anarchists doing something practical. In Poland the anarchosyndicalist (take a deep breath) Zwiazek Syndykalistow Polski (call them ZSP for short) are picketing the Azteca bar in Warsaw because of the illegal and dishonest practices of the owner. Here's the story from their website.

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First Picket at Azteca Bar
On Aug. 20, ZSP held an action at Azteca Bar in Warsaw. We are demanding an end to the deliberate cheating of vulnerable workers in this cafe.

The problems which led to the conflict are the following:

1. The owner of the bar (Jakub Mazur) uses unpaid trial periods for workers. On top of that, he claims that he provides "training" to the workers and estimates the value of this training at 1300 zloties (326 euro). He gives the workers contracts which state that this money will be deducted from their salaries if they do not work a certain period of time. It is approximately one month's salary - for full-time workers, So if somebody works only one month, s/he will receive nothing.

Most of the workers are students, working part time. Our comrade, a high-school student, was earning about 500 zloties a month (125 euros), so this fake "training" would cost people like that almost three months' salary!

2. Besides this, our comrade was fired and the boss illegally withheld over half of the pay for "damages".

3. The boss tries to get students to agree to work illegally, without any contracts at all.

Azteca Bar is located near a student dormitory. These students, many who are poor kids from other cities struggling to study in Warsaw, are often desperate to find any work in a city with high youth unemployment. Work in Azteca Bar may end up for them as a few weeks or months of unpaid or underpaid labour. We therefore warn them against working in these conditions.

We demand that the bar pay our comrade his due salary, stop the practices mentioned above and raise the wages.

During the action, activists from ZSP blocked the cafe, spoke about the work conditions there and handed out leaflets to passersby. The owner of the cafe called the city guards and police who came but nothing happened. We spoke with the owner, who would not answer questions about his illegal practices and just kept repeating that we should send letters in writing to his bookkeeper and take him to court. We explained that we would come even every day to his cafe if we had to. And we will do exactly that today.

ZSP will also prepare some workshops for the students living in the dormitory on their rights as workers and is preparing a new booklet explaining about deductions and fines at the workplace. It is a common problem and, especially in restaurants and cafes we hear a lot about illegal deductions. We would like people to know what is legal and what is not and give them ideas for action to fight against such practices.

As reported earlier on this blog the BC Federation of Labour is calling for a public inquiry on the silviculture (tree planting) industry in BC. This is in the wake of the revelation of recent abuses amounting to slave labour at a camp run by Khaira Enterprises Inc.. In Molly's opinion this inquiry is long overdue, and we can be certain that no participating paties will escape unscathed. As reported earlier on this blog Khaira has been operating in BC for over 10 years under both the present administration and the previous NDP government. It is also noteworthy that the board presumably overseeing this industry has at least "nominal" union representation. Here's the story from the BC Fed. >>>

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Public Inquiry needed to clean up silviculture abuses
August 20, 2010
The BC Federation of Labour is calling on the provincial government to launch a public inquiry into silviculture regulations and enforcement in the province. An investigation by the Federation has uncovered a patchwork of regulations and the absence of any real enforcement.

The call for an inquiry follows shocking details on conditions at a Khaira Enterprises work camp near Golden in July and the death of a Khaira worker in Revelstoke in June.

"We have talked with former Khaira workers, government agencies and silviculture contractors," says Jim Sinclair, President of the B.C. Federation of Labour. "As more information emerges, it is clear we have multiple and systemic problems with the regulation of silviculture contractors in BC and with the enforcement of those regulations."

The Federation has learned that Khaira Enterprises was the successful bidder on a BC Timber Sales tree planting contract on Texada Island in March of this year. The Khaira bid was 30 percent lower than the next lowest bid and 37 percent lower than the average bid on the contract. The Federation has also learned that Khaira Enterprises had limited expertise in the difficult tree planting required in the contract that included helicopter, boat work and expensive logistics.

"While Khaira worked on Texada Island in March, complaints were received and the company was investigated by various agencies including BC Timber Sales, the WCB, the BC Forest Safety Council, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and the RCMP," says Sinclair. "Instead of being shut down by these agencies, Khaira was allowed to move on to other publicly funded silviculture contracts in Kamloops, Revelstoke and Golden."

The Federation's investigation also suggests there are other silviculture contractors that ignore regulations with impunity and undercut legitimate contractors who follow the regulations.

"What we have right now is a race to the bottom where unscrupulous contractors like Khaira win contracts through unrealistic bids," says Sinclair. "The current situation is bad for silviculture workers, it is bad for our forests and it is bad for other silviculture contractors who follow the regulations. We need a public inquiry so that we can clean up this industry and stop this type of abuse."

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For more information contact: Evan Stewart, Director of Communications, B.C. Federation of Labour (604) 430-1421.