http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php Published Article on website. en-us info@nlcnet.org webmaster@nlcnet.org Nlcnet RSS Feed Generator Women Paid 10 Cents to Sew $80 NFL Peyton Manning JerseysFebruary 4, 2010 Forced overtime, cheated of wages, constant harassment, trapped in abject poverty in a Salvadoran sweatshop.Salvadoran Women Workers Speak Out on Sewing Peyton Manning Jerseys Print-ready PDF Chi Fung, S.A. de C.V.Carretera Troncal del Norte Km. 12 ½Apopa, San SalvadorEl Salvador Phone: (503) 2216-1060Fax: (503) 2216-6048Taiwanese-owned: Mr. Wen Ling Tsao wtsao@chifung.com.svWorkforce: Approximately 550 workers, 80 percent of whom are women.NFL jerseys have been sewn under illegal sweatshop conditions at the Chi Fung factory in San Salvador for at least the last four years. In 2006 and 2007, it appears that the NFL jerseys being sewn at Chi Fung were a subcontract order from another garment factory called Partex. In 2008 and 2009, it is unclear if Reebok placed the orders for its exclusive line of NFL jerseys with Chi Fung directly, or whether production continued under subcontract agreements. At any rate, according to Chi Fung’s website, they are an “approved Reebok producer.” In the year 2000, Reebok agreed to pay the NFL $250 million over the next ten years to be the exclusive apparel distributor for the National Football League. However, the NFL-Reebok mega-deal has done nothing to lift workers across the developing world who sew NFL jerseys out of poverty.In 2008 and 2009, two production lines at Chi Fung were dedicated to NFL jerseys. The workers could easily rattle off the names of the team jerseys they have sewn—Colts, Vikings, Cowboys, Patriots, Ravens, Jets, Steelers, Giants, Green Bay Packers, Dolphins, San Francisco 49ers, Panthers and Raiders. Most of the jerseys they sewed carried the names and numbers of NFL star players such as Peyton Manning, Number 18, of the Superbowl-bound Indianapolis Colts. Payton Manning Reebok NFL jersey which was produced at Chi Fung and sold at Dick’s Sporting Goods. In fact, the workers did not have much time to think about the players whose jerseys they were sewing. An assembly line of 28 workers had a mandatory production goal of completing 2,300 NFL jerseys in the regular nine-hour shift—from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with an hour off (a 20-minute morning break and 40 minutes for lunch). The production goal was 255 jerseys per hour, which meant that each of the 28 workers, in effect, had to sew nine jerseys per hour, or one jersey every 6.6 minutes. The workers were paid just 10 cents for each $80 Peyton Manning NFL jersey they sewed. This means that their wages amounted to just a little more than one-tenth of one percent of the jerseys’ retail price! Price of a Peyton Manning Jersey [At the Dick’s Sporting Goods store in Carmel, Indiana—about 30 minutes north of downtown Indianapolis—there were at least 230 screen printed Colts jerseys, about a quarter of which were sewn in El Salvador. The labels and style number (7009A 07) of the NFL jerseys exactly matched labels smuggled out of the Chi Fung factory. The remainder of the NFL jerseys were made in Guatemala and Honduras.] Reebok NFL labels smuggled from Chi Fung factory, fall 2009 Labels from the 80-dollar Reebok NFL jerseys produced at Chi Fung and sold at Dick’s Sporting Goods in Carmel, Indiana The regular work week in El Salvador is 44 hours, with 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. shifts Monday through Thursday and a 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. shift on Friday. This puts the workers at the factory 49 hours a week, while toiling 44 hours after taking into account the one hour a day of breaktime.However, for the NFL workers at Chi Fung, the mandatory workweek is actually 61 to 65 hours. Not only is all overtime obligatory, it is unpaid!NFL/Chi Fung Actual WorkweekMonday – Thursday 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Friday 7:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.Saturday 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon or 4:00 p.mThe workers are at the factory 61 to 65 hours a week, while actually working 56 to 59 hours, including 12 to 15 hours of obligatory overtime, which is unpaid. Management tells the workers that they will receive a $3.00 daily incentive bonus if they reach their assigned production target, but even working from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. the workers can only reach the goal about half the time.Under this scheme, the workers are routinely cheated of $10.44 each week, or 18 percent of the wages legally due them. While $10.44 might not seem like too big a deal, for the workers, this is the equivalent of being cheated of 14 ½ hours’ wages each week!Supervisors try to make it seem that working unpaid overtime is actually to the workers’ advantage. “Working on Saturday [without pay] benefits you,” supervisors explain, “because you can advance your work for the next week and therefore earn more money.”The base wage in El Salvador’s garment factories is 72 cents an hour and overtime is supposed to be paid as double time, or $1.44. In El Salvador, as in much of Latin America, workers can receive a “7th Day” attendance bonus. If they do not miss a day and are not late, the workers will be paid the minimum wage for eight hours a day, seven days a week.Garment Workers’ Wages in El Salvador(Including 7th Day Attendance Bonus)72 cents an hour (base wage) / 92 cents an hour with Attendance Bonus$5.76 a day (8 hours)$40.48 a week (44 hours)$173.70 a month$2,084.40 a year Bob Sanders Reebok NFL jersey which was produced at Chi Fung and sold at Dick’s Sporting Goods. The Bob Sanders Jersey retails for 80 dollars With the attendance bonus, workers can earn 92 cents an hour. The workers also receive annual vacation pay of $26.05 and (for workers with one to three years employment) a Christmas bonus of $57.76.For the average 57 ½ hour workweek, including 13 ½ hours of mandatory overtime, the NFL workers should have been paid $59.76, not the $49.32 they received. They are being shortchanged of 18 percent of the wages legally due them.“We always knew they were cheating us,” one woman said, “We knew they weren’t paying overtime. But we don’t have any other choice. At least we are sure of earning the minimum wage, while we were hearing that a lot of maquila factories were closing. So where could we go? Many got desperate and quit—that’s true—but many of us were trapped without any alternatives.”Sometimes supervisors told the workers that they could not pay overtime because the factory did not have enough work orders and were short on money.For four years, from 2006 until September, 2009, in broad daylight, the Chi Fung factory cheated the NFL workers of their legal overtime wages.It is even worse than it seems. The legal minimum wage in El Salvador’s garment factories does not even come close to meeting basic subsistence-level needs. The highly respected independent Salvadoran non-governmental organization, Center for Consumers Defense (CDC), has found that garment workers wages meet just 23 percent of the basic subsistence needs for food, housing, health care and clothing for an average sized family (3.94 people). International Labor Organization (ILO) data also show that real wages in the export garment sector in El Salvador have actually fallen by eight percent since 2000. The workers are actually going backward. Chi Fung worker’s home The major quarter-billion dollar NFL/Reebok deal has done nothing to help its workers around the developing world to climb out of poverty.Surely the NFL and Reebok could do better than paying the workers in El Salvador just 10 cents for each $80 jersey they sew. Even if they doubled the wages, the direct labor cost to sew the NFL jerseys would still be just 20 1/2 cents, or less than 3/10ths of one percent of the jersey’s $80 retail price.Constant HarassmentSupervisors constantly shout at the workers: “You’re falling behind your target. Do you want me to call the boss?” …”You’re not here to warm your seat.” “You had better stay home if you don’t like the work here –the gates are always open to you if you don’t like it here.” It is not uncommon for women workers in the production lines to cry because of the constant pressure and abuse.Cameras are used to Spy on the WorkersCameras have been placed throughout the production area and at the entrance to the bathrooms. Management uses the cameras to intimidate the workers and to spy on them so they feel under constant pressure. The owner, Mr. Wen Ling Tsao—who is called “Don Antonio,” uses a loud speaker so that everyone can hear him chastising a worker. Watching the camera screen, if he sees a worker is taking too long to use the bathroom, he’ll shout: “Hurry up! Sit down fast. Don’t take so much time. You’re hurting production!” For the workers, it is humiliating to be embarrassed and harassed in front of the other workers. Chi Fung worker house Dirty Bathrooms and WaterThe bathrooms only receive a good cleaning and some maintenance repair before the corporate auditors schedule their visit to inspect the factory. Otherwise, the bathrooms smell bad. Some toilets are out of order and many of the stall doors are broken. With several toilets out of order, there are longer delays for the workers, who are then yelled at for taking too much time. There is no soap or towels in the bathrooms, but at the beginning of the week each worker is provided with a small roll of toilet paper, which must last the full six days.Codes of Conduct and Corporate Audits continue to FailCodes of conduct—for Reebok, Adidas and Soffee—adorn the factory walls, but they are meaningless. Management has never discussed the Codes with the workers and at any rate, they have never been implemented or enforced.Auditors from Reebok, Adidas and Soffee regularly visit the factory. According to the workers, audits take place every six months or so. The auditors spend more time and attention on the quality of the garments than on factory conditions. During the audits, production goals are drastically cut back, the pace of production slows down and there is no forced overtime. But the short reprieve is a mixed blessing since when the auditors depart, the supervisors start yelling and urge the workers to “work faster..to replace the time lost because of the auditors visit.”Before the auditors arrive, the workers are routinely threatened by managers and supervisors: “Look. If you speak badly about Chi Fung, the labels will pull their work and the factory will close. Don’t forget. Chi Fung is the one who feeds you!” Some of the threats are more direct: “You should think hard about what you are going to tell the auditors. If you speak against the factory, you are going to be fired. You will never work with us again.”Bathroom at one Chi Fung worker’s home Needless to say, given their experience, the workers put no faith or reliance in the corporate codes of conduct. They are alone.Nor do unions exist in El Salvador’s garment factories. Organizing is not allowed. There is not a single garment factory in El Salvador where the workers have a union with a collective contract. Yet, despite the routine gross violation of Salvadoran labor law and the core International Labor Organization’s worker rights standards, the NFL and other garments continue to enter the U.S. duty-free under the U.S.-Cafta Free Trade Agreement. The worker rights provisions in CAFTA are not being respected.Current Chi Fung ProductionThe NFL/Reebok jerseys were sewn for at least four years—from 2006 to 2009. It was only in September of 2009 that the NFL production stopped.* Reebok: Reebok garments are still being sewn at Chi Fung, only they are not NFL. Reebok is currently producing cotton sweatpants and sweatshirts in grey, blue and green. The sweatshirts have pockets and a zipper. (Two production lines.)* Adidas: Adidas is producing athletic shorts in blue, black, green and white. (Production on three lines.)* Soffee: Soffee is producing waterproof men’s shorts with pockets in blue and white. Soffee is also producing lingerie for women. (Soffee production on four lines.)* Fruit of the Loom: Fruit of the Loom is producing children’s t-shirts. (Production on one line).* Elderwear: Elderwear began production at Chi Fung in November 2009 and 100 new workers were hired to sew their garments. Chi Fung worker’s stove A Strange Thing HappenedWhen the NFL/Reebok production stopped (after four years) at the Chi Fung factory, in September 2009, Chi Fung began paying its workers the correct overtime premium. All overtime is still forced, but the workers are now being paid double time ($1.44) for each hour of overtime they work. Again, supervisors explain to the workers that “overtime is required because you have needs and I know the money is not enough for you.”The workers were not able to explain exactly why all of a sudden the factory had started paying overtime correctly. Perhaps one of the companies finally put pressure on Chi Fung management. Or it could be that so many of the best and fastest workers were quitting Chi Fung because they were being cheated on their overtime pay that the turnover, with new workers continually coming in, was hurting the production and the quality of Chi Fung’s work. New workers have to be trained and it takes time to bring them up to speed.At the same time that Chi Fung finally started paying the correct overtime premium, they increased factory production goals, forcing the workers to produce more in less time.What Must Be DoneAn Appeal to the NFL and ReebokThe National Labor Committee is anxious to work together with Reebok and the National Football League to improve conditions at the Chi Fung factory in El Salvador. With such well known and powerful labels sewn at Chi Fung –NFL/Reebok, Adidas, Soffee, Elderwear, Fruit of the Loom—it should be possible to combine our efforts to bring their contractor, Chi Fung, into complete compliance with El Salvador’s laws and commitments under the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement. With the right intentions and efforts, Chi Fung could be transformed from a sweatshop into a much better than average or even model plant.The worst thing Reebok, the NFL and the other labels could do would be to pull their work from the Chi Fung factory.NFL/Reebok production has been at the Chi Fung factory for years. Cutting and running would only further punish the workers, who have already suffered enough. Reebok, the NFL, Adidas and the others should keep their production in Chi Fung and use their considerable power and influence to improve factory conditions. There is not a consumer in the United States who does not believe that if the NFL and Reebok really wanted to clean up the factory, it would be done quickly and correctly. Reebok NFL Jerseys purchased in Massachusetts for $80 each.Labels match those on Reebok NFL jerseys made in the Chi Fung factory in El Salvador. White Payton Manning Reebok NFL jersey which was produced at Chi Fung and sold at Dick’s Sporting Goods. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=695 2010-02-04 00:00:00 reports February 4, 2009Women workers of the Chi Fung factory in El Salvador immediately recognized the Peyton Manning jerseys, which were purchased for $80 at Dick’s Sporting Goods stores in Indiana. The jerseys were sewn on Lines 1 and 2, in two colors, blue and white, and in all different sizes: M, L, XL, XXL.The women said they were always under a lot of pressure, racing to meet production goals, while management demanded 100% quality. The sewing operations were difficult, especially because the fabric was “delicate” and repairs could not be made.“When we were making these jerseys,” the women told us, “we didn’t even have time to go to the bathroom, nor to drink water. Sometimes we didn’t even leave for our breaks so as not to lose time and fall behind in the work. The factory is very hot, despite the fans. By afternoon we are exhausted and tired.”“We knew the shirts were expensive. But now we realize the real price is $80, it makes us angry, because it isn’t fair that they pay us such a low wage. The people [who buy these jerseys] don’t imagine everything we have to bear in the factory when we sew these shirts. With just one $80 shirt, they pay our wages for two weeks. It could be said that with the cost of a single shirt, I have to maintain my family for two weeks. The supervisors are right when they say to us that our wage is not enough to pay for a jersey if we make a mistake.” http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=696 2010-02-04 00:00:00 article Eight More Workers Burned to DeathIn Bangladesh Shipbreaking YardBy Charles Kernaghan January 11, 2010Agate / IMO: 8413461On Saturday, December 26, 2009, workers at the Rahim Steel and Shipbreaking yard were ordered to begin cutting apart the main gas tank on the Agate (IMO 8413461), an enormous oil tanker they had been breaking apart for the last month. Workers say the gas tank at the bottom of the ship was huge, about 40 feet long. Management also instructed the workers to begin cutting apart a nearby oil waste tank. Management assured the workers that the tanks were clean, meaning they were free of dangerous gas, gas vapors and oil residue.Approximately 50 workers were on board the ship, mostly “cutters”—workers who use blow torches to cut the metal into pieces—and their young helpers.One of the workers who was injured, Mr. Noor Alam, told us that between 15 and 18 workers climbed on top of the tanks and began using their blow torches to cut through the metal.The workers had been lied to. The gas and oil tanks had not been cleaned. Around 10 a.m., cutters working near the middle of the gas tank broke through the metal, and sparks from their torches showered down into the tank. There was a huge explosion that could be heard for miles, engulfing the workers in flames, which shot for 50 feet above the ship. They were trapped in an inferno. The fire was so intense it burned out of control for seven or eight hours. Nurul Islam Mintu, 35 years old.—died of burns, December 30, 2009 Nurul Islam Mintu, 35 years old.—died of burns, December 30, 2009 Seven workers were burned to death, and an eighth worker is still missing and presumed dead. At least a dozen were injured, many seriously burned. Seven Workers Killed,One Missing and presumed deadFour workers were killed immediately in the explosion:1.) Mr. M. Salim Reza, 25 years old 2.) Mr. Rana Babu, 22 years old 3.) Mr. Rabiul Mondol, 22 years old 4.) Mr. Shohorab, 35 years old 5.) Mr. Rais Uddin, 55 years old (Died later than same day) 6.) Mr. Nurul Mintu, 35 years old (Died Wednesday, December 30 at 8:00 p.m. Suffered severe burns on his face, eyes and chest.) 7.) Mr. Abu Raihar, 22 years old (Died Thursday, December 31 at 7:15 p.m. Suffered burns over 80 percent of his body.) 8.) Mr. Abul Kalam (Missing since the explosion and presumed dead.)* At least a dozen workers were injured, many of them seriously burned. One of the injured workers, Mr. Noor Alam, an experienced cutter who had worked at the Rahim Steel and Shipbreaking yard for seven years, told us the following.“We were cutting the ship for one month. It was in the lower part of the ship. We had no idea that flammable gas and oil were still inside the tanks. We thought the tanks had been cleaned.“It was the main gas tank in the ship. Its size was huge. I was to cut one side of the tank. Other workers also started cutting the tank. After some time the tank exploded with a tremendous bang and the tank burst into flames. I was knocked out and don’t know what happened afterward. When I came to, I was in the hospital. You can see my face is burned.“Allah has saved me from death. I will never work in a shipbreaking yard again.”Another group of Rahim Steel and Shipbreaking yard workers told us:“We saw it from the shipyard. It was around 10 a.m. The cutter men were cutting the gas and oil tanks. A fire broke out near the gas tank causing a massive explosion. The ship was engulfed in flames in no time. The fire burned so strongly that it could be seen from a great distance away. Everyone was terrified. We saw the fire and the workers were jumping from the ship. Some workers who had relatives or friends on the ship ran to try to save those injured.“We are terrified now, because workers died in front of us. It is very frightening.“Many workers have gone back to their homes, as work is now stopped. The relatives of the dead workers have their dead bodies. [The yard was closed for a few days and is now back in full operation.] Mr. Noor Alam, burn victim Lutfar, burn victim Lutfur Rahman, burn victimNo ambulances arrived to take the dead and injured workers to the hospital. Rather, two company vans were used to transport the most seriously burned workers. It took over an hour for the workers to arrive at the hospital. The lack of ambulances and immediate medical care may have contributed to an increased loss of life.The injured workers were taken to the Chittagong Medical College Hospital and to the Sitakunda Health Complex. Only after three days were the most critically burned workers transferred to the burn unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, which is where Mr. Nurul Mintu and Mr. Abu Raihar died.The workers heard that management had given the dead workers’ families 10,000 taka ($145) and that after the death certificates are signed the families may receive some further compensation from the company. Sadam Hossain Sadam –22 year-old burn victimLabor Laws Grossly Violated in Broad DaylightAt the Rahim Steel and Shipbreaking yard, the approximately 350 workers were paid just 22 to 32 ½ cents an hour and $2.62 to $3.63 a day, working 11 to 12 hour shifts, doing one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Many workers report working 30 days a month.“We work 30 days a month,” one worker said. “We aren’t millionaires. We have to pay house rent, to spend money purchasing food, to send money home to our families…” It is only when workers are sick, injured or exhausted that they will take three to four days off a month.The workers have no work contracts, are paid no overtime premium, have no health or safety protections, no medical care and no holidays. The shipbreaking workers have no rights whatsoever. Three to four workers share each primitive dorm room.Some of the workers are just 14 or 15 years old.“If workers are injured with some accidents during work, the owner doesn’t provide medical treatment. The other workers contribute together to pay for medical treatment of the injured worker. But the owner should have provided this for his workers.” [Management only provides minimum care when workers are killed or critically burned in explosions or when workers are crushed by falling metal sheets.]“This company doesn’t supply anything. They give only gloves, and then shout, ‘how do your gloves tear so soon?’ On the other hand, our shirts are burned up and we have to buy other shirts. The company doesn’t give helmets or boots. I myself purchased a pair of boots that cost 600 taka.” [600 taka = $8.72, the equivalent of three days’ wages. The workers are not provided welder’s vests so they must wear two shirts in hopes that the sparks will not burn through to their skin.]The workers at the Rahim Steel and Shipbreaking yard have no hope that there will be any improvements. Workers will continue to be abused, cheated, injured and killed. Nazrul, burn victim Criminal Neglect The owner of the Rahim Steel and Shipbreaking Yard is a very powerful and wealthy business man, Mr. Haji Abdur Rahim. The Rahim Group controls six companies and describes its group as the “largest modern industrial steel complex in the country.” It was one of Mr. Haji Abdur Rahim’s’s companies, the Diamond Steel Products Co (Pvt.) Limited that purchased the Agate oil tanker from its owner Bestrank for scrapping to supply steel to the Rahim Group of factories. The Agate was build by Sasbo Heavy Industries in 1985 and may have initially sailed under a Japanese flag. However, by October 2006, the Agate carried a Singapore flag. A company called World Tankers Management PTE, with the same Singapore address as Bestrank, managed the Agate. Masud—21 year-old burn victim The Rahim Group says that their company has received technical collaboration from Tata Steel of India and Florida Steel of the United States. It is clear that both Rahim Group and the Singapore-based Bestrank and World Tankers Management PTE should share responsibility for the tragic, easily-avoidable killing of eight workers and the serious injury of over a dozen others. Bestrank and World Tankers Management PTE sold the Agate oil tanker to the Rahim Group with flammable gas, gas vapors and oil residues remaining in its tanks.According to a Daily Star front page article by Pinaki Roy on January 11, 2010, the Rahim Group was warned twice—on October 10 and 19—by the Bangladeshi Government’s chief inspector of the Department of Explosives, Mr. Kahairul Bashar, that at least six tanks on the Agate were “not free from dangerous gas vapors.” The Department of Explosives was very clear that it was not safe for any workers to be near the tanks until they were properly cleaned and flushed out. Agate / IMO: 8413461 Agate / IMO: 8413461It was another Bangladeshi company, JF (Bangladesh Ltd.), which is incorporated in the United Kingdom, that requested that the Department of Explosives check the Agate’s tanks.Following the explosion, the Rahim Steel and Shipbreaking yard manager, Mr. Abus Selim, claimed that the Agate’s tanks had been cleared before the dismantling of the Agate began. It seems clear, given the magnitude of the explosion, that the Agate’s tanks were not cleaned, and if they were, the work was shoddy and incomplete.On December 29, police inspector M. Azam Khan filed charges against six people connected to the explosion of the Agate, including a managing director of Rahim Steel and Shibreaking Yard, a Mr. Ishrafil Alam.However, to date there has been no serious attempt to bring these people in for questioning.More hopeful are two recent breakthroughs. On November 9, 2009, the high court of Bangladesh’s Supreme Court ordered the government to take steps to guarantee that the country’s labor code will be enforced in the shipbreaking yards. As things stand now, the shipbreaking workers have zero rights.Then on January 2, 2010, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina Wazed, emotionally moved by the needless loss of life on the Agate, announced that her government will finally formulate a policy to regulate the shipbreaking industry. However, labor leaders and knowledgeable labor rights activists in Bangladesh feel it will still be many years—if ever—before the powerful shipbreaking yard owners are held accountable under Bangladesh Labor Law. The only certainty, without labor law enforcement, is that Bangladesh’s shipbreaking workers will continue to be maimed, killed, denied their basic legal rights and cheated of their wages for many years to come.International solidarity is desperately needed.In 2009, 36 shipbreaking workers were needlessly killed due to the criminal absence of even the most rudimentary health and safety standards and labor law enforcement. This means that on average a shipyard worker is killed every other week. (The 25 deaths in 2009 include one workers who is still missing and presumed dead.) http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=693 2010-01-28 00:00:00 article “Everyone comes to work sick”December 16, 20091.) This woman worked full time in the deli section of a Wal-Mart supercenter in Pennsylvania. Every Wal-Mart worker we spoke with begged us not to mention their name or even their store’s location for fear of retaliation, including possibly being fired.“Everyone comes to work sick,” she told us—including associates handling food. In the deli section, “plenty of girls come coughing their brains out, but can’t go home because of points.” It is only “if you are coughing too loudly that they will switch you to another department.” She herself was working sick in the deli section, until she was hospitalized for a week in early 2009 for having pneumonia. “Since you can’t take days off,” she told us, her cough had just gotten worse, going deeper into her lungs. “You can’t stay home, and God forbid if you have to leave early.” For having pneumonia and being hospitalized, she received a demerit, lost eight hours wages, and was required to take a leave of absence. In the deli section, it was difficult, because she was working in a “hot area”—fryer, oven, hot case—while also having to go in and out of a freezer to get meat. “Everyone is sweating and your hair is all wet, but we can’t use fans because of the dust.”This woman’s ten-year-old step daughter spends every other weekend with her. The child has cerebral palsy and suffers from seizures. Under Wal-Mart’s new “Open Availability” policy, management is demanding that all associates be available 24-7. This woman’s hours and days off were changed. Instead of having the weekend off to be with her stepdaughter, she now has Monday and Thursday off. “They want you to live for Wal-Mart,” she said. “A flood of people would leave Wal-Mart if they could find other work. Fear and need will keep things the way they are.” 2.) This woman also worked for Wal-Mart. She is among the Wal-Mart workers the National Labor Committee is speaking with in Pennsylvania, Florida, Idaho, New York and Texas.A few months ago her two-and-a-half year old son fell off a bed while playing and bit his tongue. He was bleeding from the mouth and she raced him to the emergency room. Fortunately, the doctor said the child would not need stitches and that the cut should heal itself. Still, her son was badly shaken up and crying. She knew he just wanted to be with her. She knew she could not leave him. He was so young and traumatized. She stayed home and had to take a demerit and the loss of eight hours’ wages. “It makes you feel horrible,” she said. “Wal-Mart puts you in the position where you are supposed to put your job ahead of your children.”When she was near the end of her pregnancy and her son was three days late, she worked right up to the time of his birth because she has already been “written up” for four absences and was afraid she would be terminated if the took more time off.She also told us of an associate who received a point for attending his son’s birth.When her older son, who was five, was sent home from his pre-school with a fever, her 14-year-old sister had to babysit with him. Everyone had to pitch in—her sister, her father, an uncle—because she was unable to take more demerits or the loss of wages. For attending a school meeting and arriving a few minutes late to work, she had already received a third of a point and lost wages.Like everyone else, she also went to work sick. Unable to take any more demerits or afford more loss of wages. It is no secret that Wal-Mart employees survive from paycheck to paycheck. The loss of eight hours’ wages, nearly $80, is something they cannot afford. She had strep throat, but could not take time off to care for herself. The infection spread to other parts of her body and she became so dehydrated she passed out. She was taken to the hospital where she received fluids. She was out three days, which cost her a demerit and the loss of a day’s wages.When we asked her if food handlers in her Wal-Mart store also came in sick, she replied yes. In fact, at the very time we were speaking with her, a man in the meat department had “pink eye” –conjunctivitis—which is extremely contagious, and another worker had the flu.3.) We asked a senior Wal-Mart employee in New York State if there had been any improvements regarding sick leave policy in her Wal-Mart discount store following the Good Morning America story on ABC. The store manager did hold a meeting, she said, saying that “everyone must be careful and wash their hands using bacterial wash. But nothing was said about not coming in to work and staying home if you have the flu.”Our contact told us of a young woman in the Lawn & Garden department who was having a difficult pregnancy and asked her supervisor to be assigned to lighter duty. But she was turned down. The supervisor said there was no light duty work available in the store. Her job as an inventory control specialist required a lot of bending, lifting, stocking shelves and pulling heavy pallets. The pregnant woman was often sick and was warned about her attendance. Wal-Mart management suggested she take an unpaid leave of absence, since they would not support her receiving Disability pay.There are some supervisors who are “like bullies who like to intimidate workers.”4.) “Wal-Mart’s policy [on the flu] has not changed, and they have not said a word to anyone,” a very smart young Wal-Mart worker recently told us. “No one knows of any change…and everyone continues coming to work, even if they are really sick.” She herself had the flu in late October, only taking off when she was so tired and sore she could barely move. She was in bed for three days, received a demerit and lost a day’s wages (despite having accrued sick leave). “Everyone is coming to work sick, some with the flu.”One young woman, seven months pregnant and having a difficult time, must see her doctor every two weeks. Every time she arrives at work late from her doctor’s appointment, even if it is less than twenty minutes, she receives a third of a point. Right now, this has built up to about three demerit points. Oddly enough, technically, workers are not allowed to know how many points they have. It’s not posted anywhere, and the only way you can find out is to ask an assistant manager. This pregnant woman lives in fear, as other workers do. If you accumulate four demerits in any six-month period, you will receive a “verbal coaching” or a “written coaching.” One additional demerit means you cannot be promoted to a better job, or move up to full-time status if you work part-time. In mid-November, this pregnant woman had to drag herself to work. She looked terrible, but could not take any more points. She spent the first two hours at work throwing up, until she could not take it any more and went home. Even through she was at work two hours, she received a full demerit and lost six hours’ wages.Part-time workers do not accumulate any sick leave time. It is only after two years that part time workers can begin to accrue vacation and personal time. Over the course of a full year, part-time workers can build up to just 28 to 32 hours paid vacation hours and 12 hours of personal time.Our source told us that morale is very low at her store and “pretty much everyone hates their jobs.” With all the recent staff cutbacks, shoppers are waiting longer for service and getting upset, “yelling at us all the time, screaming and cursing at us.” Asked what she thinks of Wal-Mart’s family-oriented ads during the holidays, she responded, “It’s a lot of Bull. Wal-Mart is the least family-oriented workplace I have ever worked at in my life. They don’t care.”5.) Another young woman who has worked full time for two years at her Wal-Mart store told us: “Absolutely everyone comes in sick…a while ago a CSM [customer service manager] came in so sick she was vomiting on the bathroom floor. She couldn’t afford not to come in.” She told us of another associate who had tonsillitis. The woman’s throat was swollen and she had a fever of 104. Her doctor told her that she would be very contagious for the next 24 hours after taking her prescription and should stay home. When she returned to work and tried to show her doctor’s note to her supervisor, the supervisor told her, “You can keep that. We don’t need it.” The sick woman received a demerit and lost eight hours’ wages.The young woman we spoke with was herself very scared. She is pregnant and will give birth in April. A recent sonogram showed what could be an abnormal mass near the infant’s kidney. Her doctors advised her to go to a hospital in a nearby city, where she could get a more detailed sonogram and medical opinion. At Wal-Mart a worker needing a day off must apply four weeks in advance, no matter what the emergency. She is waiting to hear if management will grant her the day off, or if she will have to take a demerit and lose her wages.6.) Nampa, Idaho Supercenter Violates Wal-Mart’s Policy--Tricia worked 3 ½ years at Wal-Mart, before being fired for having H1N1 fluTricia worked full time as a cashier at the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Nampa, Idaho. She accommodated Wal-Mart, and never complained that she worked different shifts nearly every day and also worked on weekends, when the store was busiest. Some days she worked from 5:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., while on other days her nine-hour shift was from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Her days off were Thursday and Friday. When she started out at Wal-Mart in early 2006, she earned a little over $6.50 an hour. Three and a half years later, she was earning $9.20.In all those years, Tricia had no problems with management. She liked her job and was good at it, as her yearly wage increases showed.Nor was Tricia sickly or prone to taking sick days. In fact, she was in good shape, walking four miles each day, two miles to the Wal-Mart and two miles back.The second week of October, 2009, the flu hit the Nampa Wal-Mart Supercenter with a vengeance. Lots of workers had routinely been coming to work sick, because they could afford neither the demerit nor the loss of eight hours’ wages. However, by Saturday, October 11, more then two dozen workers were so ill that they could not possibly drag themselves to work. Seventeen workers called in sick on Saturday, and nine others had to do the same on Sunday, October 12. One can only imagine how many shoppers were exposed to the H1N1 virus, which had reached epidemic levels in 48 states.Up to that point, store management had not held a single meeting with its employees to discuss precautions and preparations to deal with the H1N1 virus or seasonal flu. Nor was anyone advised to stay home if they experienced flu-like symptoms. In fact, it was not until October 18, after the flue had already broken out in the store, that management started distributing hand sanitizer.Tricia came down with the flu on Wednesday, October 14, right after the first outbreak hit the store. She called in sick, as she was exhausted and queasy with flu-like symptoms and did not want to spread the flu to other workers and customers. She took a demerit and lost eight hours’ wages. Thursday and Friday were her days off and she remained in bed, but was unable to shake the flu. She called in sick again and stayed out on Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18. She took another point and again lost a day’s wages. Feeling a little better, Tricia returned to work on Monday, October 19. But by 7:00 p.m. that night she was in an emergency room receiving oxygen and fluids. Her husband and mother-in-law drove her to the hospital when they saw the color was completely washed out of her face. She was so weak and tired she could barely walk. She spent six hours in the emergency room, where the doctor wrote a note prescribing that she remain in bed for four or five days until she could finally shake the flu. During that time, she was too weak to even stand in the shower and needed help sitting down for a sponge bath. She was out Tuesday and Wednesday, October 20 and 21 and took a third point, along with the loss of another eight hours’ wages.As Tricia already had three points –one for staying home to take care of her mother who had had double pneumonia—before being infected with the flu, the three flu demerits put her over the top. With six points, she faced a disciplinary action known at Wal-Mart as a “Decision Day”—or “D-Day.” During a D-Day, the worker is required to write an essay on why they like working at Wal-Mart, why they should keep their job, and how they will improve in the future. Based on what she writes, a worker is then either terminated or allowed to continue working. But even those who pass their D-Day test –as Tricia did—are placed on probation for a full year, during which time they can be fired for the slightest infraction. This is exactly what happened to Tricia. On November 2, while she was working on cash register #21 at the cigarette counter, a customer asked her to watch his cart so he could go to look for a few items he had forgotten. Tricia responded, certainly not in a nasty or aggressive manner, that she could not “babysit” his cart. What she meant to say was that she had other customers to serve, and in any spare moment, she had to restock the cigarette counter shelves, which meant she would have to turn her back on the man’s cart. One could easily imagine the response of her supervisor had she seen Tricia standing around doing nothing.The man complained to management about Tricia’s behavior and –despite the fact that other than having the flu she had had no problems with her supervisors over the last three and a half years—Tricia was fired.The workers at the Nampa Wal-Mart Supercenter have an expression. They call it “cleaning out,” when management fires workers for the least thing –perhaps because store traffic is slow, or to get rid of more expensive full time workers in order to hire cheaper part-timers.There would never have been a Decision Day, had Tricia not gotten three points due to a severe case of flu, which means that if she had not been punished for having the flu, she would not have been fired.A Wal-Mart spokeswoman appearing on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Friday, November 6, said that Wal-Mart will not fire any worker for having swine flu.Wal-Mart should immediately re-instate Tricia and the hundreds –perhaps even thousands—of other Wal-Mart “associates” who have also been terminated in large measure due to having come down with swine flu. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=687 2009-12-16 00:00:00 article Wal-Mart Workers Speak OutWalmart better step up on this. Other companies look to them to see how they handle situations. The government has to put some guidelines out there for companies to follow. I was off 2 1/2 days a week ago when my daughter got it, then my son and then me. I got written up and I am in danger of losing my job. These 2 1/2 days brings my total for the past twelve months up to 5 days. And yes, only 5 days in 12 months, not a lot for a single mom to 2 small children, but my company doesnt think so. Now what happens if I get a call from school that one of my kids is running a fever and I have to pick them up? I will lose my job!! My kids or my job??? How can companies put a parent in that position? And we are only in November? Flu gets worse in December, January and February? What I did find out after talking to my HR Dept was that if you are out for 3 days for one illness, for yourself or a child, that can go under FMLA. But you have to call HR and tell them you want it as FMLA. So, everyone when you or your kids are home sick, take them to the Dr., get a note, get medication and call in sick for 3 days and call your HR Dept and say you want it to go to FMLA. Hopefully, that will keep your job safe. Im not sure if that applies to everyone, but its worth a shot. I missed it by 1/2 day, so Im still in danger. I just want to share what Ive learned and maybe it will help some one else. Good luck everyone and try to stay healthy. And come on government, help us out, please! We all need our jobs, but we have to take care of our kids and our selves and we are trying and do what we are told, stop the spread.I know that when my little girl was sick with the H1N1 flu, we took off 10 day from what the Doctor had ordered. WalMart does not allow time off for the flu, it does not get approve for LOA [leave of absence]. I even told them that the Doctor told her to stay at home. I told them that she is 4 years old and could not stay at home by herself. It seems that if you have a sick child then you are more then likely going to get a coaching or even a D-Day. My son took time off to take care of his daughter, who has a small heart condition, and was fired from Wal-Mart for taking her to the doctor. His wife worked at Wal-Mart too and they were sharing the responsibility so they both wouldnt mark up the demerits. I also was in line to pick up medication at the Wal-Mart pharmacy and was appalled with a woman who had just finished her shift and was picking up medication for the Swine flu. She was telling the cashier that she was glad she had a great doctor who would call in the medication because she was told if she didnt show up for her shift today she didnt need to show up at all from her manager. When she was walking away from the counter, coughing, she told her co-worker shed see him tomorrow. So Wal-Mart can say what they want as far as supporting the employee and the customer in these situations, it is all hype and circumstance.…Finally someone is listening.I have been a Wal-mart associate for 10 years .If you have to leave before your shift is over to pick up a sick child it is held against you. You can have a doctors note saying you were sick and it is still held against you. I have 192 hours of sick time that I have earned I am afraid to use it if I need it. The policy changed a few years back before then you could use sick time for you .your kids or a sick spouse. Now you are scared to because it will beheld against you and your yearly e-val. Then you may not get your 50 cent raise a year.Wal-Mart use to be a great company when Sam Walton was around he truly cared about his people and the customers.Now all they care about is how much money they can make .Shoot they have even gone to hiring folks in only as part time so they dont have to give them benefits. Now they are even taking full time associates and making them step down from their positions taking money and their benefits because they are code as part time. . Good morning America should dig some more.There are so many associates that would speak up but are afraid to because of retaliation. Wal-Mart says there wont be but there always is in one way or another.G.A.B.I am an associate for wal-mart and have been for 15 years...I am so glad someone finally spoke up if the EEOC or the Equity Committee were to look into wal-mart maybe they would start treating the associates like human beings..it is very true there are some who may abuse fridays but that is not as popular any more..it is true that they say a doctors note does not excuse you...there have been associates taken out of work by paramedics and they have counted that time against them...another an assoc had been sick for a month asked to leave work they said wait lets check your attendance that assoc ended in the hospital..it is also true you can miss up to three days even with a doctors note for more time you have to take a leave and hope your job is there or hope the time is approved by wal-mart...what is the world coming to when a person can not take time to heal without having to worry about your job...and the end results is that person may never heal or something drastic occurs...wal-mart should really be investigated...and yes every job should have an attendance policy but not one that could be a threat to you or your familyI have been with Wal-Mart for 7 yrs and I agree the policy is a little strict. Im a single parent and last week the school nurse called for me to pick up my son, I punched back in from lunch a half hour before the nurse called. I had to wait until I worked a over 5 1/2 hrs before I left so that I would only get 1/3 of a point instead of a whole. You have to work 5hrs and 31 mins, which they call half your shift, I didnt know I worked 11hr shifts. Last I knew it was an 8hr shift. But anyways I ended up with a 1/3 of a point. So far this school year I have had to pick up my son from school 3 times, so what am I supposed to do If I end up sick?? now I end up with two points. so if I have this problem with one child, what happens to the parents with 2/3 kids and the schools calling like crazy. They say well you can fill out FMLA, well what if you have no insurance to go see a doctor. What do you do then? your screwed and who cares right? I just dont think Wal-Mart is thinking about how serious the schools are taking this. When they call you to come get your kid, I shouldnt have to wait a half hour to go get him thats BS. I love my job and what I do but come on....I am a Walmart employee. I dont know if this is for all stores, but in my store they do not accept doctors notes as excused absences. There were 2 separate occasions that I was very sick with a high fever. I didnt have medical coverage at the time and went to the ER. The first time I had a severe case of strep throat. The second I had a bacterial infection. My store did not accept the hospital notes as excused absences because I wasnt admitted over night. Most recently I missed 2 days in a row because I had severe pain in my jaw. Had to go to Camcare in Camden, because I dont have medical coverage, and get one of my wisdom teeth pulled. Another was infected and my jaw swelled up. That was not excused either. I now have been given a D-day. Which means I take a day off to decide why I want to keep my job and write them a letter stating it. Today is my D-day. Also, there was an incident in my store where 2 female customers purses were stolen while they were shopping. I had JUST clocked out and walked outside to meet my father who was waiting to take me home. My father and I ended up helping the police catch the thieves. I got a letter being summonsed to court about 2 weeks ago, for the following week. I put in for a personal day to go to court, so I could still get paid, and it was DENIED. I was told it was denied because "the schedule was already up and court is not an all day thing". I dont think thats fair at all. Its not my fault I received the letter one week before the court date.I am also an employee of walmart. I live in a military town, where you have to battle for a job in the first place.But, also a place where because so many people come in and out of this town sicknesss fly around quick.My walmart has had 2 or 3 employees have kids that caught h1n1!!i have a child a sick mother and myself.and walmarts policies dont help or have concern for anyone except the higher ups.Ast. manager and up.Of your sick you cringe at calling out because youll get coached, or get a d-day..or even better lose your job. Example, my bf also used to work for walmart as a cart pusher, he worked in the cold rain for 9 hours and asked his manager " hey if i get sick from this and have to call out will i get in trouble?" the manager then said "of course, its walmart."..My mother was in the hospital literally almost dying and i got coached.I am currently looking for a new job, i will not fear the consequence of being sick or my child being any longer... p.s. this is the short version.WalMart has always claimed to be a "family oriented" company. Well, of course they are, as long as the family is WalMart. I worked for WalMart for several years. I had a good working and attendance record throughout the years...then...my fifteen year old daughter was diagnosed with brain tumors. Of course, my concern was my child, NOT my job. They actually tried to fire me for taking time off from work to be with my daughter during her surgery and her stay in the hospital, which was in another state, entirely. I fought and won, and did not lose my job...but...I quit 3 weeks later. I would rather be unemployed than work for a company who asks us to put our children and families AFTER WalMart.Unfortunately, I too, am a cashier for Wal-Mart. Ive been complaining about Wal-Marts sick policy for sooo long. One day, I had pink eye. I called in to the manager asking if it was appropriate to come to work since it is very contagious and I come into contact with people every second. The manager said that it was up to my discretion...so, not wanting to lose my job, I went in. Of course, I had to let a few coworkers know that I was infected. Word spread and the other manager came up to me, telling me to go home, visit the doctor, and be put on medication. So, off I went to the doctor. The doctor said that I should not go to work the next day because I needed to have the medication in my system for at least 24 hours, so obviously, I listened to the doctor. He gives me a medical excuse note. The day after that, I go back to work and my excuse not is worthless. Im not excused because I have to be out more than 3 days!! Can you believe that?? A medical excuse note from a PROFESSIONAL is not valid at Wal-Mart. So now, if I miss another day, I will be written up because I missed more days than Im allowed. Hopefully, I wont be complaining about Wal-Mart anymore, soon.WalMart has the WORST sick-vacation policy on earth...My daughter got a bad report at her yearly review because she had a miscarriage and was hospitalized when she was scheduled to work!! When her review came up, sher lost her raise and her ability ot move up in another department because of this...UNFAIR!!OK what happens if you are a single parent and have a sick child and work at walmart, your child gets sick a few times in the school year you have to stay home(no babysitter will keep them and know one else will), I worked with a single mom she had missed several times with her child and got pregnant, she stared having problems with the pregnacy had to stay off her feet after this happened a couple of times, she missed carried and had to miss some, walmarts policy for death is you get three days off for close relatives,this girl could not take these days off because baby was not full term. she ended up getting fired for missing too much. walmart sucks.If I was young I would not work for them another minuteI work for Wal Mart, and I feel they should base their coachings and demerits on each persons situation, which obviously they dont. Calling out "just because" is not an excuse, or having a hangover. Some of us have very valid medical problems, and have children who do also. I dont take random days off, and work out all appointments between my lunch hour and days off. I was penalized for taking 2 days off because I had a very high risk pregnancy and had to be airlifted to another medical center to have tests done to see if my baby was alive and going to be viable. (He was, and now is a year ;) ). 6 months later, I took 4 days off to deal with the death and discovery of my husbands body and to attend the funeral. I was told not to miss any more time or I would be sent home while a decision would be made about my continued employment. Now with all this flu going around, and a son in a school where 16% of kids have it, I am very nervous to have to miss one more day. People talk about boycotting their local Wal Mart over this but please understand. If sales in that store are down, operating and payroll expenses arent being met, so that means cutting, cutting, cutting. Cutting everyones hours is the first thing to do. Now there is a bare minimum of staff, so longer waits for customer service and at the check out. Now instead of a few people being affected, a whole store is affected. It really is a no win situation. I know other companies have similar policies, but Wal Mart likes to promote a family oriented image, but really.... I am a long term associate of walmart and my daughter works at the sane store location. Ive seen co workers get written up (including myself and my daughter who has a heart conditon) for missing work, and people getting fired for missing work (including one who missed work to attend a funeral of her child who committed suicide). True there are people who call in sick or lay out from work who abuse the policy, but wamart has gone overboard in addressing the ones who do abbuse it, penilizing the ones who dont abuse it. True they offer what most businesses dont, but they also want their employees to put walmart first before themselves and their families. The company has changed alot since sam had divided up the company to his kids and passed on.I worked for Wal-Mart and was fired because of staying out sick six times in a nine month period. My family has no insurance so I was unable to go to a doctor and get a note for work saying I was sick therefore making the absents unapproved. Its things like that that make people come into work sick, most of us cannot afford to lose our jobs in this economy. I know many places are like this but I believe the reason they singled out Wal-Mart for this story is because its a business most everyone at least knows of and the fact that they try to say they treat their employees better than most work places. Also because of the interaction with the public causing the H1N1 virus to spread more. My husband works for WalMart and has been given "points" for being out sick, even when he turned in a doctors note. Also, the policy at the WalMart he works at is that if you are out 1 day sick, you can NOT use sick time. You can only use sick time if you are out 2 days. And then you can only use 1 day, so either way you lose that first day. Stupid rule in my opinion! My husband has approximately 2 weeks of sick time accrued that he cant use even if he needed to without being penalized.I work at walmart as well. A Doctors statement means nothing there. FMLA can be in place if you are going to be off more than three days. BUT, it is up to the discretion of the store manager whether it is approved or not. You cannot use sick time until you miss eight hours, you are expected to use your own vacation or personal time. Also, they changed the policy on FMLA after I had to use it, you have to be employed there a year before you can take FMLA.I will not go in sick no matter what they tell me, that decision is mine. If I get in trouble for it, Ill fight them tooth and nail.Either way, there is no excused absence at walmart for anything. You accrue absences and if you go over the limit, disciplinary action will be taken.Everything you said about walmart is true, I have worked there almost 3 yrs and the sick policy isnt right. If you are higher up,(asst, or manager) or even if you are well liked you dont get points. All the cashiers try the best we can, going day after day sick, but worried we are going to lose our job or get a coaching, and with a coaching you can advance in the company it counts against you for a year. Thank you for bringing this story out however I really dont think the will change anything, its a shame because I really think if Sam Walton was alive, he wont be so uncaring.Thanks againwalmart says they model their absence policy after the State workers policy (in whatever state they are in). what i dont understand is why they let you accrue sick pay days and then pretty much forbid you to use them. people at the walmart where i work are sick all the time. they get sickness from each other and from the public. i just get so amazed at the people who come in there sick or with sick kids. and i dont see a lot of employees staying out of work just for the heck of it. most people who work at walmart are people who are supporting a family. they cant afford to stay home just because they want to. i honestly dont see this much at the walmart where i work. i do see it some in the younger kids...ones who dont have to pay their own car payments and are just working for spending money. but honestly-almost all of the older ones who have families show up to work.....and if you work at walmart you work. which is fine. i always believe in doing the best job i can. and i find that most of the people i work with (most not all) feel the same way. but they are definitely not for their associates...they will tell you in a heartbeat that if you collected your last paycheck walmart doesnt owe you a thing..if you worked there 1 year or 25 years...that is how they feel. i know a lot of corporations are like this but that doesnt make it right. if it wasnt for the dedicated workers there wouldnt be a successful business. and that is the truth. walmart has a lot of dedicated workers-but walmart sure isnt dedicated to their workers-they are dedicated to that bottom line...money....thats it.I am a long term associate of Wal-Mart and I totally agree. I cant afford to miss work in the first place. I have no vacation time and I cant afford to support my family if my check is short over $100 from one day of work. If we call in to work, management gives us a hard time about it. They are very nonunderstanding. To beat all, Im a cashier. Sooooooo many disrespectful people come into our store, through our checkouts, hacking and sneezing. Their kids do it and they just laugh when they dont cover their mouths. I want to slap the general public. Teach your kids some manners and follow some yourself, and H1N1 wouldnt be spreading at near the rate that it is. Wal-Marts policy is to blame, A LOT, but more importantly is the general public. If you dont have manners enough to cover your mouth when you cough and use some hand sanitizer, STAY HOME!!Just to be clear, Wal-Marts policy gives you a point even if you have a doctors note. So if you have h1n1 and get a doctors note to be out 5 days you get 5 points, period. That is enough for a written coaching, which puts you two points away from AUTOMATIC TERMINATION. That means if you already were out 2 days in the previous six months and get h1n1 you either go to work and spread it around to hundreds of employees and thousands of customers or you can get fired. Those are facts, theyre right in the handbook for those of you who can read.I know a guy, Jon T in electronics, @ Wal-Mart w/ swine flu because he HAS to work! WM doesnt care about their employees.As a former Wal-Mart employee who was discharged due to illness related absences, I think that Wal- Mart policy is there to protect them not the employee or the consumer. I had an FMLA and Dr prescribed time off work due to Neurological Problems. The store manager is the one who assisted me in filling out the FMLA paperwork, which was signed by the Dr and approved by Wal-Mart. There reason for terminating me?? " They went back and counted the days that I missed while the FMLA paperwork was being processed by them. I was not using sick pay or personal days, I was not being paid vacation for the time I was off. I was not earning or costing Wal-Mart any money off the bottom line. They simply do not want to deal with employee illness! They Terminate You! ........... The Indiana Unemployment Office determined that I was terminated without cause and suggested that I file charges against them due to FMLA and EEOC. I attempted to do so but there was not enough EVIDENCE according to either agency... Thank you so much for laws to protect the common person!! I am a Walmart Employee in the state of Oklahoma and I would like to say that yes you do gain the sick leave, vacation and personal time from Walmart but you are penalized if you use it with the point system that is now in place. You have to take a leave of absence in order to not receive points and if you dont go on a leave of absence you get a point for each day you are out of work and you will be fired after accruing 5 points. By forcing people to go out on a leave of absence it stops anytime you would accrue for sick, personal or vacation leave. Plus it affects your bonus and vesting in the company. Your managers give you a hard time and even tho they say it does not count against you it does, and in the particular store that I work in there are no preventive measures taken to stop the transferring of colds, flu, etc. No sanitizing measures are in place for the prevention of the spread of the common cold much less the H1N1. I have been with Walmart 13 years and I see that all Walmart cares about is the dollar and not the associates or the public. Thank you for looking into this matter because it has needed to be done for a longtime. Walmart puts on a good face to the public but they look at their employees like ( they come a dime a dozen). Sick in OklahomaI too work for Walmart. I am a part-time employee and feel that Walmart is very strict about sick leave. I do not receive any benefits from Walmart, which is the case for many Walmart employees. When I have to call in sick, I am already "penalized" because I do not receive the pay that is the reason for working in the first place. On the few occasions that I have had to call in sick, it was demeaning to have to explain over and over why I couldnt come in. I felt so GUILTY for not being able to come in. I have custody of my grandchild, and no family locally to help me. When she was sick, I was asked to find a friend or neighbor to care for her since I could not miss any more days without risking my job. Our children need their family not a neighbor or friend taking care of them when they are sick. I have a primary job working for a non-profit organization, in which I have benefits. I maxed out my sick leave with 240 hours a couple of years ago and carryover the max each year. I believe that is a testament to my work ethic. And yet, I am made to feel chastised for being sick when I cannot go to work at Walmart. I would like to see Walmart CARE more for their employees and understand that they reap what they sow. what wasnt said at all is that part time asst. dont get sick leave at all!! if i call in sick i dont get paid. EVER!!! and i work 5 days a week, i just happen to work 4 hour shifts.i think Wal -mart really does need to rethink the policies!! Wal-mart is supposed to set the standard for the rest of the big retailers that make billions!What I think hasnt been touched on is all the part time associates. I work 29 hours a week, but Im there 5 days a week. I dont qualify for sick pay!! So when I need to call in I have to bite the bullet and not get paid at all. And if you ask around youll find people are getting fired for missing too many days, on the other hand a few people miss weeks of work and arent fired. It seems to us to be inconsistent. I just hope this brings them to change policy…ALL employees at any store should be afraid , because policy is dictated to store mgrs. and they love it,because WALMART likes to have associates living fear. If someone was to take a closer look you wouldn,t believe what really goes on. Only the associates who did and are currently working could make the hair standup on the back of ones neck. All one has to do is look at store 2139 and to know excatly what everybody is commenting about. REMEMBER ASSOCIATES ITS COMPANY POLICY AND YOU WILL OBEY AT ANY COST....Walmart is the most unethical company there is in the world. They care about the almighty buck only. They dont care about their employees. Their way of thinking is there is always somebody to take your place. Thats true. My daughter gave them almost 20 years of dedicated service and they found an excuse to fire her. She got 4 weeks paid vacation plus profit sharing and all kinds of benefits. Walmart is known for getting rid of the full-time people because of the benefits and it stands true. The woman that GMA interviewed danced around the policy really well. Obviously she was prepped really good. Its a shame that someone doesnt run an investigation that would show how Walmart truly runs. They are the lowest.I actually know a former Wal-Mart Employee that was FIRED for needing surgery...This employee had asked MONTHS in advance to have two weeks off for "recovery" it was a surgery on this persons stomach and the doctor wanted 6 weeks off...they said NO you cant have two weeks,,,this employee tried just calling in sick for the two weeks and they FIRED HIM! and just an FYI MOST OF THE Wal-Mart employees are PART TIME! so they dont get ANY SICK LEAVE at all! they dont qualify for FMLA or anything...They hire LOTS of PART TIME employees and will ocassionally give them full time hours during busy seasons and then CUT their hours on off seasons so they dont qualify for any type of "safe guard" like FMLA...NICE COMPANY! NOT!Wal-Mart is spreading so many lies. My wife has been working for them for over fifteen years and if she gets sick she has to miss a full day of work before she can even as k to use sick leave time.Walmart is a good place to shop at,but and i do say but they are not a very good company to work for if you have a family. or if the employee has a medical condition, or develops one. i have several family members that work at Walmart.and i have several coworkers that their family work for walmart. some have gotten fired behind that attendance policy, and others have quit. 2 people that i know of, got reprimanded due to 1 having to have surgery, that she had no control over.she was out of work for 6 wks,even though she had a DRs excuse she was punished for these absents, yes she had a job to go back to but her hours and Dept was changed and she got the D day that meant that she could not have any call ins for 1 year. the other employee that i know of got fired because of her attendance because her 5 year old son has asthma so bad that he got hospitalized for 4 days in1 month then 2 months later got hospitalized again for 1 week for the same problem. my sibling had to go to work with pink eye because walmart said she could not miss even if she got a DR,s excuse, so she went to work like they said and guess what she was a cashier she had to pass those germs on to the customers. thank goodness she quit several months later. i feel really bad for all those employees who work for walmart, now that the H1N1 is here. so people out there you be the judge. bye now from ColoradoMy wife works for this abusive tormenting company, They keep their hours as slight as possible, making them come in for 3 hrs here from 8pm to 11pm then make then come in the next day at 730 am , no rhyme or reason to the schedule, having to drive in for a pittance of a pay check. and like the story says, dont you dare get sick or injured, or have a child ill. they are the most degrading abusive just plain nasty company to work for. Wal-Mart has had that sick policy for years. I worked there for a couple of years in the early/mid 90s. The managers told us that the policy is written that way to discourage workers from calling out sick just to play hooky. They penalize the worker who may really have a one day ailment like a migrane, or who may be home with a sick child. When I worked there, I had an illness and was out a few day at the end of one week and then a few the beginning of the next week. Not only did they dock me for the first day I was out, but they also did not pay me for the Monday of the next week-just because it was a new week. Wal-Mart talks a good game, but they are not concerned with workers welfare. They basically force workers to work sick, off the clock--anything for the almighty dollar. Its crazy.-Karen http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=688 2009-12-16 00:00:00 article I recently shopped at our local Wal-Mart Super Center and found a worker in the produce section, handling the produce (no gloves) who looked and sounded like death warmed over. I asked her if she was ok, because she appeared to be on the verge of collapsing. She told me she had been diagnosed with pneumonia, but that she couldnt take any time off, or shed be written up and then fired - and living in Michigan, the state with the worst unemployment rates in the nation - she couldnt afford to get fired, because it was unlikely that shed find another job. This is the WalMart sickness policy in action, folks. I went to Walmart the other day and the cashier was coughing so hard that I thought a lung would fly out of her mouth! She should not have been working. She was wiping her nose and coughing in her hands while touching everyones groceries. That is so disgusting! The Walmart policy states that no employee will be fired due to H1N1. As a health insurance agent I know that in general insurance companies are not covering testing for the H1N! So how are these employees going to protect their jobs? Will Walmart pay for testing so it can better deternine who to fire and who not to fire? Personally, I plan on not shopping at Walmart due to this story. Besides not wanting to pick up a contagious cold, flu etc.; I will not support such practices by spending my dollars at this corporation.When I see sick people working at any checkout I ask to see a manager-then ask them why on earth they have a sick person pawing everyones stuff and passing it around. Those companies selfish, greedy policies hurt everyone-especially the elderly who need places like wal-mart.This is awful. Before I read this article, I had just come home from Wal-Mart (yes, I admit it). The employees are getting this from customers. I cantt believe the number of parents who still havent taught their kids to COVER THEIR MOUTHS when they are coughing. Yes, many surfaces in Wal-Mart may be contaminated...the escalator handrail, for example, must be teeming with H1N1. I am scrupulous about handwashing (almost to the point of compulsion), I never touch any part of my face until I have washed, and yet I still contracted this crap two weeks ago, no doubt from airborne virus. I got what I went into the store for -- a printer cartridge -- and got out of there ASAP. Maybe Wal-Mart should allow employees to wear a mask, if they want to. This might wake parents up to the fact that they need to teach their kids good hygiene. I am extremely concerned about Wal-Marts practice. A Wal-Mart employee with swine flu who is basically threatened by Wal-Mart to come to work sick does much more than place OTHER employees at risk - WHAT ABOUT THE CUSTOMERS! Considering the significant number of people who shop at their stores, youd think that Wal-Mart would be much more pro-active about protecting their customers. Looks like its all about the dollar as far as Wal-Mart is concerned!I asked a cashier at Walmart in Lancaster South Carolina if Walmart was supplying hand Sanitizer for their employees and the cashier said NO!! That threw a red flag for me with all the germs from money and other stuff. It showed me Walmart does not care about their employees during this bad flu season and now H1N1.Lorrie Griffin Pageland South CarolinaI am appalled the way Wal-Mart treats their employees. I dont shop there any more than I need to for that reason. Employees should not have to make the choice of a sick child or reporting to work with no compensation...barbaric! It is not right for a Wal-Mart employee to report to work SICK and spread God knows what to the general public!!! Wal-Mart needs to give their employees what they are entitled to....they do pay for it in the long run!!! http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=689 2009-12-16 00:00:00 article Wal-Mart Workers We can help. No More demerits or lost wages for being sick. Contact us with your stories. Strict confidentiality. nlc [at] nlcnet.org412-562-2406 Wal-Marts punitive sick leave policies—demerits and lost wages—are unfair and unjust. We have exposed these policies on ABCs Good Morning America, in the New York Times and the Washington Post. Together with MomsRising and other organizations, we are leading a massive petition campaign to do away with demerits and lost wages. Our goal is to change Wal-Mart’s sick leave policy so that you are no longer forced to go to work no matter how sick you are. Nor should you be put in a position where you feel obligated to put your job ahead of your childs health.We hope to get 100,000 signatures on the petition to be delivered to Wal-Mart in Bentonville.We need your help! Please send us your stories of how Wal-Marts sick leave policies have hurt you and your family. You can call or email. No names or store locations will be mentioned. Everything will be kept strictly confidential. Our first priority is protecting your job, while working to improve Wal-Marts sick leave policy. We want Wal-Mart to be a family-oriented company again.You work hard and do a good job. You deserve respect. Please spread the word to your colleagues and ask them to also send us their stories.Contact: National Labor Committee Charles Kernaghan or Barbara Briggs Office: 412-562-2406 Email: nlc [at] nlcnet.orgTogether we can make things better! http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=691 2009-12-16 00:00:00 article This Holiday Season-give Wal-Mart the Demerits they Deserve!An exciting new development! A growing coalition is forming to challenge Wal-Marts punitive sick leave policies. Over 35,000 people have already signed on!The National Labor Committee is teaming up with MomsRising, Wake Up Wal-Mart, United Steelworkers Women of Steel, 9to5 and many others [See full list] to gather over 100,000 signatures/demerits to be delivered to Wal-Mart executives in Bentonville, Arkansas. Especially during the flu pandemic, the goal is to reform Wal-Marts draconian healthcare policies which are particularly punishing to working mothers, who have no choice but to report to work sick, forced to put their job ahead of their childrens well being. Wal-Mart shoppers are also routinely exposed to flu and other sicknesses.As of early December, 32 states are still reporting widespread swine flu activity, with nearly 700 children already killed. It is possible a new flu season will emerge in January, with the swine flu and seasonal flu running simultaneously. The seasonal flu is more deadly to older people while the H1N1 virus is more deadly to children.Working together we can shame Wal-Mart into improving its health care and sick leave policies, and when we accomplish this, other companies will have to follow.Please Act Now! Make this a holiday season of conscious, by raising our voices and asking your family, friends, and coworkers to sign the petition! Ask your organization to endorse the campaign! If enough of us take the time to do the right thing we will win!Along with signing on you can also post your comments.Wal-Mart workers in Florida are still being fired for having the flu.Please keep me anonymous. A co-worker recently came down with the flu about less than a month ago. He missed 4 days and was issued a coaching. A coaching is a written warning about attendance. This can affect pay and also his ability to keep his job. Any further coachings can be termination due to him getting sick. He cannot call in sick for at least 180 days after the last incident. His "sick" attendance coaching will remain with him for a whole year from the time it was issued. So if he is to even get swine flu after the 180 day revolving period is over, he still risks another coaching which will result in a D-Day. Which is a decision day whether he wants to keep his job. This just happened even though Wal-Mart announced that no one will lose their job. This is an unkept promise from Wal-Mart and is risking the public when people shop at Wal-Mart. (November 17, 2009)I work for Walmart. Associates are still being written up for taking time from illness such as the flu. If you miss 3 days for being sick in a 180 rotating time frame you still will be given either a verbal warning or written warning for your attendance. Do not believe what corporate is telling you, they are still having the managers "coach" (written warning) for taking time off for their flu illness. (November 30, 2009)Shopper in Texas contracted flu at Wal-Mart StoreI applaud your article exposing the sick leave policy for Wal-Mart employees or rather the lack thereof. Last November, as a Wal-Mart customer, I purchased supplies for Thanksgiving. A young checker looked up as she began sacking my groceries with a look of complete fear and simply said, "I cant breathe." She was quite ill. As she licked her fingers and opened all my plastic grocery sacks, the only thought running through my mind was oh no! Thanksgiving night, I began feeling as if I had the flu. To make a very long story short, I was house bound for 7 weeks and made 2 trips to the local hospital in an attempt to overcome influenza unlike any other I had ever had before as I was a kindergarten teacher for years so I most definitely had my share of bouts with the flu. Living in Texas, I believe what I encountered at Wal-Mart was the H1N1 virus as I am still hoarse almost a year later. After a quick review of the data on the CDCs website, I believe my claim to be supported as it would appear that the death rate for influenza was quite high last winter and I do not believe the theory that this disease began with a child in Mexico. I contacted Wal-Mart numerous times and stated that I felt they were irresponsible in having a sick employee infect all the people whom she assisted that day. This fall at my local Wal-Mart has been no better. Sick employees work as greeters. I am of the opinion that the H1N1 virus was most definitely in circulation last winter with its Petri dish being Wal-Mart! Thank you for your diligence in exposing the policies of a corporation that truly endangers the health and well-being of its customers and employees! (November 13, 2009)Shopper Reports Wal-Mart to Department of HealthI saw something a Walmart that was not right. A employee was sitting up front on the register, and she keep picking up a bucket, when i looked closely she was vomiting in it. Thats terrible when you have to go to work and be sick, or get fired. I reported it to the health dept. Wal mart should be ashamed of themselves, with all the money they make they should treat there employees better, Cause with out employees wal mart wont make money. And this store was in Arkansas,Wal-Mart Policy Change on H1N1 Virus is Fake: Wal-Mart Workers and Shoppers continue to be routinely exposed to serious contagious illnessesUnder pressure for their punitive sick leave policies, which result in driving employees to work no matter how sick they are, Wal-Mart recently announced that no Wal-Mart associate would be fired for having the H1N1 virus, nor would they be punished with a demerit and loss of eight hours wages. Wal-Mart only took this step after the National Labor Committee released a report, "Wal-Marts Sick Leave Policy Risks Spreading Swine Flu/Retail Giant Flouts Recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control" (November 3, 2009), which was picked up by the media, including ABCs Good Morning America , The New York Times , Washington Post and others.Following discussions with Wal-Mart employees in Idaho, Florida, Texas, New York and Pennsylvania, we can categorically state that Wal-Marts announced policy changes to contain the spread of the H1N1 virus are a complete fake. Not a single Wal-Mart employee we have spoken with has been informed of Wal-Marts supposed policy changes. No new policy directive from Bentonville has been distributed to the workers, nor have local store managers made any mention of a new policy.For the workers, nothing has changed. They continue to drag themselves to work sick so as not to receive a demerit, lose wages or come under disciplinary actions, including possible termination. Sick workers continue to spread contagious illnesses to other Wal-Mart employees and shoppers.Wal-Marts announced policy on curbing the spread of the H1N1 virus was not only a fake, it was disingenuous. The H1N1 virus is certainly serious, but so is the seasonal flu, which kills an average of 36,000 Americans each year. Conjunctivitis, strep throat, the 24-hour virus are all serious contagious illnesses. Any serious sick leave policy would also have to accommodate car accidents, a broken leg, a child who broke his arm at school. Facing negative media, a popular grassroots campaign and several initiatives in Washington to better legislate sick leave policy, Wal-Mart did the minimum -announcing a fake sick leave policy that was limited to the H1N1 swine flu. Wal-Mart has so far failed to tell its employees of any policy change and has left intact its punitive sick leave policies for every other illness and accident.Wal-Mart workers continue to speak out. You can see their comments on our website.Links:Sign the Petition/Give Wal-Mart a Demerit More Wal-Mart worker stories and cases: "Everyone Comes to Work Sick" , NLC, December 16, 2009 Wal-Mart Workers Speak Out-responses to NLC report and ABC Good Morning America Wal-Mart Customers Speak Out Wal-Marts Sick Leave Policy Risks Spreading Swine Flu , NLC, November 3, 2009"Risking Demerits or Spreading H1N1?" , ABC Good Morning America, November 5, 2009"Lack of Paid Sick Days May Worsen Flu Pandemic, " New York Times, November 3, 2009"H1N1 exposes weak leave policies: Bill calls for paid time off. Some firms adjusting rules as flu spreads, " The Washington Post, November 9, 2009 http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=692 2009-12-16 00:00:00 article Retail Giant Flouts Recommendations of Centers for Disease ControlNovember 3, 2009“Everyone is coming sick. We have no choice.”-Wal-Mart employee Punishing workers for taking sick leave puts Wal-Mart on track to be a major spreader of swine flu this fall. The retail giant gives workers demerits and deducts pay for staying home when they are sick or to care for a sick child…..The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is strongly recommending that employers “advise workers to be alert to any signs of fever and other signs of influenza-like illness before reporting to work…. stay home if they are ill.” And that “employers should prepare to institute flexible workplace and leave policies for their workers.” Wal-Mart’s policies routinely flout the CDCs recommendations, putting both associates and shoppers at risk. Print-ready PDF Punishing workers for taking sick leave puts Wal-Mart on track to be a major spreader of swine flu this fall. The retail giant gives workers demerits and deducts pay for staying home when they are sick or to care for a sick child.In interviews with Wal-Mart “associates” at stores across New York State, employees confirmed that they had no choice but to work sick. One Wal-Mart employee from a supercenter explained: “Plenty of girls are coughing their brains out. But they cannot go home because of points. Everyone comes in sick. You cant stay home and God forbid if you leave early.” “Associates” –including food handlers working in the grocery, meat and even deli departments—are routinely coming to work with the flu, conjunctivitis, fevers, strep throat, diarrhea and vomiting. It is only when an employee is coughing too loudly and violently that he or she will be transferred from the food section to another department, where the sick worker will still be interacting with customers.An experienced worker at a Wal-Mart discount store similarly confirmed that “people are coming in sick all the time.” In fact, just last week several cashiers at her store came to work with flu-like symptoms, only staying home when they were so sick it was impossible for them to work. (The most contagious period for swine flu is at the beginning of the illness.)The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is strongly recommending that employers “advise workers to be alert to any signs of fever and other signs of influenza-like illness before reporting to work every day, and notify their supervisors and stay home if they are ill.” The CDC goes on to recommend that “business and other employers should prepare to institute flexible workplace and leave policies for their workers.” The CDC alerts employers to “expect sick employees to be out for about 3 to 5 days in most cases, even if anti-viral medications are used.” Further, “Employers should maintain flexible policies that permit employees to stay home to care for an ill family member. Employees should be aware that more workers may need to stay home to care for ill children or other ill family members than usual.”Wal-Marts policies routinely flout the CDCs recommendations, putting both associates and shoppers at risk. Another Wal-Mart associate told us, “Wal-Mart wont even look at a doctors note. If you are out sick, youre going to get a demerit and lose eight hours wages.” The H1N1 virus, or swine flu, is known to spread from person to person when those infected cough or sneeze, propelling virus-carrying droplets into the air that can be inhaled by people in the vicinity, and onto surfaces like countertops that customers touch.On October 1, 2009, Ken Senser, a senior vice-President for Wal-Mart distributed a memo nation-wide on “Flu Season Preparation” to all Wal-Mart associates. Wal-Mart associates were told to “cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze,” “wash your hands regularly,” and “avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.”Not a single word was said about the critical CDC recommendation that workers with “any signs of fever and other signs of influenza-like illness…stay home if they are ill.” Instead, Mr. Senser goes on to instruct all “associates” to: “familiarize yourself with relevant company policies including those for attendance, sick pay and return to work following an illness.”But Wal-Marts policies on sick leave are the problem. Wal-Mart has a punitive point (demerit) system that punishes workers who cannot come to work because they are ill or their children need care. Associates who miss a day due to sickness (or for any other reason) will receive a one point demerit, along with the loss of eight hours wages. Moreover, employees who “have more than three absence occurrences in a rolling six-month period…will be disciplined.” (“Attendance/Punctuality Policy (PD-52) New York,” January 2008.) Workers with four absences in any six-month period—no matter what the reason—will be disciplined. A fifth occurrence—like a sick day—will result in “active coaching” by management, and a sixth occurrence” will activate a “Decision Day,” when an “associate” can either be terminated or put on a year-long trial period, during which a worker can be fired for any infraction, no matter how insignificant. During this year-long probation the worker cannot receive a promotion.This is the reason Wal-Mart employees must drag themselves to work no matter how sick they are. Not only due to the fear of termination, but with associates typically living from paycheck to paycheck, they cannot afford the loss of eight hours wages.Single mothers working at Wal-Mart are under particular stress. In September, an associate received a call from her four-year-olds pre-school telling her to come pick up her child, who had a fever of 103 F. Despite the fact that she had worked four hours, for leaving work to pick up her child she received a point and lost the rest of the days wages. Parents have no choice but to load their children up with Motrin and Dimetap to mask their symptoms so they can go to school.In his memo, the senior vice-president advised Wal-Mart associates to “have back-up childcare plans in the event your child cannot attend school.” Here too, Wal-Mart ignores the CDCs recommendation that employers “be prepared to allow workers to stay home to care for children if schools are dismissed or childcare programs are closed… Ensure that your leave policies are flexible and non-punitive.” (CDC Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to the 2009-2010 Influenza Season, August 19, 2009)This fits Wal-Marts longstanding business model of externalizing and outsourcing as many costs as it can. Rather than developing affordable healthcare, Wal-Mart assists its associates in enrolling their children in state-supported Child Health Plus/Medicaid programs. Rather than taking responsibility to follow the CDCs recommendation that employers adopt flexible leave policies so that parents can stay home with their sick children, Wal-Mart advises its associates to “have back-up childcare plans in the event your child cannot attend school.” This leaves associates to scramble on their own to find family members or relatives who can take time off to watch their children, or to find a babysitter willing to do this.This led a Wal-Mart employee to note that, “Even during the flu season, Wal-Mart wants to be first, and our childrens health and schooling comes second.” Another associate, a young mother, said: “It makes you feel horrible. Wal-Mart puts you in a position where you are supposed to put your job ahead of your children.”Asked about Wal-Marts “family-oriented policy,” another employee bluntly stated: “That is in the toilet. They dont care about families.” Centers for Disease Control Recommendations To Prevent Spread of Swine FluI. “Sick persons should stay home”* “One of the best ways to reduce the spread of influenza is to keep sick people away from well people.”* Employers should “advise workers to be alert to any signs of fever and other signs of influenza-like illness before reporting to work each day, and notify their supervisor and stay home if they are ill.”* “CDC recommends that employers with influenza-like illness remain at home until at least 24 hours after they are free of fever (100 degrees F or greater) or signs of a fever, without the use of fever-reducing medications.”* Employers should “Expect sick employees to be out for about 3 to 5 days in most cases, even if anti-viral medications are used.”* Employers should “Ensure that your sick leave policies are flexible and consistent with public health guidance and employees are well aware of these policies.”* Do not require a doctors note for workers who are ill with influenza-like illness to validate their illness or to return to work, as doctors offices and medical facilities may be extremely busy and may not be able to provide such documentation in a timely way.”* “Employers should maintain flexible policies that permit employees to stay home to care for an ill family member. Employers should be aware that more workers may need to stay at home to care for ill children or other family members than is usual.”* “People at higher risk for complications from influenza include pregnant women; children under 5 years of age; adults and children who have chronic lung disease (such as asthma), heart disease, diabetes, diseases that suppress the immune system and other chronic medical conditions, and those who are 65 years or older.” II. Taking Care of Sick Children* Employers should “be prepared to allow workers to stay home to care for children if schools are dismissed or childcare programs are closed.”* Employers should “ensure that your leave policies are flexible and non-punitive.” Wal-Mart Policies and Practices Directly Contradict CDC Recommendations To Combat Swine FluI. Sick Employees Punished for Staying Home:Any Wal-Mart employee with swine flu or other serious communicable illnesses will be punished if they stay home, receiving a point (demerit)—five or six points can lead to termination—and incurring the loss of eight hours wages.Wal-Marts policy on “authorized absences” does not cover sick days, including for those suffering from the H1N1 virus. (See Wal-Marts “Attendance/Punctuality Policy (PD-52)-National Field and New York,” January 8, 2008) To avoid punishment, employees would have to apply for a sick day “at least three weeks in advance,” which is, of course, ridiculous. “Requested time away from work which has been approved by your supervisor or manager and included in the schedule at least three (3) weeks in advance is not considered an absence.” Even with a request made three weeks in advance, there is no guarantee that the day off will be granted.In Wal-Mart-speak, taking a sick day is referred to as an “occurrence.”: “Occurrence means any time away from scheduled work that is not approved by your supervisor or manager as per set forth in this Policy,”—which, again, does not recognize sick days as an “authorized absence.”Unauthorized absences apply not only to sick days, but also to days workers must take off to care for a sick child or elderly parent, because of school closings, car accidents, snow storms, preventative medicine such as getting blood work done, attending a funeral for a nephew, and so on. Each “occurrence” results in the worker receiving a point. “If you have three occurrences in a rolling six-month period, you will have the opportunity to discuss your absences with management during a personal discussion. If you have more than three absences in a rolling six-month period, you will be disciplined.” Workers can be terminated when they receive five or six “occurrence”—demerits—in any six-month period. Wal-Mart employees live in fear that the next family emergency will result in their being fired.Not only do Wal-Mart employees receive a point if they are out sick, they also lose their wages. “You must wait one scheduled workday before using your available Illness Protection pay. An additional waiting period is required for each separate absence…” (Wal-Marts Illness Pay Policy (PD-63)-National,” October 1, 2009.) This means that even workers who have accrued paid sick time cannot use it and will be docked eight hours pay for each new sick day they must take.The potent combination of punitive demerits and the loss of wages for taking a sick day—even if one is suffering from the swine flu—routinely drives sick Wal-Mart employees to work, where they are in a position to spread their illness to other workers and customers.Moreover, Wal-Mart employees who are out sick for more than three days must apply for a Leave of Absence. “If you will be absent for more than three days, you should submit a completed Request for Leave of Absence form. You should submit the required documentation for approval to your supervisor. Requesting leave of absence does not automatically assure the leave will be approved. Please refer to the Leave of Absence Policy (PD-24) for additional information.”This means Wal-Mart employees who may have the H1N1 virus, and are being advised by the CDC to remain at home for three to five days until they are symptom free, must file for a Leave of Absence, which will include getting a note from a doctor, which the CDC views as a waste of precious time, given the work load doctors are facing during the current epidemic.While the CDC advises employers to allow their employees to remain home to care for sick children, Wal-Mart instructs its employees to “have back-up child care plans in the event your child cannot attend school.” (Memo to all Wal-Mart U.S. associates on Flu Season Preparation, from senior vice-president Ken Senser, October 1, 2009)Rather than allow—let alone encourage—Wal-Mart employees to stay home to care for their young children who may have H1N1 influenza, or because of school closings due to the current epidemic, Wal-Mart places a further burden on its employees by instructing them to make arrangements so that other people can care for their children.During this swine flu pandemic, Wal-Marts policies, in every important way, ignore and contradict CDC recommendations, thereby placing its own employees and Wal-Mart shoppers at risk.When the largest private employer in the U.S. sets the wrong example in the fight against the H1N1 pandemic, the American people should take noticeWal-Mart is the largest private sector employer in the U.S., with 1.4 million employees in 4,258 stores across the country. In New York State alone, Wal-Mart has 109 stores and 37,784 employees. With its tremendous size and sales reaching $401 billion (in the fiscal year ending January 31, 2009), Wal-Mart services more than 150 million shoppers each week.Wal-Mart shoppers, employees and their families are being put at risk when senior Wal-Mart executives ignore and contradict critically important Centers for Disease Control guidelines meant to control and prevent the spread of swine flu, which is already widespread in 48 states.What Wal-Mart Must DoWal-Mart must immediately end its punitive point system, which gives workers demerits that can lead to firing for taking a sick day, while also docking their wages. More than any other Wal-Mart policy, it is the point system and loss of wages which routinely drives employees to work no matter how sick they are, including if they are suffering flu-like symptoms.Wal-Mart employees feel it is completely unjust that management automatically deducts the first eight hours wages of any sick day or leave, especially given how hard they must work to accrue paid sick leave. A Wal-Mart employee must work 40-hour weeks for an entire month to accrue just 4 hours of sick leave. As one worker put it: “Its our money and we worked hard to earn it. Its not right that we cant use our own money to cover sick days.”The vast majority of current Wal-Mart employees are too terrified to speak openly and on the record, or even to name their stores fear of retaliation. “Everyone knows you have to be quiet,” as one associate put it, “We cant talk. Everyone is afraid and will never say anything critical” of Wal-Mart. A senior Wal-Mart employee agreed: “Fear and need will keep things as they are.”Another point of consensus that we heard from Wal-Mart workers across New York State is that: “Everyday shoppers have no idea what is really going on at Wal-Mart.”The National Labor Committee will soon be putting out a longer report based on our interviews with Wal-Mart employees. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=686 2009-11-10 00:00:00 article 25 Million-member International Metalworkers Federation Joins Petition October 19, 2009 Some great news--the International Metalworkers Federation, with 25 million members from 200 unions in 100 countries-has signed the petition and is circulating it to their members! Please contact us if you think of other ideas on how to move this campaign! We will keep you posted. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=684 2009-10-20 00:00:00 article October 20, 2009 Workers continue to be maimed and killed in Bangladesh s shipbreaking yards. Just last week we wrote of three workers who were crushed to death at the Crystal shipbreaking yard on October 8 when a huge steel plate fell on them. (The ship they were dismantling carried the International Maritime Organization registry number 7435474.) Since then, four more workers have been needlessly killed. At the Pakija shipbreaking yard, on the morning of October 13, three workers died after inhaling poisonous gas fumes. The young men-including a 17-year-old boy-were cutting up a gas tank on the ship when they were overcome by the fumes. The three dead workers are Mr. Mamun, 17 years old, Mr. Embram Hossain and Mr. Nasir Uddin, both 25. (The ship the workers were breaking apart carried the International Maritime Organization registry number 7913 816.) To date, the dead workers families have not received a single cent in compensation from the shipyard owner. On the very next day, October 14, another worker was killed at 12:30 p.m. at the Habib shipbreaking yard. Twenty-eight year old Mr. Jahangir Alam was crushed when a large iron plate fell on him. There are currently two ships being dismantled in the Habib yard, La Forge Nassau and BW Rachel Stavan. The dead mans family has not received any compensation from the wealthy shipyard owner. (In February 2009, two workers were killed at the Habib shipyard, Mr. Sakhowat and 20 year old Mr. Tipu, when they were crushed by falling metal.) To date, this brings the death toll to 17 workers in 2009, meaning on average a worker is being killed every two weeks in the shipbreaking yards, while at least one worker is seriously maimed every single day. The three burned workers who survived the fire at the Kabir shipyard-which killed two of their colleagues on September 5-have been released from the hospital. It will be months of bed rest before it will be known if the workers can resume a normal life and whether they will be able to work again. Management paid the severely burned workers $43.50 each and sent them on their way! Life is cheap for the shipyard owners, who continue to force young workers, even children, to toil under criminally dangerous conditions. No human being should be treated like this. Please stay involved in the campaign and send us any ideas you have. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=685 2009-10-20 00:00:00 article October 16, 2009 The HBO Documentary--"Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags," directed and produced by award-winning filmmakers Marc Levin and Daphne Pinkerson, premiers on Monday, October 19, at 9:00 p.m. Brian Lowry writes in Variety: "Opening to the lively strains of “Rhapsody in Blue”, “Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rages” is a loving and sobering look at the demise of the New York garment industry, where the loss of manufacturing jobs to nations with cheaper labor represents “a microcosm of everything that is going on in this country.”" (See linked reviews from Variety and Womens Wear Daily). The documentary tracks how the garment industry, once the largest employer in the U.S., helped build the middle class through organizing strong unions. Today, 95 percent of all garments sold in the U.S. are made offshore, mostly in sweatshops in China, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. Once the race to the bottom in the global sweatshop economy is unleashed, and corporations are free to pit workers against each other, there is no way to go but down. The documentary is a wakeup call, as manufacturing jobs all across the U.S. are under siege. The race to the bottom will only end when we have enforceable laws that prohibit the import, sale, or export of sweatshop goods in the U.S. Goods made by children, by workers beaten and forced to work grueling hours while being cheated of their wages, and by workers denied their legal right to organize should be prohibited from entering the U.S. If corporations can have enforceable laws to protect their corporate products and trademarks, we sure as heck should have similar laws to protect the rights of the human being who made their product. Right now the corporate product is protected, but not the human being who made it. (See the Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act and how you can help.) The National Labor Committee”s work is among those featured in the HBO documentary. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=683 2009-10-19 00:00:00 article CEADEL, Nicotex Sign Breakthrough Agreement in Guatemala October 13, 2009 A joint campaign by the National Labor Committee (NLC and the Guatemalan Center for Studies and Support for Local Development (CEADEL) has resulted in major improvements in respect for women’s rights, labor rights and health and safety conditions at the Nicotex garment factory. As you can see from the agreement (below) between CEADEL, factory management and representatives of the workers, the workers have won the right to healthcare. Significant health and safety improvements have been implemented. All overtime will be voluntary. Vacation time and pay will be honored. And workers are guaranteed their right to defend their legal, women’s and labor rights—including the right to organize an independent union. CEADEL will help train factory supervisors on respect for human, women’s and worker rights. CEADEL will also verify factory conditions to guarantee that the agreement is fully implemented. This campaign proves that international solidarity combined with the effective and dedicated work of local nongovernmental organizations such as CEADEL can result in major victories for workers across the developing world. This is only the latest of several successful joint campaigns of the NLC and CEADEL. You can access report on major improvements at the agro-industrial export factory Legumex here. AGREEMENT BETWEEN CENTER FOR STUDIES AND SUPPORT FOR LOCAL DEVELOPMENT, CEADEL&NICOTEX S.A. COMPANY FOR FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LABOR RIGHTS OF THE WORKERS. SIGNED IN GUATEMALA CITY, AUGUST 31 OF THE YEAR 2009 In the context of its work to promote, defend and achieve Labor Rights, CEADEL undertakes monitoring activities, labor training, legal assistance and coordination between national and international institutions to allow for harmony between the workers and the management. Those actions are based on the full observance and effectiveness of national and international laws, conventions and treaties relating to current labor and trade laws. In this context CEADEL expresses that the NICOTEX S.A. company has made the following changes to allow for more harmonious labor relations., and the Nicotex Company commits to maintain these changes for the benefit of all parties, a.) There has been an improvement in the administration’s and the majority of supervisors’ relations with workers. b.) The workers have been affiliated to the Guatemalan Institute of Social Security and the certifications are being given when the workers need them. c.) A process of giving overdue vacations to the workers has been initiated. d.) The pressure to work forced overtime has somewhat diminished. e.) The provision of drinking water has been improved and guaranteed, as has access to the bathrooms. f.) CEADEL will advise, inform and train the women and men workers on their labor rights and obligations as established in the Guatemalan laws. Therefore on August 31, 2009, CEADEL and NICOTEX S.A., with full decision-making authority, agree to the following terms to allow for full implementation of labor rights as well as for the growth and development of the company. a.) CEADEL commits to releasing information regarding this agreement and the improvements that have been made nationally and internationally, to human and labor rights organizations, to the media, to the companies, and to the American Embassy. b.) CEADEL will cooperate in the training of NICOTEX S.A. supervisors on the issues of labor rights and human relations at the work place. c.) CEADEL will have an open communication with the NICOTEX S.A. Company in case of reports or findings of violations in the area of labor rights. d.) The Briggs New York label will be urged to immediately return their production to the NICOTEX S.A. company because our objective is improve the labor conditions, and not to affect [harm] the maquila workers. Also the labels must be socially responsible., especially in the case of NICOTEX S.A. which is making efforts to improve the labor conditions. Meanwhile, NICOTEX SA commits to: a.) Writing up a schedule for the overdue vacations for all workers. b.) Guaranteeing labor stability for all workers. c.) Not hiring minors for any process of the factory. d.) Guaranteeing no reprisals against workers who had demanded their labor and human rights. e.) Giving instruction and monitoring that all supervisors give a good treatment to all workers [including] not pressuring them to resign or blackmailing them with [threat of] dismissal. f.) Giving instruction and assuring that Mr. Eliseo López, assistant plant manager, improves his relations with workers, or, if this does not occur, dismissing him. g.) Guaranteeing that overtime hours are voluntary and planned. h.) Supplying the bathrooms with the necessary items and maintaining this policy. i.) Providing seats with backs to the workers to avoid injury, particularly to the back. j.) Installing needle guards on all workers’ machines. k.) Installing a first aid cabinet. l.) Renovating the medical clinic in the factory to permit attention in cases of emergency. m.) Responsibly informing the workers of any economic difficulties impacting the company. n.) Guaranteeing the workers’ full right to expression and organization in accordance to national and international law. o.) Informing all the workers that the company has assumed the labor obligations of their working relationship with the past company ETERNAL S.A. p.) Providing benefits/severance without obstacles and according to the law when a worker is fired. q.) CEADEL and its representatives may enter company premises when they desire, leaving a written report of the findings, and releasing it publicly if that is necessary. r.) Guaranteeing that pregnant women enjoy all their rights established by law, including their right to the period of breastfeeding. Both parties agree to have periodic meetings to assess the advances in the fulfillment of this agreement. Gabriel Zelada OrtizCEADEL DIRECTOR Soho KimGeneral ManagerNICOTEX S.A. Emigdio YanezWorkerAd-hoc Workers’ Comittee http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=682 2009-10-13 00:00:00 article September 30, 2009The National Labor Committee is releasing transcripts of eight of the interviews we did with shipbreaking workers in Bangladesh between February and September 2009. In their own words, the workers describe the deadly September 5 fire at the Kabir shipbreaking yard that needlessly killed two workers and left three others severely burned. Workers from the “Lucky” shipyard describe how an 18-year-old co-worker was crushed to death on April 19 when a huge piece of metal from the ship fell on him. Workers describe the complete and criminal indifference of management, which refuses to implement even the most rudimentary safety precautions that could save lives. The shipbreaking workers have no rights and are trapped in misery. Transcripts Transcript #1: Interview with Kabir Workers speaking about the deadly September 5 fire Transcript #2: Interview with workers who witnessed the deadly September 5 fire at Kabir shipbreaking yard Transcript #3 A Third Interview with Kabir shipbreaking yard worker Transcript #4: An Interview with Workers of Lucky Shipyard—Worker Crushed to Death Transcript #5: Interview with Workers from Lucky Shipbreaking Yard, also known as “M&M Shipbreaking Yard” Transcript #6 Meeting with Workers from the Bhatiary Steel Shipbreaking Yard Transcript #7: Meeting with shipbreaking workers of the Pupali Enterprise and GD Subadar Shipyards Transcript #8: Shipbreakers, July 16, 2009 Transcript #1: Interview with Kabir Workers speaking about the deadly September 5 fire September 6, 2009 00:01 Interviewer: What’s your name brother? 00:02 Worker: My name is Y--. 00:04 Interviewer: What do you do? 00:05 Y.: I work at Kabir Shipyard. 00:09 Interviewer: Why did you come to the medical center today? 00:10 Y.: To see a patient. 00:12 Interviewer: Which patient? A patient who was burned? 00:13 Y.: Yes. 00:15 Interviewer: Who is this burned patient? 00:17 Y.: Mr. Jahangir, my relative. We worked together. 00:23 Interviewer: What’s his condition now? 00:24 Y.: Now he is getting better. But his face was burned so badly, it was difficult to recognize him. His head was swollen, his face was disfigured 00:36 Interviewer: How do you feel now after seeing him? 00:38 Y.: I feel very bad, we worked together. If he could have got out just a minute earlier, he could have escaped these horrible burns. Now, a brother cannot recognize his brother. 00:52 Interviewer: You could not identify him, he is so very badly burned? 00:54 Y.: Yes. 00:56 Interviewer: Was he inside a tank? 00:57 Y.: Yes, he was in the tank. 00:58 Interviewer: Were you also working in the same tank? 00:59 Y.: No, I just left that tank and entered to another tank. After getting out from the previous tank, I took only a minute to enter the other tank; in the meantime the fire broke out. I don’t know how and from where the fire came. 1:15 Interviewer: I heard that the cutter men were cutting with their blowtorches and below the fitter men were busy unbolting and taking apart the pipes and oil tanks. 1:23 Y.: Yes, I heard that. 1:28 Interviewer: A spark from the flame fell down, where there was fuel and gas. 1:31 Y.: It was not oil, it was a kind of octane that spreads very fast. The fire broke out from such fuel 1:48 Interviewer: At what time did the accident occur? 1:50 Y.: At around 9:00 am to 9:30 am. 1:54 Interviewer: Were you together there? 1:56 Y.: We were 30 workers in total and were divided into two groups. 2:09 Worker (white shirt): 15 workers kept on one side and another 15 were for the other side. Five workers were assigned for a tank on one side. There is a stairway from that tank where we can go to other tank, which takes some time. When the fire occurred, they fell back into the tank. They wanted to get to the other tank using the ladder, but the fire blocked this path and they could not get out. Then they tried to go out through the top part of the ship. In the meantime, the huge flames hit them. Their hands, legs everything were burned up, it was not possible to recognize them. When these workers were going down, we, the 15 workers were asking is there any worker on the top of us. They said that yes. But we could not see anybody due to fire and gas & smoke. There was another ship beside ours. Someone said, there is an accident, come hurry. We thought that the accident happened in that ship. But, it was out of our imagination that the workers of our ship, our brother are burned so horrendously, we could not think about it. That’s why we always say to the In-charge to stop the work of the cutters when we work down below. There are many combustible sources, like gas, oil, fuel. It’s very risky work at these bottom chambers. We told the foreman this several times, but he refused to listen and told us to get back to work exactly where he placed us.4:25 Y.: Some days before, around 10-15 days, a fire broke out on the same ship. We were all on top. When the cutter was cutting from the upper side, we were ordered to work at the bottom. The fire broke out at the place where we used to work. Suddenly, the fire spread all over. We were afraid and raced out from that place. 4:53 Interviewer: Hey brother, you said your In-charge told the cutters to cut from the top part of a ship and the fitters should work down below. You advised him not to do it in that manner but he did not listen to you? 5:07 Worker (white shirt): No, he did not listen to us. 5:08 Interviewer: After this accident, wasn’t there any movement or strike by the workers because of what happened? 5:12 Worker (white shirt): No, no, there was nothing happened like this. 5:17 Interviewer: Didn’t workers stop their work? 5:19 Y.: Now the work is going on. The duty was stopped only that day when the accident occurred. 5:27 Interviewer: Don’t you think that the accident occurred due to the mistake of the In-charge? 5:30 Worker (white shirt): Yes, he is the person that is fully responsible. 5:34 Y.: Even, where the fire was raging, he ordered us to stay working there. He went there himself and ordered us to work on coil-pipes. 5:42 Worker (white shirt): We were taken down to the bottom of the ship, for that reason the workers died. One died, and the others faces have been disfigured. If Allah considers them, these workers can get a new life. Otherwise, it is very difficult to survive. The medical treatments being provided are not satisfactory. The suffering of these workers cannot be explained. The condition of their faces, chests, hands and legs is terrifying. 6:13 Y.: Even if they live, it will be impossible for them to go out in public because people will be afraid when they see their faces. 6:19 Interviewer: Do you think that Jahangir Bhai, Asheque Bhai, and Khokon Bhai will be able to return to normal life and will be able to lead life like normal men? 6:27 Worker (white shirt): The doctors are saying…we are assuming … we want them to live. 6:37 Y.: But, it won’t be possible for them to be normal like before. The medical treatment should be provided in such a way that the workers can get their lives back as before. We are requesting doctors to do such and such things. They don’t have any good intention. 6:50 Interviewer: Why don’t they give the proper treatment? 6:51 Y.: Why don’t they work, we don’t know. 6:52 Interviewer: Is it for shortage of money? 6:54 Y.: There is no shortage of money. The company will give one million taka if needed. 6:03 Interviewer: Why do you think the doctors are not helpful? Do you think they should be shifted to a better medical hospital for better treatment? 7:11 Workers: Yes, the treatment here is not provided properly. They should be taken to a better private hospital. 7:17 Interviewer: Whose condition is the most vulnerable? 7:19 Worker (white shirt): The situations of all the workers are vulnerable and almost similar. 7:30 Interviewer: The worker Hossain died, what happened the last time you were with him before his death? 7:36 Y.: Hossain could not see at the end. I was there and I saw him. Hossain scolded “Stupid, leave me”. He wanted to drink. He was unable to breathe through his nose. Then I said to the doctor he cannot breathe, do something for him. The doctor said that he won’t live. I took him in my arms. He was ………. And the third time, he died. …………………his water was all over my body. 8:22 Interviewer: Were you in the medical when he died? Yes, I was there. Transcript #2: Interview with workers who witnessed the deadly September 5 fire at Kabir shipbreaking yard September 6, 200900:01 Interviewer: What’s your name? 00:03 Worker: My name is M S.. 00:04 Interviewer: Where is your home? 00:05 S.: I come from Bogra. 00:06 Interviewer: What do you do? 00:07 S.: I work at a shipyard. At Kabir Shipyard. 00:12 Interviewer: For how long you are working there? 00:13 S.: I have been working for this shipyard for the last nine years. 00:16 Interviewer: Nine years? 00:17 S.: Yes. 00:19 Interviewer: Do you know about the accident that happened very recently? 00:22 S.: Yes, I know. 00:26 Interviewer: Where were you that time? 00:28 S.: I was working. The fire started from a [blowtorch] spark from our cutting at the top. 00:33 Interviewer: Could you please explain how did it happen? 00:35 S.: I was cutting an iron plate on the upper level of the ship using my blowtorch. The fitters were below at the bottom of the ship. The fire started slowly, but within seconds flames spread over the whole area. Then I threw down my torch. I came out at once; some of our helpers also got out with me. Another helper escaped the place through a door on the top of the ship. 01:02 Interviewer: Where were you cutting during that time, on the upper deck or bottom of the ship? 01:06 S.: I was on the upper portion of the ship using my blowtorch. 01:09 Interviewer: Those who are victim of this accident, where were they? 01:11 S.: They were working in the lower part of the ship. 01:13 Interviewer: Did you know that they were working below you? Why did you run your blowtorch? 01:18 S.: No, we didn’t know. If I knew that they were working there and an accident could occur like this, we would never start our cutting. 01:25 Interviewer: I was told that the workers have to work in the place according to the orders given by the management, is it correct? 01:30 S.: Yes, this is true. 1:33 S.: Whatever the In-charge instructs us, we are obliged to listen as the foremen are our boss and captain. Whatever they tell us, we have to abide by their commands. 1:45 Interviewer: What is your reaction about this great accident? And, what should be done now? 1:47 S.: The company should check the gas, oil and fuel and take necessary steps to wash them out. If they would have done that there would not be victims of such an accident. 2:02 Interviewer: One minute please. As you said about the servicing and cleaning—what did you mean by it? 2:07 S.: If there is any oil, fuel or gas, it should be removed, freed somehow. The oils, chemicals of different pipes and machines should be wasted out with running water. This is called servicing. 2:21 Interviewer: Who is responsible for this? 2:22 S.: This is the responsibility of the company itself. 2:24 Interviewer: Do by the companies do it? 2:25 S.: Some companies don’t do this. 2:26 Interviewer: Why don’t they do it? 2:28 S.: May be it’s a matter of money. 2:31 Interviewer: How much needs to be done, and what kind of expenditure? 2:32 S.: If 50 or 100 workers are occupied for this work, the attendance fee, bill, salary will have to be provided by the company. For that reason, the management doesn’t do this. They would rather give the responsibility to us, the helpers and cutter men have to clean them. 2:48 S.: If there is any gas in the ships, its weight seems to be lighter. If the ships need to be pulled form the tide, this gas can be used. If there is no gas, the ship will be heavy and sink downward, for that reason they don’t service the ships. 3:05 Interviewer: What is your wage? 3:08 S.: My salary is 215 taka for 8 hour duty. 3:16 Interviewer: Are you happy with your payment? 3:18 S.: No, I am not satisfied. Because, what we are doing here with hard labor cannot be compared with any payment. 3:22 Interviewer: When do you go to your duty? 3:24 S.: Now, I go to my duty at 6:00 am. 3:26 Interviewer: And, when do you come back? 3:27 S.: I come back at around 5:00 or 6:00 p.m.. I used to work 10/11 hours. After 8 hours, the OT is counted. 3:34 Interviewer: Usually, when do the workers go to their duties? 3:39 S.: At 6:00 am. 3:42 Interviewer: From what time does the duty start? 3:44 S.: We workers come at 6:00 am. We need a half an hour to change clothes and then start working. 3:50 Interviewer: From what time is the duty counted? 3:51 S.: From 6:00 am. During the Ramadan the duty starts at 6:00 am and after Ramadan, the duty will start again at 7:00 am. 4:05 Interviewer: I came to know that the duty starts at 7:00 am and ends at 6:00 pm during the Ramadan. 4:10 S.: Yes, this is also being practiced in many fields. But, we practice what I just said. We start work at 6:00 am. 4:16 Interviewer: From 6:00 am to evening? 4:18 S.: From 6:00 am to 5:00 pm. 4:20 Interviewer: So, how many hours are for general duty? 4:22 S.: 11 hours. 44:23 Interviewer: No, general duty. 44:24 S.: The general duty is 8 hours as per rule. And, the duties afterwards are counted as OT. 44: 30 Interviewer: How many hours are you working as general duty. 44:31 S.: 11 hours. 4:33 Interviewer: Now you are doing 8 hours of general duty and what about OT? 4:37 S.: 3 hours for OT duty. 4:40 Interviewer: 3 hours for OT and you are working 11 hours of total duty. You enter at 6:00 am and leave the ship at 5:00 am? Do you get there just in time? 4:51 S.: Yes we attend our duty just in time. 4:56 Interviewer: When the accident occurred, the workers were victim of the fire, and a worker died. What did you do then? 5:03 S.: I did not see how it happened. But, after our escape from the ship, those workers could not get out. As they were farther inside than us, they did not have time to exit. Also, we did not know they were still inside. If we had seen them, we would have warned them or stopped our cutting. But, we did not know that they entered there. When I was crossing over the ship, I was looking for my helpers. Our helpers were able to escap in time and be safe. One worker managed to escape through the door in the roof. I asked him is there any worker inside? He said there were four more workers still inside. Afterwards, another worker came through that door and he said three more workers are there. Through this process while I asked the fourth person, he said one more person was there. The man who died, he finally got out of the ship. His clothes were burned off, he was naked and his skin was charred. When I touched the skin on his hand, the skin came off sticking to my finger. I could see that some skin and flesh had been torn from his body. We laid him on the deck. Then he was taken down in a container. It took 20 to 25 minutes. If the company had any preparation to face such crisis, the accident might have been avoided. For example, if the company had an ambulance in the yard, they could have taken the injured workers to the hospital, and his life might have been saved. But the company did not do that. For that reason, it took time to send him for medical treatment. The pump was also closed; there was no way to use water on the fire. And, the in-charge did not inform us that he sent workers there. This also happened due to the carelessness of the In-charge, it’s an example of his utter failure. Because he did not permit us to cut a door in the side of the ship saying that thieves will enter here. I asked him 2-3 times, but he did not permit me. 7:11 Interviewer: If any worker gets sick, does the company bear the whole expenditure? 7:14 S.: The company allows 8-hour payment. Medical treatments are sometimes given—but not fully. Usually, they give 10-20 taka per day for medicines. These are the steps taken in normal cases. But, if there is any serious accident, the company continues medical treatment for some more days. 7:32 Interviewer: Does the company provide any compensation with significant payments for such accidents when the worker dies? 7:35 S.: It depends on the company how much they will give. We are not informed about this. We have seen many companies provided 100,000 or 200,000 or 120,000 taka as compensation. (The company tries to manage with the lowest possible amount, said another worker.) We don’t know how much was paid by our company. And, it is a responsibility of the company to send to the dead body to his home. 7:58 Interviewer: What problems do you face working at your company? 8:02 S.: We need insulated work suits and gloves, hard hats, boots and goggles. Sometimes sparks from the [blowtorch] flame and gas hurt our eyes, but the necessary equipment is not supplied to us. Inside the chambers, there are gas and fumes, but we work without respirators to cover our nose and mouth. We explained this many times to management. But the shipyard managers completely ignore these basic safety measures. If a worker tries to make his voice heard regarding these issues, he loses his job. This is the rule here. Transcript #3 A Third Interview with Kabir shipbreaking yard worker September 7, 2009 00:01 Interviewer: What is your name, please? 00:02 Worker: Mr. Alam. 00:03 Interviewer: What do you do? 00:04 Alam: I work for Kabir Shipyard in a Fitter Group. 00:08 Interviewer: Concerning the recent accident, do you know Mr. Hossain, Mr. Kuddus, Mr. Ashek and Mr. Jahangir. 00:14 Alam: Yes, of course, I know them. 00:15 Interviewer: How did the accident occur? 00:17 Alam: We went down to a tank at the bottom of the ship to take apart the pipes. After half an hour, the supervisor ordered the cutter-men to start cutting apart the ship above us. We argued with the supervisor not to put the cutter-men there as it endangered us. But the in-charge did not listen to us and ordered the cutter-men to start cutting. Sparks from their blow torches fell into the bottom tank and a fire ignited. We ran from the tank and went up. The five workers who were unable to get out on time were trapped by the huge dense black smoke making it harder to get out. Their bodies were burned by fire. The condition of two workers was extremely critical. The other three workers were a little better off than them. Their condition also deteriorated as the management delayed sending them to the hospital.1:15 Interviewer: When they were taken to the hospital? 1:19 Alam: These workers were taken to the hospital 1 or 1.5 hours after the accident. 1:21 Interviewer: After 1 to 1.5 hour, why? 1:23 Alam: They did not pay heed to this accident, did not give it any importance. 1.25 Interviewer: Why were they so careless about arranging medical treatment? 1:27 Alam: The management staff and authorities did not take the matter seriously in arranging medical treatment by sending them to the hospital. After half an hour, we started thinking about them, they are my relatives, one of them is my nephew and another is cousin. We were running to and fro. These injured workers were taken to the hospital after one and half hour. 1:55 Interviewer: Do you also work at this field? 1:56 Interviewer: Yes. 1:57 Interviewer: What’s your name, please? 1:59 Worker: My name is M--. 2:01 Interviewer: In which group are you working for? 2:02 M: I am working in a Fitter group. 2:04 Interviewer: Did you see how the fire was started and spread? 2:06 M: No, I was not at my duty during the day of accident. I was on leave. 2:09 Interviewer: Did you hear about it? 2:11 M: I came back on that night and came to know about this situation. One of the victims is my cousin, lives beside our house. I became scared hearing about this accident. I went to the medical college hospital at night and saw all the injured workers. It was horrible, their faces were completely changed, and it’s not like a human face. The portion below their knee has been burned; their face and hair was burned; their throats were burnt, it was horrifying and scary. At 1:30 am, a worker named Hossain of Kazipur died. It’s true it happened and we have to forget it. There was a mistake, they said and I heard. The cutter-men were cutting iron plates on the top with their blow-torch while fitter-men were working below to take apart fuel tanks. If the cutter-men had not cut with fire during that time, the accident would have not occurred. The cutter-men were cutting, the fitter-men were working, the spark hit the fuel tank—fire broke out-- created dense black smoke, the workers could not see anything because of this black smoke, and they ran away from the place and became victims of such an accident. It is very tragic news. The workers here work very hard, all the workers have to work hard, we all are laborers here, working here for payment. If we can work carefully and if the authority can instruct workers with caution, the accidents can be prevented. 3:53 Interviewer: That means you want to say that if the In-charge had not instructed the cutter-men to work, then the accident would have not taken place? 3:56 Worker: Yes. 4:04 Interviewer: Do you think that the plan of work should be changed? The equipments like helmets, sunglasses etc. are necessary. 4:11 Worker: Listen to me. We need insulated work suits and gloves, hard hats, boots, [respiratory] masks and goggles; but we don’t get anything from the company. We have to work there with bare feet. We are provided with neither safety shoes nor gum boots. To work in an iron field, workers need safety shoes and helmets. Anything can fall on your head like bolts and screws, iron and all sorts of scrap from above. Sometime workers are injured by heavy things hitting their heads. It happens several times in every month. But they don’t take any safety measures for the workers. If we ask for a pair of gloves, they management shouts “Why do you need gloves to work here”. Thus, they humiliate us. 4:57 Interviewer: What other types of misbehave they do? 4:59 Worker: They don’t consider us as human or as a worker—treat us like animal. 5:04 Interviewer: They consider you as outsiders? 5:06 Worker: They treat us as outsider-coming from other part of Bangladesh 5:08 Interviewer: So, they are local people, and are behaving rude with you. 5:10 Worker: Yes. 5:14 Interviewer: Hossain, Kuddus and Jahangir; how was their behavior? What kind of men they are? 5:19 Worker: These workers behavior was excellent—they are good men. I don’t know why Allah curses on them. They never quarrel with anybody. Men like them are rare. You won’t find a man like Hossain. He was man of middle age, used to say prayers regularly, a poor man, a very poor man. If he had not been poor, he would not have come to work here cutting iron. Interviewer: Brother, the victims are now in hospital for medical treatment. How are feeling now? What about medical treatment? What do you think? Worker: The workers are getting medical treatment at a public hospital. This treatment is not good. They are now in the hospital corridor. The doctors are smearing ointments on their burns. Gradually their conditions are getting worse. I urge you to take steps to shift them to better place for specialized medical care. They need better treatment which the public hospital lacks. They may die if they continue to stay here without proper care. Private clinics provide quality services. If you kindly help them getting admission into a private clinic we will be grateful. Interviewer: That means you are saying that victims are not getting proper healthcare services. You are asking for better medical treatment for the burn victims that the public hospital lacks Worker: The Company is arranging medical treatment. The services here are not sufficient enough for the critical condition of these patients. The company must pay. We are poor workers—how can we arrange money for treatment? We are trying to raise some money but that is limited and not enough for better treatment. Treatment in the public hospital will not save their lives. We would be grateful if you would kindly take steps for better medical treatment for the victims. Worker: We are working here to support our lives. When the month is over and it is time to pay our wages the management makes delays—says payment will be made today--then tomorrow and so on. Thus payment is always delayed and as a result we must take food items on credit from the grocery shop and the landlord shouts at us for being late in paying our house rent. The management records the wage rate as Tk. 230 but in reality we get paid only Tk.130. We do not know where and how the rest of the money goes. We are poor workers, illiterate and cannot protest this unjust treatment. If we could bargain with management we could have realize more of our needs When we enter the ship-breaking the management offers us to pay Tk.250 a day. After working one month when we get paid we see they are paying us Tk. 125 a day. Where does the rest of the money go? The management knows better. In addition the management withholds 15 days wages so that we can’t flee from the shipyard. How can we survive if they keep 15 days wage at hand. We have our families, parents and kids—how can they survive? If we try to bargain to gain our rights they call names, shout at us, even beat us. If we could raise these issues all the workers will be greatly benefited. Interview with another Kabir Shipyard worker: 00:01 Interviewer: What is your name, please? 00:03 Worker: My name is S., I work at the Kabir shipyard. I was present at the spot when the accident took place. I work in the same ship. I am cutter man. The worker died--I myself rescued him. When I held him, he was so burned that his body melted with burns. His flesh and burned skin stuck to my hands. It was so horrible an accident that later I got sick. They were taken to the hospital. The man who died was a good man. He worked at the Kabir shipyard for many years. Five workers got horrendously injured. I would blame the In-Charge for the accident. 00:33 Worker: The pump was not in operation. It was stopped. The workers were asked to cut the fuel pump. The In-charge asked them to shut down the door so that nothing can be stolen from the chamber. 00:43: Due to the negligence of In-charge this accident occurred. No cutter man got injured. Two of my helpers jumped and got out of the ship. They escaped from the deadly accident. Those five fitter workers received severe burn injuries. 01.00: The management delayed taking them to the hospital. I also blamed the management as they did not provide any gloves as frequently demanded by the workers. There were no supplies of safety equipment at that time and that caused the burns to be worse. Transcript #4: An Interview with Workers of Lucky Shipyard—Worker Crushed to Death August 200900:01 Interviewer: Brother, what’s your name? 00:03 Worker: My name is M.. 00:05 Interviewer: Home District?00:06 M.: Joypurhat00:08 Interviewer: Joypur hat? 00:09 M.: Yes.00:11 Interviewer: In which field are you working?00:13 M.: I work for ‘Lucky’. 0014 Interviewer: What’s your designation?00:16 M.: Cutterman.00:17 Interviewer: Cutterman?00:18 M.: Yes. 00:20 Interviewer: How long have you been working at the shipyard?00:23 M.: About 5-7 years. 00:24 Interviewer: 5-7 years?00:25 M.: Yes. 00:26 Interviewer: In which shift are you working? 00:27 M.: Lucky.00:28 Interviewer: No, which shift?00:30 M.: Cutter.00:31 Interviewer: No, day shift or night shift?00:33 M.: Night shift.00:36 Interviewer: What’s your salary, brother?00:38 M.: My salary is given as per work…like we start work at 8:00 am….00:45 Interviewer: No, no, I was asking about your salary.00:48: Salary? My salary is 150 taka.00:51 Interviewer: 150 taka for 8 hour work?00:53 M.: Yes.00:57 Interviewer: When do you get your salary?00:59 M.: Our salary, suppose we get at 5th and 20th of the following month. The salary is paid every two weeks. 01:08 Interviewer: Do you work every day in a week. 01:10 M.: No, its not possible to work everyday.01:12 Interviewer: Why? 01:14 M.: After working two days in a row I cannot work for next 3/4 days. It is very hard job. 01:28 Interviewer: When do you go to work?01:30 M.: At 8:00 pm. That is we have to attend at 7:30 pm at the field. And we have to work till at 8:30 am. 01:42 Interviewer: What about dinner? 01:44 M.: We have no opportunity to take meal at night. 01:49 Interviewer: Aren’t you provided with any tea time or anything like that?01:51 M.: Yes, with very light food, like nimki (fried flour) and parata (bread)01:55 (Worker close Mr. M.): At around 2:00 am, the company provides nimki which costs 3 taka and workers are given sometime leisure to eat anything with our own money. Dinner break at 10.00 pm. Another break is at 6:00 am to eat something with our own money. The company only gives one break at 2:00 for nimki or biscuit which is 3 taka per piece. Also, tea is served which has no taste at all, none will be able to drink that. 02:22 Interviewer: Do you get leaves from the company? 02:24 Worker (right one): We are not provided with leaves. We just don’t go to work on our own when any urgent situation comes. For example, if I need to go my village, then we take leave and go to village. We are not provided with any payments for those days when we are on leave. 02:36 Interviewer: If you become sick, the company doesn’t provide you any leave?02:39 Worker: No, no, if you can’t work, you will not be paid. 02:41 Interviewer: If one cannot work, there is no payment?02:43 Worker: No, there is no payment if we cannot work. 02:47 Interviewer: How much is your salary?02:49 Worker: As I am a helper, I am paid 125 for 8 hour duty. 03:01 Interviewer: How much can you earn a month on average? 03:03 Worker: I cannot work all the days in a month as the work here is very hard. I can work 25 days or 20 days a month. As my family is very needy, I am obliged to work as much as possible though its very hard labor. The salary is poor. I have to manage some money within it and send some money at home. 03:33 Interviewer: What time do you enter at your duty place. 03:37 M.: At 8:00 pm. 03:40 Interviewer: And at morning? 03:42 Workers: Till at 8:00 am. 03:44 Interviewer: During your duty, did there anything happen very frightening? 03:48 M.: Yes, it happens very often? Even workers die in front of us our eyes.03:53 Worker: For example, just in three months or it may be three and half months before, one worker died. 4:00 M.: His name was Babul.4:01 Interviewer: What’s his name?4:03 Worker: His name was Babul. 4:04 Interviewer: From where he came?4:05 Workers: Hasnabad. 04:06 Interviewer: Hasanbad?04:07 Workers: Yes, Hasnabad.04:10 Interviewer: How did he die?04:11 Mahamud: A iron plate fell on him.04:21 Interviewer: Okay, did the worker die in front of you?04:23 Workers: Yes, in front of us. …………………………04:27 Interviewer: How did he die, could you please explain? 04:32 M.: Okay, like one parda…04:41 Interviewer: What is parda?04:43 M.: Parda means the iron plate (load), means the parts of ships. This iron plate was being cut on its upper side. Suddenly, the load slipped down and fell on him and he died. 05:01 Interviewer: Did the load fall on him? 05:05 Worker: The steel plate fell on him and the heavy load crushed him. 05:15 M.: The plate was supposed to be secured so it could be cut from any side, but the load suddenly fell on him. Afterwards, the load was turned aside with a machine [a winch] to get the man out. We all helped to get him out. 05:42 Interviewer: When did the incident happen?05:44 Workers: It was 3 or 3.5 months ago. 05:46 Interviewer: 3 months or 3 and half months?05:47 Worker M.: Yes. On 19th April at around 10:00 pm or 11:00 pm. 05:57 Another worker: To get the dead body out from under the load, it took from 12 midnight to 1:00 am. 6:00 Interviewer: To get the dead body out?6:01 Workers: Yes. ……………………………………….. It was not possible to do without a machine. We all worked together with the machine. After attaching the machine, we were able to take the load off of the man. 6:22 Interviewer: How was the dead body after it was released from the load?6:24 M.: The metal plate was turned over with the machine and we saw that his appearance was changed. He was just smashed by the load. Our work is so risky that we always face deadly situations. 6:51 Interviewer: When anyone dies, do you stop your work? 6:55 Workers: Yes, we stop our work.6:57 Interviewer: Don’t you protest?7:00 Worker: The owner doesn’t allow it. If anyone protests, will be ousted. 7:07 Interviewer: What happens if workers protest? 7:11 Worker: Workers will be out if they protest. Workers will not be allowed then to stay in the field.7:17 Interviewer: Okay the worker who died in your field, what was his name?7:21 Worker: Babul.7:23 Interviewer: Did he get the compensation? 7:25 M.: Yes, very little amount, very insignificant amount. On the other hand, money is nothing to a life. If anyone lost his life, what will he do with the money? Is it possible to get the man alive again if the money is given? 7:50 Interviewer: Do you know how much was given to his family? Do you know anything regarding this? 7:56 M.: We heard that only 20,000 taka was given. 8:00 Interviewer: Didn’t you see while the money was given?8:02 M.: No, we didn’t see it.8:04 Interviewer: Wasn’t it provided in front of you?8:05 M.: No.8:08 Interviewer: What do you think about your working environment here?8:16 Worker: The environment is worse than a prison. We work here only to buy food to survive. Otherwise, it is not a workplace fit for a human being. I have no words to explain. My colleague might tell something, but I can’t explain. 8:39 Interviewer: Brother, what’s your name?8:41 Worker: My name is F..8:42 Interviewer: In which field are you working?8:43 F.: Lucky filed.8:44 Interviewer: For how long?8:46 F.: For 3/4 years. 8:49 Interviewer: Okay, a worker died here in Lucky field, is it true?8:54 Interviewer: What was his name? 8:55 F.: His name was Babul.8:57 Interviewer: Where is he from? 8:58 F.: Hasnabad.8:59 Interviewer: Hasnabad?9:00 Interviewer: How long ago did the worker die?9:03 F.: May be three or three and half months ago.9:05 Interviewer: Three and half months?9:06 F.: Yes.9:07 Interviewer: How did the worker die?9:08 F.: A huge iron plate fell on him. 9:13 Interviewer: Did he die in front of you?9:15 F.: Yes, he died in front of us.9:17 Interviewer: What was his position?9:18 F.: He was cutter.9:20 Interviewer: Cutter man?9:21 F.: Yes. 9:23 Interviewer: When he died in front of you, what did you do then?9:27 F.: We stopped our work and used a machine to pull the iron plate from him. He was disfigured with the pressure of load. This iron plate was huge and it took some time to work with it and we had to work till mid-night. Afterwards, his dead body was taken for post mortem. A lump-sump money was given to his parents. 10:03 Interviewer: What do you mean by lump-sump money, how much was given? 10:05 F.: Around 10,000 taka. 10:06 Interviewer: Not more than that?10:07 F.: Hmm.10:10 Interviewer: How do you feel working here/10:14 F.: What can I say. We are fighting with death always. This is not work. This is a place of punishment and death. 10:31 Interviewer: Brother, what’s your name?10:33 Worker: My name is A--. 10:34 Interviewer: A--?10:35 A.: Hmm.10:36 Interviewer: Which field are you working for? 10:38 A.: Lucky field.10:39 Interviewer: For how long?10:40 A.: Around for last 7/8 years.10:43 Interviewer: 7/8 years?10:44 A.: Yea.10:47 Interviewer: How much are you paid? 10:48 A.: I am getting…..do you intend to know my salary in a month or in 8 hour?10:54 Interviewer: In 8 hours.10:57 A.: In 8 hours, I get 145 taka. 10:59 Interviewer: What is the payment system here? Are you paid by month or by week?11:01 A.: The salary is paid on the 5th and 20th. Payment is given every 15 days. 11:05 Interviewer: How much do you get in 15 days?11:07 A.: 2,400 to 2,500 taka. 11:11 Interviewer: Are you happy with this salary?11:13 A.: No, this is very poor amount. We are obliged to do this work to survive. 11:18 Interviewer: Do you get sick working here?11:20 A.: Of course. …………11:24 Interviewer: Are you able to work 30 days a month?11:26 A.: No, it’s not possible.11:28 Interviewer: Why?11:29 A.: I cannot do this, because it’s very painful work. Our hands and legs are being hurt, burned by fire. We always have headaches, its very hard job.11:40 Interviewer: Have you every faced any dangerous situation while working? Or, did you see any danger?11:43 A.: Yes, I have seen. 11:45 Interviewer: How was that, please explain.11:46 A.: I have seen many worker’s legs and hands broken. Many workers died.11:53 Interviewer: As per your knowledge, do you know anyone died? 11:56 A.: Yes, of course, I know workers died.11:57 Interviewer: Please explain what happened?11:59 A.: A huge iron plate was raised up, the upper portion of it was cut and afterwards, the lower portion was being cut. While it was being cut on its lower portion, the whole plate fell on a worker. Then all the workers, 40-50 workers, all helped to pull the plate off with a machine. Then we took the man out from that place and took him to the office. The worker actually died on the spot. He just died there. We put him at the office and we all were ordered to get out from there. 12:52 Interviewer: What do you mean that you were all forced to get out? 12:54 A.: We were asked to get out from the office.12:56 Interviewer: Means, you all were asked to leave the field?12:58 A.: Yes. There was no work continued for that day after this incident. 13:01 Interviewer: So, what happened afterwards?13:04 A.: Afterwards, the management called by their cell phone to …13:13 Interviewer: His guardian was called, isn’t it?13:18 A.: Then it was dawn. We saw that the dead body was going out through the gate. After that we did not see the dead body. …………………………………………..13:38 Interviewer: What else deadly experience do you have? 13:40 A.: A man died by a huge load in front of my eyes, I cannot forget this scenario from my mind.13:48 Interviewer: So, did it upset you and hampers your work?13:50 A.: Yes, we don’t feel any interest to work. Now, we continue work due to our poverty and to manage food. 13:57 Interviewer: What is your native village?13:59 A.: Dorihat District, Akkelpur Police Station, Khatail Nagar. 14:05 Interviewer: Okay, how long did you say you worked here? 14:09 A.: It would be around 8/10 years. 14:13 Interviewer: 8-10 years?14:14 A.: Hmm. 14:15 Interviewer: Did you work in shipyards during this whole time?14:16 A.: Yes. I worked for this shipyard for last 8-10 years.14:21 Interviewer: To your knowledge, have you experienced many other dangerous incidents? 14:23 A.: Yes, many dangerous incidents happened in front of me.14:28 Interviewer: So, why do you work here after having experienced these incidents?14:30 A.: Because we are poor people. We have to mange food to survive. We cannot do anything except this work. Now, we are obliged to do this work.14:44 Interviewer: Is it possible for you to send some money to your home (village)?14:46 A.: We send money every month, but very small amount, may be around 2,000 to 2,500 taka are being sent to home somehow. After spending for house rent, food and other costs, I used to send 2,000 taka to my home. It is very big amount for me. 15:05 Interviewer: The amount of salary you are paid, are you happy with it?15:10 A.: No, we cannot manage anything with this salary. Even, a rickshaw puller can earn 400 to 500 taka per day, how can we manage with only 150 taka. Is it possible to run our family brother, no way. Abroad, workers involved with this ship breaking work, can earn huge amount of money. And, here we work 12 hours for only 150 taka. Moreover, sometimes we do not get our salary on time. We are doing it just for managing food to survive. Transcript #5: Interview with Workers from Lucky Shipbreaking Yard, also known as “M&M Shipbreaking Yard” July 15, 2009 22:10: NLC: How many… are they all from the same ship yard? Translator: They are from four shipyards… Translator: Lucky—L-U-C-K-Y. [and] Iron shipyard. Kabir Steel. K-A-B-I-R. Shafi shipyard, S-H-A-F-I. … NLC: So, they all work on the night shift? Workers: [nod heads] yes…25:50: Translator: In the back is Shufi, front is Lucky. NLC: Let’s do Lucky first then. NLC: So…Do they know the name of the ship they are working on now? Workers: [Not audible] NLC: so, how many ships are they dismantling? One, two, is it always one ship per yard? Workers: Three NLC: three ships? Workers: Three ships at a time NLC: And how many people work in Lucky?... Translator [to workers]: How many workers are there in total, day and night, cutters, helpers, everything Workers: [Discussion among themselves.] More than 1,000. Maybe 1200—all workers. NLC: so that’s a big yard. [Workers nod agreement.] How long does it take to dismantle a ship? Does it take a month and half or how long? 30:00 Workers: 6 months NLC: 6 months for a big tanker? And that’s working around the clock? Workers: 6 months NLC: So, when a ship is beached, and the electricity is cut off, can they tell us, how do they go into the ship and start dismantling the ship? So the ship is in complete darkness. What do they do first? How do they go into the ship and start dismantling it? Workers: Generators NLC: so when they work at night, they have lights inside the ship? Workers: At night, there is no work inside. NLC: No work inside? … Workers/Translator: Outside, on the ground. They work on the outside. NLC: So, they work on the outside? Workers: yes NLC: And as cutters, what are they doing? Cutting up the pieces, into what size? Workers: 8 feet by 10 feet. …seven feet. NLC: so it varies in size? Workers: Highest, Fifteen feet. Fifteen - sixteen feet. NLC: How wide?... Translator: They are explaining: There is a truck that carries the load. The truck has 15 feet length, so they cut to that size. NLC: But always 8 foot or…? Workers: 4 foot by 5 feet. Six feet. Seven feet. Maximum, 4 feet. NLC: So that’s what they do at night? They cut the plates up? The plates are lying on the ground? That’s what they are cutting? 34:15 Workers: Cut everything on the ground at night, into smaller pieces. Worker talking: Translator: he is giving an example. If they want to cut this [piece] in two parts. Cut in half and then cut, in two pieces. NLC: So what do the helpers do? Do they knock out the rust out of the way, where the cutter is going to cut? Workers/Translator: They carry the oxygen. They carry on [their] shoulder. [They gesture that the tank is large]. 35:35 [becomes dark] Workers/Translator: The helper just switch off, switch on. Keep the gas coming. Cutterman, the cutterman hold the torch or flame. He actually holds the flame. NLC: When the cutter is cutting, is it very hot? Do the flames and the fumes of the metal, does it bounce back off onto them? Are they breathing fumes and is it very hot? Workers/Translator: Their eyes are watering. Burns their eyes. They inhale these smells and gas enters the nose…. Headache and vomiting. Headache, nausea, fainting. [Various workers talking all together. ] NLC: Is it from the fumes? 37:50 Worker: Two days back, the same thing happened. NLC: is he inside or outside the ship? Workers/Translator: outside Workers/Translator: He says fumes go into the nose, gets dizzy. He has to go for fresh air, a few yards away. NLC: and what are the fumes? Fumes coming out of the metal being cut? Fumes are coming out of the metal? Workers/Translator: They come from the metal. And sometimes there is paint on the iron. Not only metal, there is also paint, burning. NLC: So there’s often paint… that would be lead paint… so they are cutting through the paint? Workers/Translator: Yes. Yes. It stinks, yeah? Filthy. Sometimes they cannot bear the… NLC: So this is a big yard, Lucky, this is a very big yard. Do they give them helmets and metal-tipped boots? Do they give them goggles and gloves and the whole works? Workers/Translator: No. Only gloves. The management only provides gloves to the cutterman, not the helper. And they don’t provide the helpers with boots or googles. Gloves, only cutter. NLC: So what do they use for goggles? Are they buying goggles? Workers/Translator: Sun glasses. They buy sunglasses. NLC: They don’t have aprons? Workers/Translator: No. No. Only some shirts. they buy gum boots….rubber boots NLC: Don’t their feet sweat inside those boots? Workers/Translator: Yes, and sometimes there is itching, sweating. NLC: Do they use socks Workers/Translator: They don’t use socks, they actually cut the pants and just use them those. Translator to workers: No socks. Workers: Zhute. Pieces of zhute. NLC: Are socks just too expensive? Workers: The gumboots are big, big. Workers/translator: Sometimes the flames go inside, through the boot. Translator: Not jute they mean “zhute”. “Zhute means garments—reject products. NLC: So, it could be a piece of pants or it could be a shirt. [Workers nod their heads] the boots are pretty big then? Workers: Yes. 44:00 NLC: but they’re also big sizes? Are the boots like size ten or twelve? Workers/Translator: bigger than their foot. NLC: Do they get infections from the constant sweating in the boots? Workers/Translator: It’s so hot. They say that sometimes they take it off. And get like fresh air sometimes. But their legs, their feet get hot. NLC: And they work 12 hours every night? How many hours do they work? Workers/Translator: Eight to 8. Regularly. But sometimes more hours. NLC: When was the last time they worked longer? Workers/Translator: Mostly about about 12 hours. NLC: twelve hours. And do they work five days and six days a week? Workers/Translator: They work Fridays, because if they take, they don’t get paid NLC: so how many days off a month do they take? 46:50 Workers/Translator: Three days. Average 3 days. NLC: At most 3 days? Average 3 days or at most 3 days. Workers/Translator: Average 3 days but [if they get] sick, more days. NLC: They don’t get paid sick days either. Workers/Translator: Three days minimum. Three days they don’t work in a month. NLC: Three days? Three days minimum or maximum. Workers/Translator: minimum. NLC: So sometimes they take more days? Workers/Translator: Minimum 3, maximum 4 days. Sometimes they are sick. Sometimes they say prayers on Fridays. Sometimes they have some relative come. So sometimes they don’t work three Fridays, and maximum 4 days. NLC: And what do the cutters earn in a month? Workers/Translator: One hundred sixty, seventy. NLC: Around 170 for the senior operator…? Workers/Translator: umm…160 [$2.33] or 170 [$2.47] for 8 hours. But they work 12 hours, then they get accordingly, proportionally. [$2.33 to $2.47 per 8 hour shift = 29 to 31 cents an hour] NLC: They don’t get paid overtime premium or do they? 50:00 Workers/Translator: Actually, for 8 hours they only get 160 or 170. For hours overtime they get paid regular, not double. Sometimes they work 8 hours, 10 hours, 12 hours. NLC: How often do they work the 12 hour shift, is that very rare? Workers/Translator: No. No. …They say if they work seven hours, then they’ll not get 170, they will divide by eight and they will calculate per hour. If they work seven hours then they will not get 170, they will get less pay. Then they’ll 170 divide 8 and multiply by the number of hours. NLC: how often do they work 12, is it very rare? The 12 hour shift. Workers/Translator: He’s saying, in a month 16 to 18 days, we work 12 hours. NLC: When do they take a supper break, their breaks? Workers/Translator: Before they join work at 8:00 they take supper. But there is a break at 10 and they take some tea or snacks. NLC: Is that their only break in the night? 52:10 Workers/Translator: And also at 2 a.m. early morning. NLC: Biscuit? Tea? Workers/Translator: biscuit and tea, yeah. Not for the day workers, only for night workers. NLC: So the company pays for the tea and biscuit. Workers/Translator: Yes. The company provides. NLC: is it a half an hour break? How long is the break? Workers/Translator: Half an hour, 30 minutes. NLC: how about at 10 o’clock, how long is that break? Workers/Translator: Half an hour, But they have to pay for tea or coffee or biscuits. 53:30 NLC: how long do the gloves last that the company gives them? Workers/Translator: Ten days NLC: then they give them new ones? Workers/Translator: Yes, every ten days. NLC: every ten days… Workers/Translator: yes, four times a month. They are not high quality. 54:10 NLC: and what do they use for… do they wrap bandanas around their face? How do they block the fumes? Workers/Translator: no, no medicine NLC: but do they use bandanas? Workers/Translator: no, they use nothing. No, nothing. They don’t use anything on the face. NLC: they don’t use bandanas… to block… Workers/Translator: No. Only gloves. NLC: But they wear glasses right? Workers/Translator: They buy the sunglasses. NLC: They wear glasses. Do they wear hats so sparks don’t get in their hair? Workers/Translator: Cap. [a worker shows baseball cap.] they buy these caps. NLC: and do they wear a handkerchief or a bandana around their faces to stop the fumes? Workers/Translator: No NLC: So, they don’t use anything. Workers/Translator: mask, yes a mask. They don’t use anything, like any mask or… NLC: Just sunglasses and a baseball cap? 56:39 Workers: Yes. NLC: Just a few more questions about Lucky… Translator: These (pointing to workers in front of camera) are Lucky. NLC: At Lucky, how many kids work at Lucky? You know, young people. Anybody working there that’s ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen? Workers: He is sixteen. [Points to worker in orange shirt.] NLC: When did he start? Workers: 5 months. NLC: how many kids? Are there 12-year olds working there? Workers: 10 to 20 NLC: an how old are they? Are you talking about 12 year-olds, 13 year-olds? 58:18 Workers: 10, 12 years. NLC: And they only work on the day shift, or they work at night too? Workers: Both day and night shift…. [Young worker in orange shirt speaks with translator] NLC: What’s his job? He works at night too? Workers/Translator: He carries bottles. He cleans the metal. NLC: Does he work seven days a week or does he take time off too? 1:00:00 Young workers/Translator: In June, he works only 6 days, 4 days off. Plus he’s saying he is sick. …. In July he worked eleven days because he was sick. NLC: Have there been any injuries at the ship yard lately? …Not only him, everybody. Has there been any injuries at the ship yard lately, at lucky? Workers/Translator: He is saying it is common. Worker shows his toes. Workers/Translator: …fall down, on his toes. NLC: Does he work barefoot? Without shoes? Workers/Translator: He does wear, but it doesn’t work. NLC: the boots? Okay. 1:02:00 NLC: Have there been any serious injuries in Lucky. Not just with him. Anybody. At Luckyend of tape Transcript #6 Meeting with Workers from the Bhatiary Steel Shipbreaking Yard February 14, 2009 Meeting beginsTranslator: I am telling them that what the, working conditions, how they feel, they should be honest with us. We’ll learn and then we’ll come again to work with them on these issues so there is a solution. NLC: We thank people for meeting with us. We’re from New York City in the United States, and we’re here to ask questions so we can try to help. So that’s why we’re asking questions. We might have the ability to put pressure on some of the big shipping companies to improve conditions for the workers. And for years we’ve worked closely with the National Garment Workers Federation and so that’s how we know Bangladesh. So, they work as ship breakers? On the inside or outside of the ships?Workers: Shipbreakers. Cutting. Cutting. Both inside and outside.NLC: And what’s it like inside? We’ll talk about the inside first.Older man, back of group: The main problem when we work inside there are, some wheels, oil, oil barrels, chemicals, gas. This creates problems.NLC: breathing and burns? Worker (directly, not through translator): Gas gas, very problem …Man in checkered shirt: Gas goes in the nose. Explosion. And people die from these things.NLC: and I mean, when did that happen? Was there an explosion a year ago? Man in checkered shirt: one month agoNLC: and what happened? There was an explosion inside the ship?Man beside guy in checkered shirt: Some weight fell on the body, on the head. Some wrought iron on the head.NLC: was the person hurt?Workers: dead. Spot dead. [Died on the spot.]NLC: this was about a month ago?Workers: one month ago.NLC: what ship was it?Man in corner: Rasa Quasem. Q-U-A-S-E-M NLC: That’s the owner? The owner’s name?Translator: YesNLC: Did they know the name of the ship?Man in checkered shirt: The accident is very common.NLC: So this is the shipyard?Translator: This is the owner of the shipyardNLC: So that shipyard would be in this town? Checkered shirt guy: Five or six kilometers awayNLC: so when they’re inside the ship, they’re breathing in gas fumes? Worker: Very [serious] problemNLC: and there’s very little ventilation inside the ship, I guess?Worker: The owner does not take care of the health or safety of the workers.NLC: He doesn’t care? They don’t care.NLC: And inside the ship there’s not much ventilation? No air coming through?Workers: Yes. There is no way for air to enter…yeah. The ship houses have air conditioning, but when they sold for breaking, they disconnect the air conditioning so there is nothing for air to go in and pass.NLC: Is it very very hot? I mean, way hotter than outside?Worker: Hot. Sweating, and very hot. NLC: So they are sweating constantly?NLC: Is it hotter outside than it is in the sun?Worker: Outside is cooler. Inside is hotter because there is no air.NLC: Do they have to wear heavy clothing because they’re welding and cutting the metal? So on top of it being hot, are they wearing like, two layers of shirts, hat, mask?Worker: (Murmuring no)…The company doesn’t give any uniforms.NLC: no gloves, no mask?Workers: No. No maskNLC: And what about boots? Do they give them boots?Worker: Workers have to buy [them].NLC: The boots, are they hard toed? Rubber boots?Translator: They are saying, when the ship comes, in the ship, they are to buy from the owner. They are mandatory, the owner to bought the ship, he sells to them.NLC: There are boots inside the ship that he sells back to the workers?Workers: They are soft and hard.NLC: And who works inside? Does anybody work inside as a cutter?(Worker indicates that he is a cutter)NLC: What’s it like, do they use a blow-torch to cut the…?Worker: Cutting torch. …LP oxygen.NLC: A torch?Worker: LPR oxygen. LPR oxygen and through a cutting torch.NLC: It’s oxygen, but it’s a blow torch? Which has a flame?(Workers nod heads)Worker: Two lines. The cutting one in and the pure oxygen that, the torch flames.NLC: LPR oxygen?Workers Together: (nod heads) LPR oxygen. Oxygen.Translator: Pure oxygen with the burning flame. LPR.Workers: Liquefied gas.NLC: And so how do they cut it? How do they control where the metal is going to fall, when they are cutting like that?Worker/translator: Sometimes they catch it and cut it. Sometimes they cannot control it. NLC: And it just falls.NLC: and when their cutting like that, are there fumes that they are breathing in or is it just the heat?Workers: Both the heat and flame. It has a smell. NLC: and do they wear masks?Worker: NoNLC: do they wrap bandanas around?Worker/translator: Yes. Yes. They have some scarves.NLC: And they have gloves?Worker: YesNLC: Do they ever get burnt, with the sparks?Worker: Yes (One worker displays various scars)NLC: They must wear goggles? Translator: They have bought goggles.NLC: and how many hours do they work, cutting like that? Worker: 7 in the morning ‘til 7:00.NLC: Seven a.m. until 7:00 p.m.?Worker: Yes, 7:00 to 7:00 is regular. But sometimes 8, 9, 10.NLC: And is there a night shift or it just one shift?Worker: Two shifts, it never stops.NLC: It never stops, it goes 24 hours a day, it never stops.NLC: So the regular shift is from 7:00 in the morning to 7:00 o’clock at night, but sometimes they’ll work to 8:00, 9:00, or 10:00?Workers: Yes, when there heavy work pressure…NLC: When was the last time they worked until 9:00 or 10:00 o’clock?Worker: Four days back.NLC: Are they saying that there’s someone who works at night from 7:00 at night to 7:00 in the morning?Translator: No not that… of course they also work till nine. NLC: It never stops.NLC: Ok, so in other words, like, how many times would they work until 10 o’clock in a month or a week? Like would it happen twice a week?Worker: Five days.NLC: Five days until 10…to 9:00.Translator: five days until 9:00.NLC: A weekNLC: And how many days a week do they work? Worker: 7 daysNLC: And when was the last time they had a day off?Worker: Last Friday, 5 hoursNLC: Friday’s five hours Worker: Seven to 12:00NLC: and so they don’t take any days off during the month?Workers/Translator: Last month there were 30 days…. They worked 31 days in December, January 31 days. February, nonstop, 28 days. They will work 28 days in February. Worker: 14th of FebruaryTranslator: (laughing). Good, you know the date.NLC: And what is their salary?Worker: The work we do in return, we do not get paid. Fifteen an hour, 15 taka. NLC: Fifteen taka [22 cents] an hour.NLC: And overtime, it’s 30 taka [44 cents] an hour? Worker: Same. Overtime is same.NLC: Overtime is same.Translator: Only 15 taka.NLC: So if they work 10 hours they only getting 150 taka [$2.18]?(Workers nod heads)Translators: For working 10 hours, they get 150 taka. NLC: And do they get Eid and other vacation holidays?(Workers nod heads)Workers/Translator: Without pay. No pay. No bonus. No leave, no pay. In addition to that, they cut our salary. They never give us leave. The money, they keep in their hands so they are bonded. They have to come, to get that money. That is to make sure that they will work.NLC: they hold back a week’s wages?Worker: One weeks’ payNLC: And what shipyard do they work in, what’s the name?Workers: Bhatiary Steel. NLC: They have several ships they are working on or just one ship?Worker: Many, many. Translator: They are working on one, and other is coming… Next… February 26 or 27 another one is comingNLC: How many workers are on a ship?Worker: Four hundred on a ship.NLC: So, about 400 workers dismantle one ship...that’s the day shift and the night shift?Worker: Only in day. Translator: They are saying, now in the market the cost of raw iron has gone down because the new political government has taken [over]. Now, since the price of the unit cost has gone down, they are not working at night. But just two months back they worked at night. There are now 400 workers.NLC: And do they get any kind of health care or medical care?Translator: They are saying, if they are sick, the company only give them medicine, but if workers cannot work, they will not get sick leave. No sick leave. No sick leave.NLC: So if they don’t feel well, they just have to take the day off and get no pay?Workers: No work, no pay…. [Workers discuss and gesture among themselves.]NLC: What happened? Translator: Some raw iron fall down on his… he cannot be stand now. He has to bend like… He cannot upright his body.NLC: What did they do? What’s happening? Did they put him to a hospital or anything?Worker: NoNLC: and when did this happen?Worker: Four days backTranslator: Hurt his back.Translator: So, he cannot go to work and no payNLC: Even though he was injured inside the ship or outside?Worker: Outside the shipNLC: And what, a chunk of metal fell on his back?Worker: He was carrying [it] on his shoulder. It slipped down. [He] got hurt here. Like this. Waist?... [He indicates his lower back.]Workers/translator: There were four or five men was carrying that. The four, they left [got out]. …They are saying four workers were carrying. It was so heavy, they cannot bear. The four left and all the weight fall down on [him] …Translator: The four people left because they could not bear it.NLC: And the company doesn’t do anything for him?Workers: No, nothing. Single worker: (speaking independently) No oneNLC: (regarding injured worker) how old is he? Worker: 32, yes.Translator: he is from a district in Vanderoon …the Hill Area?NLC: How many years has he been working?Translator: He is a newcomer. He work nine days. After working five days, he got hurt.NLC: And are there any young… are there any kids working in the shipyard?Workers: (nodding heads) Translator: Twelve years. Helper. They are saying, the child workers are working helpers [to those] who cut **. They just supply things.NLC: they just supply the…NLC: and how old are they? Like 14, 15 or younger…Workers: 11, 12, 13. 12, 13.NLC: And how many, about?Workers: 10, 15.NLC: And the company gives them housing? They give them free…Workers: [Those] who are cutters, they have to arrange [their] house independently. But [those] who carry weight, like him, the company has some housing on the inside. In the dock yard.NLC: So this would be a company room? Workers: Not a company room. Rented. 500 taka for rent. NLC: And how many people live here?Workers: Four workersNLC: Four workers live here.NLC: And when it rains, does it leak through the roof?Workers: Tin on topNLC: They have tin up topNLC: So this is… four workers, this is their whole house here?Workers/Translator: (Pointing to a small stove) They cook hereNLC: What’s their basic diet? What do they eat?Workers: Aloo. Potato. NLC: Mashed potatoes?Workers: Vegetables. Rice is commonTranslator (asking workers): daal?Workers: sometimes. Lentils twice a week.NLC: So, they don’t eat meat or fish?Workers: Meat, twice or once a month. Maximum once…Workers/Translator: They say mutton is very expensive. Beef is cheaper. They eat beef once a month. Some, every four or five months. He’s saying one kilogram [2.2 lbs] of mutton is 300, 350 taka [$4.36, $5.09], so how can they buy…300…? [laughing]Workers: No money…[Laughing]NLC: How long do people last as ship breakers? Do people tend to leave after 5 years, or can they stay 10 years?Worker/Translator: He has been working here for 20 years.NLC: And has it gotten better over those 20 years?Worker: Same. Same. No salary increase. No improvement. No overtime pay. NLC: No wage increase. No overtime pay?Translator: They say, inside the work 8 hours. Outside…overtime is mostly done outside because… Because of the risk of accidents inside. NLC: and when they’re….do they ever deal with like asbestos? Like on the pipes, the pipes will have insulation around the pipes and it’s often like a hard white material.Translator: Yes, they are familiar with asbestos. It is attached to it, to the pipe inside. Inside the wall. Inside the boiler They notice asbestos. Inside the chimney….you know “chimney”? NLC: And do they have to dismantle that asbestos as well?Translator: They must wash, clean the asbestos, and then they cut it.NLC: They clean it? They wash it with water?Translator: With a hammer.NLC: So they wet it first…and then they hit it with a hammer? To break it or…Translator: To clean it.NLC: does dust come up when they do that? Workers: Yes! Yes! Small pieces…dust comes up. Chips.NLC: Have people told them that the asbestos is dangerous? Workers/ Translator: Many people have died from this gas burst.NLC: what? From the gas fumes or…Workers/ Translator: When they cut the tank, its a big tank and it is very tight [sealed] tank. When they cut then gas comes out. When it comes out it becomes sound. It’s a very noisy sound and is a very dangerous element in the tank. When they cut it, when they leak it, then the sound comes, poisonous elements, liquid gas comes out and workers die. NLC: Has that happened to anybody when they’re working? Do they feel dizzy when the gas comes out? Translator: He witnessed this. NLC: So the worker’s get dizzy? Workers: Burning, so burning. They’re eyes burning. Dizziness and vomiting… Translator: They’re saying, when they cough, this comes from, through coughs. …the pieces, the gas comes through their coughs. NLC: and so inside the ship, how hot would it be? Can they estimate?Workers: Very very hot. The temperature now, it’s more than twice this…NLC: Like, is it this temperature, or is it hotter? Workers: When we cut, our eyes burn, very hot, sweating, it seems, it’s like hell.Worker/Translator: Dark…When they cut with the flame, only they see this. Otherwise it’s dark. When they cut, there’s a flame. Only we see the flame. Otherwise we can’t see anything. It’s quite dark. NLC: So it makes it even more dangerous, if it’s pitch dark like that. (Workers nod in agreement)NLC: So there’s not a lot of lights inside the ship? Workers: No because on the inside, because they disconnected all the electricity. NLC: So there’s not light inside the ship? Worker: When they… actually comes in and is anchored, they cut all this electrification.NLC: So do they use candles or flashlights? How do you get around? Translator: They take a flame with them. NLC: And that’s it?…In other words they don’t have a flashlight.Translator: That flame…that means the cutting flame.NLC: Yeah they just have it on a little bit, so the cutting flame is their only light?Workers: Nothing else.NLC: So no flashlight…it must be very dangerous walking in the ship like that. Workers: Very very dangerous.Worker: I work in the ship. I know how dangerous it is.NLC: It could be all wet or greasy you could fall on the stairs, right? Workers: First cutting apart then gradually going.NLC: And how long does it take to cut through? Say they are going to cut out like…do they cut out rectangles…say like four foot by like twelve foot, how long does it take to make that cut? Workers: Fifteen feet. One day. It takes one day…15 feet by 4 feet.NLC: 15 feet? NLC: So to cut it out, 15 feet by 4 feet, to cut the whole thing out takes a whole day… Translator: It depends on the thickness. They are saying 4 hours, 3 hours, 8 hours… There’s some complexity in the system so it depends on the shape, size, and thickness of the metal.NLC: And it’s one person doing it or several?Worker: There’s a helper. The cutters have helpers.NLC: And when they’re doing this, they’re actually doing it in the pitch dark except for the flame? I mean, they’re in the pitch dark with the flame, cutting it? Worker/Translator: Another problem. Sometimes they need to close or force off the flame… Sometimes the flame is on, they need to turn it off. So whenever their cutting mission [is done], they are to turn it off with their mouth. He is showing. …The volume of the flame. Volume is increasing or decreasing. NLC: These…are they attached to big tubes of oxygen or gas?Worker: Two tubes. A red tube and white tube…black tube. Red means LP and black is oxygen. NLC: Red, and what’s the oxygen?Translator: LP means liquid gas and black is oxygen gas. Translator: Maybe…I will film it… how is black…the two LP. He wants us to come at 10:00, and then they show physically… how to fill oxygen, LP, how to cut, and we can have a snap [photo].NLC: When is this? Translator: They say tomorrow. NLC: And so when they’re cutting like that, are there fumes coming out of the metal? Workers/Translator: When they spit, it’s like black colored spit. When they cough, it’s black. It’s color is black. NLC: And in the ship, is it common for like oil or gas to just go into the ocean or do they collect all that? Worker: Some rubbish things it goes into the water. Chemical. Waters become contaminated with mixing all these chemicals. NLC: So they have gas going into the water and oil. And when they go into the ship, we went by one of the ships today, it seemed as if they were taking people up to the top of the ship. They would put one foot in a bucket and they were pulling the rope up. Workers/Translator: They did it sometimes. So this is lifting. …OutsideNLC: And in the inside of the ship they work 8 hours? From when to when? Worker: 8:00 to 5:00. NLC: And they get an hour for lunch? Worker: Yes, one hour rest. One hour break. Translator: They work 9 hours, 9:00 to 5:00 but they paid only 8 hours.NLC: You said 9:00 to 5:00?NLC: He said 8:00 to 5:00 before, no? Worker: Sometimes 7:00. Sometimes 8:00. Now, this time, this month, from 7:00 to 5:00. But they pay only 9 hours. NLC: And before, when the metal was at a higher cost, did they work more hours inside? Worker: Ten. To 10:00 at night. …Then they had the night shift. 24 hours.NLC: They had a night shift… So just like two months ago when the price was high, they’d be working 13 hours…15 hours. And when they worked from 7:00 o’clock until 10:00 o’clock at night, did they also get a supper break or a lunch break? Workers: For 20 minutes. 5:00 to 5:20. NLC: they get what?Translator: Break. 5:00 to 5:20 in the afternoon. NLC: 5 to 5:20…that’s all? Translator: But they don’t give any refreshment. No tea…no biscuit…no tea. They do not get any food. NLC: And they have to bring their own lunch then?(workers nod)NLC: And what does a cutter earn? More than 15 taka? Workers: 15 taka [22 cents] maximum. NLC: 15 Taka?Worker/Translator: Now recently, they have increased to 20 taka [29 cents].NLC: When did they increase it?Workers: After the new government come. That means one month. One month ago. 100 for helpers…110, 120. …One hundred to 120 maximum. [$1.45, $1.60, $1.74 a day, eight hours] NLC: But it’s against the law that they don’t their Eid bonus. Workers: No Eid bonus.NLC: By law, they should be getting overtime pay. By law. Workers: No. No overtime pay.NLC: And what would happen if they asked the boss ‘how come we’re not getting our overtime, it’s the law’. Workers: “Out. Out” “The gate is open, go”. “Get out.” [Laugher]Workers all saying: “get out”NLC: especially if they work on a Friday, on the weekend, they should be getting double-time, right? Rafiq: 7:00 to 5:00…five hours. Five hours. Seven until 12:00, but they don’t get overtime according to law.NLC: And have they received any help from anybody? Has anybody struggled on their behalf?Workers: Nobody help us. We are alone. Nobody help us.Worker: “No help” …NLC: It’s a very hard life. They’re working seven days a week for such low wages and such dangerous conditions.WorkersTranslator: They are very poorly paid. Because we have to do it to survive. To fill our stomachs. And then they have to die. …He’s saying we’re eating vegetables because we cannot afford it. He’s saying, he doesn’t remember when he last eat beef or mutton.Worker/Translator: He’s saying that during the [kurba?] –that means Sacraficial Eid, you know? Some rich man gave him. This is the time he [last] ate beef. …We’re saying, we are laughing, but it is our sorrow, it is to relieve our sorrow.They are saying that they are from another part of Bangladesh…they have their families there. They have to give money to their families so they can survive. So how can we have money for beef? NLC: How much can they send home to their families each month?Worker: 700…800… [$10.17…$11.63]NLC: 700, 800 a month.NLC: $10…NLC: And so, they can’t spend any money on themselves. Worker: Hardly can we buy some medicine, very urgent we spend money. For buying medicine… very urgently. Basically, like [for] having a shirt, pants. Translator: I’m asking if they go to cinema or movie theater. No, never go.NLC: So they never go to a movie theater?Worker: Nooo…NLC: They never go out to eat….they never go out to a restaurant to eat. Worker: Nooo… Even we cannot go out on Fridays. NLC: So they don’t really do anything to relax or have fun? Workers: Then we cannot send 700 taka to our families. NLC: So if they got a few hours on a Friday night, what do they like to do just to relax?Workers: Sleep. Sleep. Sleep, or just move around. To rest. Sometimes we discuss [it] ourselves. This is our life.NLC: And the Ministry of Labor doesn’t help them either? Do they ever come here? Worker/Translators: He’s complaining that during the caretaker government, the prices of essential commodities were so high, almost… That time was very very critical for them. We bought 1 kilogram of rice at the cost of 40 taka [58 cents]… Sometimes people didn’t have enough food to eat. Only they have puffed rice. During that time they could not have a full stomach. Half-fed actually. They are half fed….Worker/Translator: He’s saying, they are very happy. They feel so thrilled that you came here to learn their stories. It is thrilling for them.NLC: well everybody has a right to be treated like a human being. And the big companies that own those ships have to take more responsibility for the workers. Worker/Translator: They are also afraid, they are also apprehensive that the local owner can—if they know that we are speaking the truth, they could harass them. It is very risky. NLC: They have to be careful of course. They have to be very careful. Transcript #7: Meeting with shipbreaking workers of the Pupali Enterprise and GD Subadar Shipyards February 2009NLC: We should talk with the workers of one shipyard at a time, so it doesn’t get confusing.. Let’s start with Pupali Enterprise. So there is only one shift, during the day now?Workers: 8:00 to 8:00. Day shift. 8:00 to 5:00, regular. 5:00 to 8:00 overtime.NLC: And is there light at 8:00 o’clock when they are working?Workers: We work sometimes until 11 at night.NLC: How can they work in the dark?Workers: [Indicating a light in the room] This type of light.NLC: So they have big florescent lights. Are they out on the beach, or on the ship?Workers: Outside… open place.NLC: They work from 8:00 to 5:00 and what time is lunch.Workers: 1:00 to 2:00… one hourNLC: And when they work until 8:00 pm, when do they have supper?Workers: If we work until 10:00 we are given 30 taka [44 cents U.S.] food allowance.NLC: Are they fed during that time? Do they eat at 8:00 o’clock at night or what?Workers: We eat at 10. We take supper at 10 at night.NLC: Do they work 6 days a week or 7?Workers. No work. No pay. [If] we get the day off, we don’t get paid.NLC: How many days do they work?Workers: 26 days. 26 or 27 days a month. We work on a daily basis….26 days, 27 days, there is no hard and fast rule.NLC: It depends on how much work there is?Workers/translator: It’s hard labor. They put in hard labor, so sometimes they need to take the day off.NLC: So how often would they work until 10 o’clock in a month.Workers: Three or 4 days. …Regularly until 8:00 pm.NLC: What do they get paid?Workers: 300 taka [$4.36]…300, 300, 200 [$2.91], 200, 200, 200, 200… cutter, cutter, welder…NLC: The skilled cutters, they get 300… [$4.36 a day, 8 hours]Translator: Some get 300, some 200 [$2.91].NLC: And the ones that get 200 they are…Translator: JuniorNLC: Junior workers?Workers: Less than 12…NLC: And is that for the eight hours?Workers: Eight hours.NLC: Do they pay overtime?Workers: Regular.. regular [not double time]NLC: They said they work is very hard. What do they do?Workers: We cut the rods or iron with the flame…[?] are helping us. The fumes go [in]to our nose and mouth. And there is heat from the fire. It is an open place, not in the shade.NLC: So they are not working on the ship, maybe they are only working on pieces of the ship. Is that it?Translator: Yes. Outside.NLC: Are there people who work inside the ship? What I am getting at is that this might be a whole different operation where the ship is dismantled and then brought to another yard, where they break the stuff apart.Workers: We don’t work on the inside.NLC: Do they work right next to the ship?Workers: Close to where the ship is… …100 yards away.NLC: Is it the same company that is dismantling the ship? The same company they work for?Workers: Same owner. Same shipyard.NLC: So there are people who work inside. They are just not here?Worker: I work inside..inside.NLC: What does he do inside.Worker: I have cut eight ships inside. I have had the experience of cutting inside eight ships.NLC: But he is still only earning 200 taka.Worker: 300 takaNLC: Inside the ship, what does he exactly do as a cutter?Worker: All the material inside the ship is iron. So first we mark and then part by part we cut the iron. Part by part, it falls on the ground or in the water. And then some other workers bring the parts to land.NLC: When they are cutting, how do they know it is going to fall out-the-way and not fall in on them? …Worker: We will work until 11:00 today. When we work until 11:00.NLC: So they got a tea break for an hour.. So…how do they know it is not going to fall in-the-way.Workers: Wire. Wire. Suppose this is the ship and we have to dismantle this part. We have big, very thick wire, and big ropes and a system to bind. We will be cutting, and other workers will pull.NLC: They drill holes in the wall… and is it rope or cable?Translator: They call it “wire”.NLC: And, they cut the pieces like 4-foot by 15-foot?Worker: Twenty feet by 20 feet. 20-feet by 20 feet is the biggest we cut.NLC: And when they are cutting, is there light inside the ship or is it darkness?Workers: In the dark. It is dark inside… All of the electrical system is cut, so there is no light inside.NLC: So how do they move around?Various Workers: Though it is dark, but sometimes we make a door for light. We try to make a window, a small window, by cutting, so natural light comes in, not full light, but at least you can see something.NLC: And inside the ship it must be very hot?—or is it cool?Workers: Hot! Very hot. We are sweating. Everyone gets soaked.NLC: And do they give them special glovers and masks? Workers: Helmet. Gloves… The company gives them.NLC: Are there fumes from the heat and the cutting?Workers: Yes. Yes. [The workers gesture, showing how they try to cover their mouths and noses with a bandana.]NLC: They they don’t have a real mask.Workers/translator: No. This type of scarf. It is a local traditional type of scarf.NLC: So that scarf is good enough to keep out the fumes and the dust?Workers: It is not enough. Every time we breathe, the fumes go inside.NLC: Does their clothing get burned from sparks?Workers: Yes. It is common. [They show the burn holes in the shirts they are wearing.]NLC: And do they wear other shirts?...because it would burn right through to their skin.Translator: Inside is their base [layer]… another one inside.NLC: They are wearing two shirts, is that it?Workers/Translator: Yes, two shirts. Like this man [show how one of the workers is wearing two shirts.]NLC: Has anyone in this shipyard been hurt, say within the last couple of months?Workers: Regularly. …I was a cutter. My helper died, six years ago.NLC: Why?Worker: He fell down from the top to the bottom. Inside. 100 feet. You saw some ropes. He was climbing from the bottom. He slipped and fell down dead. Inside.NLC: So inside the ship, do they actually have to climb up on ropes to do the cutting?Workers: Inside sometimes, inside the ship there are ropes.NLC: So when they are cutting. How do they climb up? How do they get into a position to cut?Worker: It is called a floating stair. NLC: Bamboo and rope?Translator: Yes. Bamboo stairs.NLC: Bamboo and rope?Translator: Bamboo and rope.NLC: It must be difficult to be on the ladder and cutting at the same time.Workers: Risky. Very risky. [One worker shows how he holds the rope with one hand and cuts with the other.]Translator: He is showing you. He is showing you how he cuts.NLC: Within the last two or three months, has anyone been injured on this job?Workers: No. Not in this yard. Maybe in another yard. It is common. There are maybe a hundred yards, so somewhere an accident may have taken place.NLC: Are they from Chittagong, or are they from elsewhere?Workers: From the north. …Chittagong. Chittagong. North. Translator: So two are from the north and the rest are local people.NLC: And the workers from the north, do they live in dormitories.Workers: Most of us are from north Bengal. We live in a public house.NLC: Do a number of workers rent a single room or what?Workers: Yes. Yes… Depending on the people—four, five, six, eight. If it is a big room even 20 people sleep on the floor. We share.NLC: Do they ever come into contact with asbestos. Insulation? Do they know what it is?...Translator: They know there is asbestos inside. That it is insulated.NLC: How do they dismantle that?Workers: It is attached to the plate. I have to break the asbesdos. Otherwise I cannot cut.NLC: So the asbesdos is attached to the plate. It is often up against the plate.Translator: It is attached to the plate. They first cut or break the asbesdos. Then they cut the plate.NLC: How do they break the asbesdos.Workers: With a hammer, and cut it into pieces.NLC: What do they do with the asbesdos.Worker: They company sometimes sells the pieces of asbesdos to another company. They sell it.NLC: Does dust come out, with the hammer.Worker: Not too much. We work with a scarf.. [He indicates how the workers use their scarves to cover their mouths and noses.]NLC: But when they are hammering it, does dust come out?Worker: It is itchy. If it gets on the hand or skin it is itchy.NLC: But even with the mask on. Does it work its way through and make the face itchy?Workers: Yes. Sometimes it tickles. There are small particles, and it is itchy.NLC: When they are dismantling the ship, do they drill holes to drain the oil and the gas into the ocean?Worker: yes..NLC: What goes out? The gasoline and oil?Worker: Black oil. An oil and water mixture. It stinks.NLC: Does they company hold back any of their wages, like does it hold a weeks wages back.Workers: One weeks wages.NLC: Why.Workers: We are paid weekly. We get paid every week.NLC: Why? Why do they hold back a week’s pay?Workers: To hold the workers. To control the workers… Some workers left the factory because of a grievance.NLC: So, they hold back one week’s wages…and why do they do it? To keep them in the shipyard?Translator: To keep them in the factory.NLC: The people from the North, when they first get their jobs do they actually borrow money ahead of time, so they actually owe the company money when they start working?Workers: An advance. It is common. Some brokers give an advance.NLC: So how much of an advance would they take?Worker: One thousand [taka] [$14.53], two thousand [$29.07], five thousand [$72.67]. It depends… Sometimes it depends on how much the wage will be.NLC: Do they pay it off quickly? Or do they keep having a debt?Workers: Gradually. Slowly.NLC: Do they have to pay interest on it?Workers: No. No. No interest.NLC: So how long does it take to pay it off?Workers: Three, four, five months to pay the loan… [Discussion]Translator: They need to go to work…NLC: How long will they work.Workers: Maybe until 8:00, 9:00 [p.m.]. We don’t know. They will give us full time on Friday.NLC: Are there any children who work in this shipyard?Workers: No.NLC: Is anybody helping them?Workers: No…NLC (BB): Did they say they would work all day on Friday?Worker: yes. We will work on Friday. Before a delivery we work on Friday.NLC: So they work an average of 26 or 27 days a month?Workers: 20 days, 25, 26, 27NLC: So it is not really set? Sometimes they have 10 days off because there is no work?Workers: Yes. If no work, we get ten days off…but don’t get paid.NLC: And Eid holiday?Workers: Yes.NLC: Do they get the bonus?Workers: [In English] No work, no pay. No work, no pay.NLC: So on average, how much do they work in a month?Workers: Six thousand [$87.21], 7000 [$101.74], 5000 [$72.67] a month. It depends. Four-to-eight thousand [$58.14 - $116.28].NLC: And as an example of their diet. With their wages, are they often able to buy chicken and mutton?Workers: No. Oh, no. With this salary, it is not possible. …maybe every two months, every two months.NLC: What?Translator: …they can get meat.NLC: So have things gotten better or are they pretty much the same over the years? Is it much better now than it was 4 or 5 years ago?Workers: Same as before. No change…NLC: So at this point, no one is helping them?Workers: No one. Not government, union, Ministry of Labor, no.NLC: When you work overtime, you are supposed to get an overtime premium.Workers: No. They don’t give you. If you work two hours, you get two hours.NLC: If they were to make any demands, what would the most important demands be?Workers:Number 1: 8 hours duty.Overtime double [pay].Increased salary.According to ILO…international standardCompany should look after our benefits our health…NLC: They don’t have health care.Workers: No. Nothing.NLC: What would they need to earn. Realistically. To live decently?Workers: 15,000 [$218.02]. 10,000 [$145.35]. 14,000 [$203.49].NLC: Is that with overtime, or just regular?Workers: Regular. Without overtime. We are doing hard labor. We have to consume more food. Rice. We need to eat eggs, meat, fish. There is no relation between the salary and our labor.NLC: What do they do for fun? Do they go to the movies?Workers: We only do work, we only work. Our life is for work. Worker: Also it should be a permanent job, with a contract. We should have one day off a week, with pay. We are not even permanent. There is a dis-similarity between the wage and the labor.NLC: Do they have a contract?Workers: No. One time use. We work today, but tomorrow no.NLC: Does the Ministry of Labor help?Workers: No.NLC: It seems very unjust.Worker/Translator: …he is explaining about the port, the dock workers. They can take leave. They don’t work 10 days, but they get paid. We don’t have any leave or vacation.NLC: That is one of the questions we were asking—why the dock workers don’t help the ship-breakers.Workers: They did a lot of struggle to get that… They haven’t contacted or communicated with them.NLC: But maybe if they started to struggle the dock workers would help them?Worker: There is no unity among the workers. Workers are isolated. NLC: We are from the United States. It is only the workers who are united in unions who make a decent wage, a decent living. Workers: We don’t have any hope. If we are united, we can’t meet. [Translator comment: He is hopeless.]NLC: How long have they worked here?Workers: Sixteen years; 9 years; 5 years; 5 years; 16 years.NLC: how long can you last in this kind of work?Workers: Fifteen-16 years. I was very healthy, but…NLC: How long has he been working?Worker: 16 years…he was 16 when he started. … He is only 32 years old, but he seems to be 60… Transcript #8: Shipbreakers, July 16, 2009 07:30 NLC: How much are you paid?07:38 Worker: 120 taka, 150 taka or 140 taka. 07:42 NLC: Everyday?07:44 Worker: For 8 hours….8:21 NLC: How long do you work? From 7:00 am to 7:00 pm?8:23 Worker: Yes, from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, 8:00 pm, 9:00 pm etc, depends on work load. If there is work, then we work, otherwise, we are asked to leave. ###12:19 NLC: How long do you work?12:22 Worker 2: Eight hours, after 8 hours if we work, it is OT. 12:25 NLC: When did you come?12:27 Worker 2: What?12:29 NLC: When did you come today?12:30 Worker 2: At 7:00 am. 12:33 NLC: How long do you have to work here? ….What’s going on? I was talking with him. 12:43 Supervisor: He is working, why you are disturbing him? 40 taka is per hour. 12:46 NLC Collaborator : We will pay 40 taka. If you would have asked me, I would pay 40 taka. 12:52 Supervisor: Without permission of the authorities, you cannot talk. 12:54 NLC Collaborator: I have the permission of the authorities, do you know who I am?12:56 Supervisor: Whoever you are, doesn’t matter. I have the order that I cannot allow outsider to talk without permission. ####15:28 NLC: What work you do here? 15:29 Worker 3: Pull iron. 15:31 NLC: What’s that mean?15:33 Worker 3: These plates are cut and made into smaller pieces and we pull them. We work together 5, 6, 7, 8 people.15:45 NLC: With machine or by hand?15:46 Worker: By hand.15:50 NLC: Do you work 6 hours daily?15:52 Worker: I work for 12-14 hours per day. 15:59 NLC: How much you are paid?16:01 Worker: Sometimes 300 taka [$4.36], sometime 200 [$2.91] and sometime 250 taka [$3.63] per day. 16:10 NLC: How much you get for 8 hour work? 16:12 Worker: We get 17 taka [25 cents U.S.] per hour.16:20 NLC: 17 taka per hour?16:21 Worker: Yes….I started work from 8:00 am today…16:44 NLC: How long do you have to work?16:46 Worker: Till at 7 - 8 pm, even 9 pm…16:56 NLC: You don’t work the whole night?16:58 Worker: Yes, the day of Friday, we have to work night shift. …17:14 NLC: People die?17:17 Worker: Yes, many people.17:18 NLC: Have you witnessed such incidents?17:21 Worker: Yes, it has happened while I was present there. 17:26 NLC: What kind?17:27 Worker: Suppose, someone’s is injured like part on his hand is cut. Look here on my foot, a cut mark there. It has been happening regularly. 17:37 NLC: When there is a big accident, the company helps?17:40 Worker: The worker dies if there is a big accident. 17:43 NLC: If worker die, what company does for him?17:46 Worker: Company? In some cases, company contributes some and in some cases, the company sends workers to their homes. 17:50 NLC: How much does the company contribute?17:52 Worker: 50, 60, 70, 20 thousands taka or 30,000 taka [$726.74, $872.09, $1,017.44, $291 or $436]; there is no fix amount. Understand?18:06 NLC: When workers are injured, workers have to buy medicines, they cannot work for 3/4 days, does the company give money to the workers?18:13 Worker: No. Workers have to bear their full expenditure. [Another worker adds: If the workers are injured at the work place, then the company bears the cost, but for fever, cold or other diseases at home, this is borne by the workers themselves.] # # # # #[Child worker who quit the shipbreaking yards a year ago]NLC: How long ago [did you quit]?3:00 Former child worker: One year ago. 3:03 NLC: You are not old enough to work.3:05 Former child worker: What?3:06 NLC: You are under aged.3:08 Former child worker: Yes, it’s true. I did with great hardship. As I could not tolerate it, I left that work…. The cutter men cut the iron and the labors carry the iron on their shoulders and load it into the trucks….The cutter men cut the iron using the torch and fix it with a winch machine, then pull it and the iron goes down. 4:09 NLC: How are these heavy steel sheets moved from that place?4:11 Former child worker: Its fixed with winch and workers pull with a rope. These are cut into small pieces and the labors carry them on their shoulder. 4:24 NLC: These are carried on their shoulder? These heavy pieces of iron?4:25 Former child worker: Yes…5:33 NLC: What do you think? Is the work bad or good? 5:38 Former child worker: Whether it is bad or good, we have to do it. Because, we have to eat. 5:49 NLC: Is the work very hard. What do you think [since] you did this job?5:51 Former child worker: What I experienced was very hard. I don’t know what other people think about it. 6:00 NLC: Why is it hard?6:02 Former child worker: For example, we had to hammer on the iron and our hands became stiff. Another thing is that during the cutting of the metal sheets, we have to hold onto them. The hands go to sleep under the iron. There are many types of risks. 6:26 NLC: Did you experience with any serious accident?6:28 Former child worker: One day, my leg was cut. 6:36 NLC: Any other accident you have seen while you were working?..6:38 Former child worker: Yes, I saw one…8:25 Former child worker: Everybody were talking about that, if a man dies, naturally people will discuss about that. Someone says ‘I am going see it’ another one says the same. Similarly, I went to see the dead bodies. 5-6 dead bodes were piled up. The family members were crying. Later, the ambulance came to take them. ####9:05 Former child worker: Cutter men usually have to work for 8 hours. Including 4 hours OT, they work 12 hours. The labors do their duty on contract basis. They work 12 hours, 18 hours, 20 hours, like this. 9:26 NLC: They should wear gloves as they are doing very risky work. Do they have it?9:31 Former child worker: No, they don’t. Also, they should have helmet on their heads. They have only glasses on their eyes and gum boots on their feet, nothing else; they have gloves on their hands. The workers have to buy other protective clothing with their own money. 9:47 NLC: How much are they paid?9:49 Former child worker: The helpers get 130/135 for 8 hour work; and the labors get 12/12.50 taka per hour. …10:23 NLC: Nevertheless, workers are victim of frequent accidents, isn’t that the reason?10:26 Former child worker: Yes, for this reason and for sun heat as well. There are various reasons why I don’t like it. Workers are dying and everyday are suffering from accidents. The sun and heat are also a major reason. If it rains, we are unemployed, this is another reason… # # # # # 17:34 NLC: What is your job?17:38 Islam: Cutter.17:40 NLC Which yard?17:51 Islam: Name of the factory is Shafiq Trading. 18:00 NLC: Shafiq Trading?18:01 Islam: Yes…[AMIN DOING INTERVIEW???]18:21 NLC: When did you start the work?18:23 Islam: From 8:00.18:25 NLC: From 8:00 am?18:26 Islam: No, no, from 8:00 pm to 8:00 am. 18:29 NLC: How many hours you have to work?18:32 Islam: 12 hours. We can earn at least 200 to 250 taka [$2.91-$3.63] for 12 hours work. [Note: $2.91-$3.63 for 12 hours = 24 to 30 cents an hour]18:42 NLC: How much you are paid for an hour and how much in 8 hour.18:44 Islam: 170 [$2.47], 160 [$2.33], 175 [$2.54], or 155 taka [$2.25] for 8 hours duty. [$2.25 to $2.47 per 8 hour day =29 to 32 cents an hour]18:54 NLC: What does that mean. Who earns which amount?18:56 Islam: Those who are a little senior (joined earlier) are paid higher like 170, 160, 180, 190 taka etc. Also, workers are paid 150 and 155 taka as well. The most senior are getting 250 or 200 taka. A helper is paid 120 taka [$1.74 a day, 22 cents an hour] in our company. Some other companies are giving 115 taka [$1.67 a day, 21 cents an hour].19:29 NLC: Why?19:30 Islam: We don’t know. 19:44 Islam: It is their own wish, what we can do. Everything is running by their wish, we have nothing to do. They say if you don’t like, can leave from here, what can we do. 20:22 NLC: How many years?20:23 Islam: 15 years, not in one place, worked for many companies.20:36 NLC: What do you do specifically? Different workers has different skills, which job you are skilled with?20:44 Islam: My work is to cut iron… 21:15 NLC: What kind of tasks you are to perform? What types of work you have to do as technician. For example, some workers are transferring loads from one place to another…21:50 NLC: What you do with these things, do you cut iron?21:52 Islam: Yes.21:54 NLC: So, your work is to cut iron, you are a cutter man? 21:56 Islam: Yes. The helpers have lots of hardship with their work. They have to pull loads, the maximum pain is borne by them. The technicians [cutters] also suffer, when we are burned all over the body. But we are paid so minimum salary, it’s not realistic. 22:26 NLC: Are the payments given everyday?22:28 Islam: No. Not on a daily basis, the salaries are given on 20th and 5th; sometime they delay more, for example the salary which was supposed to give on the 20th delays for 25/26th. …23:15 Islam: If we are absent, there is no payment; if we are sick, there is no medical treatment provided by the company. We have to do it by our own money. If any places of the body are being cut accidentally, the company gives only one tablet, and that’s all. If anyone dies, his rate is like a Indian cow, the company will give 20,000 taka [$291.] to the family and 30,000 taka [$436] to the police station, its fact…24:33 NLC: I did not understand you, what happens when the workers die?24:35 Islam: I already said; if there is any accident, the family doesn’t get sufficient money. Maybe they are provided only 30 to 40 thousand taka [$436.05-$581.40] and the dead bodies may be sent to their family, like this. They spend 50 to 60 thousand taka [$726.74 - $872.09] in total. 25:02 NLC: Are workers dying very often?25:04 Islam: Yes. 25:06 NLC: Everyday?25:07 Islam: Not everyday, but it happens if someone has bad luck. But, smaller accidents are happing everyday. 25:15 NLC: How often are workers being killed? Does it happen every week, every month, or what intervals? Does it happen 4/5 times a month?25:26 Islam: Workers are dying; their legs, hands etc are broken. 25:29 NLC: Does it happen everyday or every week?25:37 Islam: No, that doesn’t happen. 25:38 NLC: How often, how many times a month?25:41 Islam: It may occur once a month or more. It depends on fate. For example, one worker takes a plate, takes an iron, slips down and breaks his leg or hand. Sometimes the company gives some amount of money for the medical treatment. If the injury is not recoverable, the workers are sent home. But, our main problem is the amount of salary, it is very poor. For example, a worker work over the whole night, gets only Tk. 200 [$2.91, 24 cents an hour]. Is it possible to run the family with this small amount? A helper can earn 180 taka [$2.61, 22 cents an hour].# # # # #00:14 NLC: Assume, you become sick while you are working, and it’s not possible to come to work for 2-3 days, what happens.00:29 Islam: No payment. It is very painful situation. On the amount we are being given, it is very difficult to survive. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=680 2009-09-30 00:00:00 article Shipbreaking images. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=677 2009-09-29 00:00:00 slideshow Table of Contents 1) Workers at work 2) Child workers3) Working inside the ship4) Ship Explosion5) Workers lifestyle Back to report Shipbreakers At Work Child Workers Working Inside Ships Ship Explosion Worker Lifestyle http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=676 2009-09-24 00:00:00 article An Interview with Workers of Lucky ShipyardAugust 2009 Interviewer: In which yard are you working?Worker 1: I work for ‘Lucky’. Interviewer: What’s your job?Worker 1: Cutterman.Interviewer: How long have you been working at the shipyard?Worker 1: About 5-7 years. Interviewer: 5-7 years?Worker 1: Yes. Interviewer: In which shift are you working? Worker 1: Night shift.Interviewer: What’s your salary, brother?Worker 1: Salary? My salary is 150 taka. Interviewer: 150 taka for 8 hours work? [$2.18 or 27 cents an hour]Worker 1: Yes.Interviewer: When do you get your salary?Worker 1: Our salary, we are supposed to get it on the 5th and 20th of the following month. The salary is paid every two weeks. Interviewer: When do you go to work?Worker 1: At 8:00 p.m. That is, we have to arrive at 7:30 p.m. at the yard, and we have to work ‘till 8:30 a.m. Interviewer: What about dinner? Worker 2 (close Mr. Worker 1): At around 2:00 a.m., the company provides a biscuit, which costs 3 taka, and workers are given some time off to eat anything with our own money. Dinner break is at 10.00 p.m. Another break is at 6:00 a.m. to eat something with our own money. The company only gives one break at 2:00 a.m. for a biscuit which is 3 taka [4 cents] per piece. Also, tea is served, which has no taste at all. Almost no one can drink it. Interviewer: If you get sick, the company doesn’t provide you any leave?Worker 2: No, no, if you can’t work, you will not be paid. Interviewer: How much is your salary?Worker 2: As I am a helper, I am paid 125 taka [$1.82] for 8 hours duty. Interviewer: What time do you enter at your workplace? Worker 1: At 8:00 p.m. Interviewer: And at morning? Workers: At 8:00 a.m. Interviewer: During your work, did anything happen that was very frightening? Worker 1: Yes, it happens very often. Workers even die in front of our eyes.Worker 2: For example, just three months or maybe three and half months ago, one worker died. Worker 1: His name was Babul.Interviewer: Where did he come from?Workers: Hasnabad. Interviewer: How did he die?Worker 1: An iron plate fell on him.Interviewer: Okay, did the worker die in front of you?Workers: Yes, in front of us. …………………………Interviewer: How did he die, could you please explain? Worker 1: Okay, like one parda…Interviewer: What is parda?Worker 1: Parda means the iron plate (load), parts of ships. This iron plate was being cut on its upper side. Suddenly, the load slid down and fell on him and he died. Worker 2: The plate fell on him and the load crushed him. Worker 1: The plate was supposed to be secured so it could be cut from any side. But the load suddenly fell on him. Afterwards, the load was pulled aside with a machine to get the man out. We all helped to get him out. Interviewer: When did the incident happen?Workers: It was 3 or 3 1/2 months ago. Interviewer: 3 months or 3 and a half months?Worker 1: Yes. On 19th April at around 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. Another worker: To get the dead body out from the load, it took from 12 midnight to 1:00 am. Interviewer: To get the dead body out?Workers: Yes. …………It was not possible to do without the machine. We all worked together with the machine. After attaching it with a cable, we were able to take the load off from the man. Interviewer: How was the dead body released from the load?Worker 1: The metal plate was pulled off with the machine, and we saw that his appearance was changed. He was just smashed by the load. Our work is so risky that we are always facing a deadly situation. Interviewer: When anyone dies, do you stop your work? Workers: Yes, we stop our work.Interviewer: Don’t you protest?Worker 2: The owner doesn’t allow it. If anyone protests, they will be thrown out. Interviewer: What happens if workers protest? Worker 2: Workers would be fired if we protested. Workers will not be allowed then to stay in the yard.Interviewer: The worker who died in your yard, what was his name?Worker: Babul.Interviewer: Did he get the compensation? Worker 1: Yes. A very small amount, a very insignificant amount. On the other hand, money is nothing to a life. If someone loses his life, what will he do with the money? Is it possible to bring the man alive again if money is given? Interviewer: What do you think about your working environment here?Worker 3: The environment is worse than the prison. We work here only to buy food to survive. Otherwise, it is not a workplace for a human being. I have no words to explain. My colleague may tell you something, but I can’t explain. Interviewer: Brother, what’s your name?Worker 3: My name is #####.Interviewer: In which yard are you working?Worker 3: Lucky yard.Interviewer: For how long?Worker 3: For 3 or 4 years. Interviewer: How did the worker die?Worker 3: A huge iron plate fell on him. Interviewer: Did he die in front of you?Worker 3: Yes, he died in front of us.Interviewer: What was his position?Worker 3: He was cutter.Interviewer: Cutter man?Worker 3: Yes. Interviewer: When he died in front of you, what did you do then?Worker 3: We stopped our work and used a machine to pull the iron plate off him. He was disfigured from the pressure of the load. This iron plate was huge. It took some of time to work with it, and we had to work till past midnight. Afterwards, the dead body was taken for post mortem. A lump sum of money was given to his parents. 10:10 Interviewer: How do you feel working here?Worker 3: What can I say? We are fighting with death always. This is not work. This is a place of punishment and death. Interviewer: Brother, what’s your name?Worker 4: ##### Interviewer: Which yard are you working for? Worker 4: Lucky yard.Interviewer: For how long?Worker 4: Around for last 7 or 8 years.Interviewer: How much are you paid? Worker 4: In 8 hours, I get 145 taka. [$2.11 or 26 cents an hour] Interviewer: What is the payment system here? Are you paid by month or by week?Worker 4: The salary is paid on the 5th and 20th. Payment is given every 15 days. Interviewer: How much do you get in 15 days?Worker 4: Between 2,400 and 2,500 taka. [$34.88 to $36.34; $17.45 to $18.17 per week] Interviewer: Are you happy with this salary?Worker 4: No, this is a very poor amount. We have to do this work to survive. Interviewer: Are you able to work 30 days a month?Worker 4: No, it’s not possible.Interviewer: Why?Worker 4: I cannot do this, because it’s very painful work. Our hands and legs are being hurt—burned by fire. We get headaches. It’s a very hard job.Interviewer: Have you every faced any dangerous situation while working? Or, did you see any danger?Worker 4: Yes, I have seen it. Interviewer: How was that, please explain.Worker 4: I have seen many workers’ legs and hands broken. Many workers died.Interviewer: As per your knowledge, do you know anyone who died? Worker 4: Yes, of course, I know workers who died.Interviewer: Please explain what happened?Worker 4: A huge iron plate was raised up, the upper portion of it was cut, and afterwards the lower portion was being cut. While it was being cut on its lower portion, the whole plate fell on a worker. Then all the workers, 40-50 workers, all helped to turn over the plate with machine. Then we took the man out from that place and took him to the office. The worker actually died on the spot. He just died there. We put him in the office and we all were ordered to get out from there. Interviewer: What do you mean by you all were to get out? Worker 4: We were asked to get out from the office.Interviewer: Meaning, you all were asked to leave the yard?Worker 4: Yes. There was no work for that day after this incident. Interviewer: So, what happened afterwards?Worker 4: Then it was dawn. We saw that the dead body was going out through the gate. After that we did not see the dead body. ……Interviewer: Have you had other deadly experiences? Worker 4: A man was killed by a huge load in front of my eyes. I cannot get this scene from my mind.Interviewer: So, did it upset you and hamper your work?Worker 4: Yes, we don’t feel any interest to work. Now, we continue work because of our poverty and to buy food. Interviewer: How many years ago did you come here? Worker 4: It would be around 8 or 10 years. Interviewer: Did you work in this shipyard during this whole time?Worker 4: Yes. I worked for this shipyard for last 8 or 10 years.Interviewer: Have you experienced many other dangerous incidents? Worker 4: Yes, many dangerous incidents happened in front of me.Interviewer: So, why do you work here after experiencing these incidents?Worker 4: Because we are poor people. We have to get food to survive. We cannot do anything except this work. Now, we are obliged to do this work.Interviewer: Is it possible for you to send some money to your home (village)?Worker 4: We send money every month, but very small amounts, maybe around 2,000 to 2,500 taka [$29.07-$36.04] is being sent to home somehow. After spending for house rent, food and other costs, I try to send 2,000 taka to my home. It is very big amount for me. Interviewer: The amount of salary you are paid, are you happy with it?Worker 4: No, we cannot manage anything with this salary. Even, a rickshaw puller can earn 400 to 500 taka [$5.81 - $7.27] per day. How can we manage with only 150 taka [$2.18]? Is it possible to run our family, brother? No way! Abroad, those involved with this ship breaking work can earn huge amount of money. And here we work 12 hours for only 150 taka. And sometimes we do not get our salary on time. We are doing it just to buy food to survive. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=674 2009-09-21 00:00:00 article Interview with a Lucky worker on board a tanker shipAugust 2009 Interviewer: How long have you been working in this yard?Worker: Twelve years.Interviewer: What is the name of this yard?Worker: Lucky yardInterviewer: It looks like you are doing a risky job…do you enjoy working here?Worker: How could I enjoy it? I work here just to survive.Interviewer: How much do you get paid?Worker: 200 taka [$2.91]Interviewer: 200 taka in eight hours?Worker: Yes. 200 taka in eight hours [=25 taka, or 36 cents, per hour]Interviewer: On average, how much do you make each month?Worker: On average, 7,000 to 7,500 taka [$101.74 - $109.01] a month and on average, $24.32 a week.Interviewer: The way you are working a risky job, do you experience any dangerous situations?Worker: Yes, there are many frightening situations. We witness workers dying while working here. Many workers died.Interviewer: Can you give an example? Why do workers die here?Worker: I will give an example. Sometimes the gas tanks catch on fire, burst and explode. As a result, workers get burned and die.Note: This experienced senior worker is paid the highest wage of 36 cents an hour and $24.32 a week for toiling at least 70 hours a week. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=675 2009-09-21 00:00:00 article Shipbreaking in Bangladesh&The Failure of Global Institutions to Protect Worker Rights September 2009 Print-ready PDFUPDATE (PDF): Shipyard Murder (09/22/09) Update: Eight More Workers Burned to Death In Bangladesh Shipbreaking Yard (1/11/09) Petition: Demand that G20 Leaders Protect Workers not just Bankers Video: Where Ships and Workers go to Die Shipbreaking Workers in Bangladesh Speak Out: Worker Interview Transcripts (9/30/09) UPDATE: Shipyard Murder; Two Workers Burned to Death and Three Severely Burned (09/22/09) The Images: Gallery of Shipbreaking Pictures TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary Preface by Charles Kernaghan: If there is a Hell, This is It 1.) Workers Are Injured, Maimed and Killed In Bangladesh’s Shipbreaking Yards Worker Burned to Death at the Kabir Shipbreaking Yard (UPDATE: 9/22/09) A Dead Worker Is Worth $1,400 Now I Am Sick and Starving; Life Is Cheap in the Shipbreaking Yards Young Worker Paralyzed; Shipyard Owners Refuse to Help A Ship Explodes, two workers die, more than ten injured Eighteen-year-old Worker Crushed to Death Crippled on the Job and Discarded without a Cent Eighteen-year-old Worker Crushed on Greek Ship A Shipyard of Death: Mamun Enterprise 2.) Portrait of Shipbreakers: Two Experienced Cuttermen 3.) A Day in the Life of “Lucky” Shipbreakers 4.) The Jiri Subedar Shipbreaking Yard 5.) A Worker Dies Every Month in the Shipbreaking Yards 6.) Shipbreakers Exposed Daily to Deadly Toxic Wastes 7.) The Ambia Shipbreaking Yard 8.) Let’s Send the Child Workers to School 9.) Mamun Enterprise Shipyard 10.) Bhatiary Steel Shipbreaking Yard 11.) Khaja Shipmaster Trading Shipbreaking Yard 12.) Kabir Shipbreaking Yard 13.) Conclusion: What Should Be Done? Who Is Responsible? APPENDICESA. – Key OrganizationsB. – Interview with Syeda Rizwana Hasan, BELAC. – Lists of U.S. and Chinese Ships being broken in Bangladesh An Interview with Workers of Lucky Shipyard Interview with a Lucky Worker on board a tanker ship Where Ships and Workers Go to DieShipbreaking in Bangladesh & The Failure of Global Institutions to Protect Worker Rights EXECUTIVE SUMMARY September 2009 Some of the world’s largest decommissioned tanker ships—measuring up to 1,000 feet long, twenty stories high and weighing 25 million pounds—have been run up on the beaches of Bangladesh. In July of 2009, 112 tanker ships were strewn over four miles of beach. Thirty thousand Bangladeshi workers, some of them children just 10, 11, 12 and 13 years of age, toil 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for wages of just 22 to 32 cents an hour, doing one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. According to estimates by very credible local organizations, 1,000 to 2,000 workers have been killed in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards over the last 30 years. Currently, a worker is seriously injured every day, and a worker is killed every three to four weeks. On September 5, 2009, 35-year-old Mr. Hossain was burned to death while breaking apart a South Korean tanker at the Kabir Steel Yard. Twenty-year old Mr. Ashek remains in critical condition, while three other workers were seriously burned. Their blowtorches struck a gas tank which exploded, engulfing them in flames. It is common for workers to be paralyzed or crushed to death by heavy metal plates falling from the ship. A 13-year old child, Nasiruddin Molla, was killed on July 14, 2008, when a large iron plate struck him in the head at the Sultana shipyard. Accidents and even some deaths are not reported, and there is never an investigation. Each ship contains an average of 15,000 pounds of asbestos and ten to 100 tons of lead paint. Shipbreaking workers are routinely exposed to asbestos, lead, mercury, arsenic, dioxins, solvents, toxic oil residues and carcinogenic fumes from melting metal and lead paint. Environmental damage to Bangladesh’s beaches, ocean and fishing villages has been massive. Helpers, often children, who go barefoot or wear flip flops, use hammers to break apart the asbestos in the ship, which they shovel into bags to carry outside and dump in the sand. Workers lack even the must rudimentary protective gear. Cutters, who use blowtorches to cut the giant ships to pieces, wear sunglasses rather than protective goggles, baseball caps rather than hardhats, wrap dirty bandanas around their nose and mouth as they are not provided respiratory masks and wear two sets of shirts rather than a welder’s vests, hoping the sparks will not burn through to their skin, which happens every day. Four to six workers share each small, primitive room, often sleeping right on the dirty concrete floor. No one has a mattress. In some of the hovels, the roof leaks when it rains, so workers have to sit up at night covering themselves with pieces of plastic. Their “shower” is a hand water pump. Every single labor law in Bangladesh and every one of the International Labor Organization’s internationally recognized workers rights standards are blatantly violated on a daily basis. While forced to work overtime, the shipbreaking workers receive no overtime premium. There are no weekly holidays, no paid sick days, no national holidays or vacations. Any worker asking for his proper wages is immediately fired. The shipbreaking workers are very clear on two points: that they will die early and that there have been no improvements whatsoever over the last thirty years in respect for worker rights laws or health and safety. The global institutions which direct world trade have miserably failed workers across the developing world who continue to be injured, cheated, maimed, paralyzed and killed on a daily basis. The G-20 countries, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations, the International Maritime Organization and the International Labor Organization must be held accountable. If There Is a Hell on Earth, This Is It PREFACE By Charles Kernaghan It is one of the strangest, most striking and frightening industrial sites in the world. It is large enough to be seen from space, but remains an open secret which few American people have even heard of, let alone seen. If there is a hell on earth, this is it. In Bangladesh, 30,000 shipbreaking workers are dismantling some of the largest decommissioned tanker ships in the world—20 stories high, 650 to over 1,000 feet long, 95 to 164 feet wide, which have been run up on the beach in the Bay of Bengal, not far from the city of Chittagong. In July, the National Labor Committee counted 112 tanker ships stretching across nearly four miles of beaches. The shipbreakers do some of the most dangerous jobs in the world, toiling 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for wages of just 22 to 32 cents an hour, handling and breathing in dangerous toxic waste with no safeguards whatsoever and under conditions that violate every local and international labor law. Injuries happen every day—some are paralyzed for life—and a worker dies every three or four weeks. No one helps them. The workers say a dog means more to the business owner than a human being. This is the story of the Bangladeshi shipbreakers, mostly young men, but also child workers who are just 10, 11, 12, and 13 years old. This has been going on for more than 30 years, and in all that time, the workers are certain of two things—they will die early, and nothing at all has changed in the last three decades. The G-20 leaders are meeting in Pittsburgh this year in late September. How is it that over the course of 30 years, the G-20 countries (and before that the G-7), the handful of powerful shipping nations and the companies that dominate global merchant cargo trade, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Bangladeshi government have not—individually and collectively—been able to implement a single improvement? Make no mistake. The horrific sweatshop conditions in the shipbreaking yards are not a stepping stone to the middle class. Rather, the shipbreaking yards are the final cycle of the Race to the Bottom in the global sweatshop economy, and the reality is not pretty. Workers, including children, use hammers to break up the 15,000 pounds of asbestos in every ship and then dump it on the sand to wash out to sea. The environment is being destroyed. And life is cheap. A young worker whose back was broken when a heavy piece of metal fell from the ship and struck him lies paralyzed, unable to even sit up or control his bowels. He just lies there. The owner of the shipyard gave him $1,800 and walked away. These are in fact the most dangerous jobs in the world. But unlike in the popular TV series, there is nothing romantic or exciting here. What is going on is the cruel and criminal exploitation of young workers in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards. Four to six workers share each primitive room, often sleeping on a filthy concrete floor. No one can afford a mattress. It does not have to be this way. The workers’ demands are so modest, it should make us blush. Their dream is to earn 60 cents an hour, to be paid the legal overtime premium, to have one day off each week, sick days, holidays, healthcare for workers injured on the job and the right to organize. It would cost less than $750 a year to send a child worker back to school—where they belong—to cover books, uniforms and a stipend to replace their lost wages. This should not be a very hard. We can help these workers climb out of misery and at least into poverty. It is the job of international solidarity to push the G-20 world leaders, the major shipping nations and corporations, the IMO and the ILO to finally guarantee the rule of law and to end the abuse and exploitation in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. When it comes to protecting and promoting worker rights in the global economy, nothing will improve without activism and struggle. Workers Are Injured, Maimed and KilledIn Bangladesh’s Shipbreaking Yards Worker Burned to Death at the Kabir Shipbreaking Yard A second worker is in critical condition, clinging to life.Three others seriously burned. On Saturday morning, September 5, 2009 at 9:00 a.m., 35-year-old Mr. Hossain was burned to death while breaking apart a huge Korean tanker ship at the Kabir Shipbreaking Yard. A second worker, Mr. Ashek, 20 years old, is in critical condition and just barely clinging to life. Three other workers, Md Kuddus, 32, Jahangir, 28, and Khokon, 22, also suffered serious burns and are in the Burn Unit of the Chittagong Medical College Hospital. The workers were breaking apart a Korean tanker using blowtorches when their flames cut through a tank which was filled with gas and gas vapors. There was a large explosion and all five workers were trapped in an inferno of flames. Twenty-five year old Mr. Masud was killed at the Kabir Steel yard on November 14, 2008. He was struck by a heavy piece of falling metal and died on the way to the hospital. The workers at Kabir told us, “We have no security in our lives.” Kabir Hossain was burned to death while trying to break apart a Korean tanker ship. UPDATE-SEPTEMBER 22, 2009 Shipyard MurderTwo Workers Burned to Death and Three Severely BurnedAt the Kabir Shipbreaking Yard on September 5, 2009 No one had to die. No one had to suffer horrific burns. On the morning of September 5, the workers knew it was too dangerous and begged management not to do it. Just two weeks earlier, a fire had broken out on the same ship under the same circumstances, but luckily everyone escaped. On Saturday morning, September 5, the workers were not so lucky. Management at the Kabir Shipbreaking Yard ordered the “fitter” men, who work at the bottom of the ship, to break up asbestos, unbolt and take apart dozens of pipelines and gas and oil tanks. The work is dangerous, since residual gas and oil leak and form pools on the floor, and pockets of gas vapors build up. A crew of “cutter men” who use blowtorches to cut the ship to pieces were then ordered to work on the next level of the ship, directly above the fitters. Everyone knew this was too dangerous. Cutting apart the metal, the workers knew sparks could fall to the lower level, which would set off an explosion and trap the fitters who were below. The foreman would not listen to the cutters and ordered them to stay exactly where they were. They could have easily moved to another part of the ship to work, which would have prevented the deaths, but the foreman refused. Mr. Kuddus (32) It is common practice for the shipyard owners to use water to flush out the pipes and tanks, washing the oil, fuel, gas residues and other flammable chemicals out to sea. (Miles of beach, ocean, fish and plant life have been destroyed, not to mention many fishing villages.) To save money, Kabir management did not do this. They nonchalantly decided to gamble with the lives of the workers. One worker told us, “I was cutting an iron plate on the upper level of the ship using my blowtorch. The fitters were below us at the bottom of the ship. The fire started slowly, but within seconds flames spread over the whole area… We knew it was dangerous, but the foreman told us where to work, and we were obligated to listen as the foremen are our boss and captain. We have to abide by their commands.” Another worker told us the same thing: “There are many combustible sources, like gas, oil, fuel. It is very risky work at these bottom chambers. We told the foreman this several times, but he refused to listen and told us to get back to work exactly where he placed us.” Mr. Ashek (20) who died on September 14 A tanker ship is divided into numerous chambers or tanks. Five fitters were assigned to each chamber and told to take apart the pipes and gas tanks. When the sparks from the cutters’ blowtorches fell to the lower chamber, a flash fire exploded. The trapped workers tried to climb up a metal ladder to escape, but the flames were too great and they fell back to the bottom of the tank. They were engulfed in an inferno. “The man who died [Mr. Hossain], a worker told us, “he finally got out of the ship, his clothes were burned off, he was naked and his skin was charred. When I touched the skin on his hand, the skin came off sticking to my finger. I could see that some skin and flesh had been torn from his body. We laid him on the deck.” A worker spoke of his relative, 28-year-old Mr. Jahangir: “His face was burned so badly, it was difficult to recognize him. His head was swollen and his face disfigured… Also his hands, legs, everything was burnt… The suffering of these workers cannot be explained. The condition of their face, chest, hands and legs are terribly frightening… Even if they live, it will be impossible for them to be seen in public, as people will be afraid when they see their faces.” Despite the fact that there are 30,000 workers toiling around the clock in some 36 shipbreaking yards, and despite the fact that serious injuries occur every day, with an average of one worker killed every three weeks, the owners collectively have not purchased even one ambulance to be stationed at the yards. They refuse to spend the money. It took 1 ½ hours for an ambulance to reach the burned workers. To save money, the shipyard owner sent the five burned workers to a government hospital which is mostly free, instead of to a private hospital, where they could have been placed in a special burn unit and received more specialized care. But in management’s mind, the workers are not worth the extra money. Mr. Hossain, 35 years old, died 14 hours later. Workers told us his eyes were burned. He could not breathe through his nose. He desperately wanted to drink water, but he could not. At the end, he could not breathe through his mouth and he died in a co-worker’s arms. Twenty-year-old Mr. Ashek lingered for nine days in extreme pain before dying on September 14. The three surviving workers, 22-year-old Mr. Khokon, 28-year-old Mr. Jahangir and 32-year-old Mr. Kuddus will have to remain hospitalized for at least six months. No one thinks they will ever recover enough to work again or lead a normal life. Mr. Khokon (22) Even as the deadly fire raged, the foreman ordered the fitters in nearby chambers to keep working. After the deadly explosion at the Kabir Shipbreaking Yard on September 5, there have still not been any training exercises or safety discussions with the workers as to how to prevent or respond to such tragic fires. The day after the killings, the workers were ordered back to work as if nothing had happened. No safety improvements—not a single one—have been instituted. The workers told us, “We need insulated work suits and gloves, hard hats, boots and goggles… Sometimes sparks from the [blowtorch] flame and gas hurt our eyes, but the necessary equipment is not supplied to us. Inside the chambers, there are gas and fumes, but we work without respirators to cover our nose and mouth. We explained this many times to management, but the shipyard managers completely ignore these basic safety measures. If a worker tries to make his voice heard regarding these issues, he loses his job. This is the rule here.” If the shipyard owners have their way, nothing will change, and workers will continue to be needlessly injured, maimed and killed as the bottom-line profits of the owners grow. The owner and foreman at the Kabir Shipyard should be charged with murder. The G-20 leaders, whose nations dominate global shipping, must finally speak up to stop the carnage in the shipbreaking yards and to guarantee that Bangladesh’s local labor laws as well as internationally recognized worker rights standards are finally respected. The workers have been waiting and suffering for 30 long years. Now is not the time for excuses, it is the time to act. Mr. Jahangir (28) A Dead Worker is Worth $1,400 “My son will never come back to this world.I cry every day to Allah that no other parents lose their son.” - Mother of Jahagir Alam Mr. Jahagir Alam had worked at the Jiri Subader Shipbreaking Yard for four years, starting work there in 2004. Jahagir was an experienced senior “cutter”, operating a blowtorch all day, cutting apart the giant beached tankers. Early on August 12, 2008, he and his helper were assigned to work in an area very near to where a huge metal plate from the ship was suspended above by a wire cable. The cable snapped, and Mr. Jahagir was crushed and trapped under the huge metal plate. Critically injured, he clung to life for 26 days, but the doctors said there was no hope for him, and he died on September 6, 2008. His helpers were luckier. One worker’s leg was so badly crushed that it had to be amputated. The other worker’s hand was crushed and is now paralyzed. But both lived. Mr. Jahagir’s mother, Mrs. Nurjahan Begom, told us: “When my son was working in the shipyard, an iron plate fell on him. Another two workers were also injured. One of them had his leg crushed and another his hand fractured. They are alive, but my son will never come back to this world. I cry every day to Allah that no other parents lose their son.” Mrs. Begom begged the shipyard owner for help to bury her son, but there was no response. It was only with the help of a lawyer and after a long struggle that the management of Jiri Subader shipyard paid the family 100,000 taka, or $1,453. It’s a cheap price for a worker’s life. Mr. Jahagir’s father also died, years before, working in a shipbreaking yard. In the shipbreaking yards in Bangladesh, every single labor law as well as the International Labor Organization’s internationally recognized worker rights standards are violated. Nor are even the most minimal health and safety standards enforced. Under such circumstances, it is cost effective for the shipyard owners to continue to kill and maim the workers. “My son will never come back to this world.I cry every day to Allah that no other parents lose their son.” - Mother of Jahagir Alam “Now I am Sick and Starving.”Life is Cheap for Shipyard Owners “…I saw a big gas flame shoot out from the opening that was cut. The flame set fire to my hands, back, thigh and ear. The flesh of my legs was seriously burned by the flames.” - Mr. Abdul Halim After paying about $3,000, Mr. Lokman, the owner of the Jiri Subedar Shipbreaking Yard, walked away from a young man who was badly burned when a gas tank he was cutting burst into flames. Mr. Halim, just 26 years old, suffered extensive burns to his head, hands, back and thighs. His left ear was so badly burned that it is disfigured, and he is now partially deaf. He also needs help walking. While working one of the most dangerous jobs on the ship, he was paid just 24 cents an hour. Without money for medical treatment he told us. “Now I am sick and starving.” Accidents in the shipyards, a daily occurrence, are never recorded or investigated. It is believed that serious accidents occur every day. Abdul Halim suffered horrific burns while cutting apart a ship Testimony of Abdul Halim: “My name is Abdul Halim, I am 26 years old, son of Khurshid Alam. “I worked at the Subedar Yard owned by Mr. Lokman. I worked there for a year as a helper. I worked inside the ship and got paid Tk. 130 for working 8 hours. I worked 12 hours a day including 4 hours overtime. [He earned 24 cents an hour, $2.83 for a 12-hour shift. Illegally, the workers were not paid the overtime premium.] We got paid every 15 days. It was not possible for me to work 30 days a month. I worked 22-25 days a month because ship-breaking is such hard labor. I started working at 7:00 in the morning and finished work at 7:00 in the evening. There was a thirty-minute break at 10:00 a.m. for tea and a lunch break from 1:00 to 2:00. I also worked on Fridays—then I had to work from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and sometimes until 12:00 noon. “I had to carry my lunch with me, which was prepared at home in the early morning. It got rotten as it was very hot in the shipyard. Sometimes I suffered from diarrhea from eating spoiled food. The company did not provide any refreshment. “On Wednesday, February, 18, 2009, after taking my break, I resumed work at 10:30 a.m. My (boss) a cutter man, Mr. Liton, and I went down to the ship to cut a gas tank there. I was throwing water on the tank to stop the sparks. Sometimes it goes on fire. After five minutes, I saw a big gas flame shoot out from the opening that was cut. The flame set fire to my hands, back, thigh and ear. The flesh of my legs was seriously burned by the flames. “The cutter man, Mr. Liton, and I both got burned. My ear, chest, thigh and part of my body was burned. I passed out. When I came to, I realized that I was in hospital. Later, I heard that the other workers got us admitted to Chittagong Medical College hospital. I was released from the hospital on August 12, 2009. I was in the hospital for almost six months. For the first three months, the company took the responsibility for medical bills and medicines, spending Tk. 1,500 [$21.80] daily. For the last three months the company reduced the payment, spending Tk.1,000 [$14.53] daily. “The company is refusing to pay any medical expenses now that I am released from the hospital. I have not fully recovered and the doctor recommended that I remain in bed for another two to three months. My medical treatment is now stopped as I can’t afford to buy medicine or nutritious food. My father is an old man and can’t work and my mother works in neighbor’s house to support our lives. I am married but my wife has abandoned me due to my present condition. My mother took a loan from the neighbors for my treatment. Now I am sick and am starving.” Notes: Mr. Halim was hospitalized for 176 days, for which the owner spent 227,500 taka--$3,307 or less. Now the owner is refusing to pay a penny more. His burns still require clean dressings, which need to be changed every day or two. He needs help to walk and to use the bathroom. He is very frail and weak and spends most of his time in bed. He may never be able to work again. The cutter, Mr. Liton, was relatively lucky and suffered burns only on his face. He has recovered and is back at work. Leading Bangladeshi Attorney Accuses Shipbreaking Yards Of Ignoring Injuries, Diseases and Worker Deaths “I have not come across another sector where every two weeks a minimum of one person is dying and there is no labour unrest. These workers are dying, getting cancer, getting skin diseases; they are also losing their hands and legs. After working in the ship breaking yards for a few years, their bodies are in such a horrible condition that they can barely do any other form of labour. It’s essentially a crippling way of life.” Star Weekend Magazine, “The Environment’s Friend, May 8, 2008Ms. Syeda Rizwana Hasan, attorneyDirector, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers AssociationRecent winner, Goldman Environmental Prize Young Worker ParalyzedShipyard Owners Refuse to Help “His backbone is broken. Now my son cannot walk, cannot sit, cannot hold down food and cannot sleep. His life is full of pain. He cannot control his bowels and does everything in the bed… The contractor doesn’t want to give money. When I plead with them, they make excuses.” - Mother of Nezam Uddin “I was struck and knocked down to the ground. I was unconscious. I was admitted to the Chittagong Al Sattar Hospital… My backbone is broken and my head was injured. Now my bodily organs are not functioning. I feel nothing in my chest or back. I cannot feel my stomach… I wish I could move like I did before.” - Nezam Uddin, Shipbreaking worker Left: Nezam Uddin was paralyzed while breaking a ship; Right: Mother of Nezam Uddin Mr. M. Nezam Uddin worked cutting apart huge tanker ships at the Mahim Enterprise Shipbreaking Yard, which is owned by Mr. Mahim and Mr. Laskor. On the morning of April 2, 2007, Mr. Nezam Uddin and his helper, Mr. Abdul Mannan, were working inside the ship using blow torches to cut apart a huge ballast tank, which weighed 300 or so tons. When his blow torch ran out of oxygen, Mr. Nezam Uddin and his helper went outside to hook their hose up to a fresh oxygen cylinder. Suddenly, a large piece of metal weighing about 3,000 pounds came free from the ballast tank, smashing into the oxygen tank and then striking Mr. Nezam Uddin on his back and head. His backbone was broken. Mr. Uddin cannot walk or get out of bed. He has no feeling in his back or his stomach and has no control over his bowels. He was just 25 years old. Mr. Uddin started working in the Mahim Enterprise Shipbreaking Yard in 2006. He worked a minimum of 72 hours a week, earning $20.13, or 28 cents an hour, doing one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. The shipyard owners—very wealthy men—ignored the family’s pleas to their son. It took the family, with the help of a lawyer, one-and-a-half years to force the owners to take some responsibility for their son’s injury. The owners gave the family 125,000 taka—$1,817—and walked away. The $1,817 covered Mr. Uddin’s initial treatment, but that money is long gone, and his poor family is borrowing money to take care of him. “His backbone is broken,” his mother said. “Now my son cannot walk, cannot sit, cannot hold down food, and cannot sleep. His life is full of pain. He cannot control his bowels and does everything in the bed… The contractor doesn’t want to give money. When I plead with them, they make excuses.” Mr. Uddin told us, “I demand justice for my condition, and I want to recover from my injury.” The doctors at the Chittagong Medical College Hospital think there is a good chance to help Mr. Uddin. But the operation is so delicate that it should be done by specialists in India. The operation would cost 750,000 taka—$10,900—but the shipyard owners refuse to pay a cent. Rather than pay the $10,900, they will let Mr. Uddin, 27 years old, rot in a bed, with no end in sight to his and his family’s misery. To the shipyard owners, a worker’s life is not worth $10,900. Nezam Uddin A Ship Explodes Two workers die and more than ten injured In mid-June 2008, a large explosion on a ship being dismantled was caught on tape showing heavy smoke billowing out of its hull. The workers on that ship were using blowtorches to cut apart a large gas tank. When flame from the blow torch cut through the tank, there was an explosion. The explosion took place in the Mahim Enterprise Shipbreaking Yard, owned by Mr. Mahim and Mr. Laskor. Shipyard management said that no one died and that just two workers were injured in the blast. However, a very credible local source told us that two workers died in the accident, and more than 10 workers were seriously injured. The source believes that management may have had the bodies thrown into the sea, a practice that was not uncommon a few years ago. A ship on fire Fire on the ship Eighteen-year-old Worker Crushed to Death “The steel plate fell on him, and the heavy load crushed him… The metal plate was pulled off by the machine [winch], and we saw that his appearance had changed. He was just smashed by the load…” - Co-worker of Touhid Hosain Babul Mr. Touhid Hosain Babul, just 18 years old, was crushed to death at the M.M. Shipbreaking Yard, which the workers call “Lucky,” on April 19, 2009, when a huge steel plate from the ship—weighing tons—suddenly fell on him as he was cutting it apart into smaller pieces. He was paid just 27 cents an hour. The shipyard owner gave the dead man’s family 160,000 taka ($2,325.58) and walked away. There was no investigation, and no steps were taken to institute even the most minimal safety measures. For the shipyard owners, taking the life of a worker is cheap and easy. Mr. Babul started working in the shipbreaking yards when he was just 14 years of age. He worked at the Lucky shipyard for two years before he was killed. Mr. Babul is on the right, wearing a black shirt and light blue jeans. This photo was taken with his friend shortly before his death. “The steel plate fell on him and the heavy load crushed him. The plate was supposed to be secured so it could be cut from any side, but the load suddenly fell on him… The metal plate was pulled off by the machine [winch], and we saw that his appearance had changed. He was just smashed by the load… We all helped to get him out... to get the dead body out from under the load. It took an hour, from 12:00 midnight to 1:00 a.m. …Then it was dawn. We saw that the dead body was going out through the gate…” --Lucky workers Crippled on the Job and Discarded without a Cent Bent over from the heavy weight he was carrying and unable to straighten his back, a new worker was fired without medical care or any compensation. At first we thought he was an old woman, stooped over with a shawl thrown over his shoulders and head despite the humid, 90-degree temperature. But he was a 32 year old man, who had just begun to work at the Bhatiary Steel Shipbreaking Yard. When we visited him and a group of workers from the yard in mid-February, he had just started working nine days earlier. He was hired as a helper, whose job it was to join a team that carried heavy metal plates cut from the ship to a waiting truck. Some metal plates measure four or five feet wide by 15 or 16 feet long and are so heavy that it takes a dozen or more workers to lift and carry them on their shoulders. They step in unison to the rhythm of a team leaders’ chant. If they did not, the weight would crush them. In this case, five workers were assigned to carry a smaller plate of steel measuring about five feet long. They hoisted it onto their shoulders, which were dressed with rags to cushion the weight, and started to walk. But the weight was too great, and they knew that if they waited the plate would crush them all. Four of the more experienced workers knew how to hoist and slip out from under the weight. The new worker thought he could do it as well, but he was a split second too late, and the full weight of several-hundred pound plate came down on his back before he was knocked aside. After that, he could not straighten himself back up again. He is permanently bent over and in pain. As a helper, he was paid 22 cents an hour and $2.64 for the routine 12-hour shift. As he had worked for four days prior to his injury, he earned a total of $10.56. Management fired him, taking no responsibility for his injury. The shipyard would not even pay for him to see a doctor. Nor was he offered any compensation. His co-workers were taking care of him the best that they could. He was staying and sleeping in the dorm rooms, and the workers prepared food for him. The injured worker had no idea what he would do next without any money. His life had come crashing to a halt when he was 32 years old. A worker (bottom-left, pink shirt) bent over from a work accident is now unable to straighten his back. Mr. Helal, 18 Years Old, Crushed to Death on April 11, 2009While Dismantling the Greek Ship, United Moonlight For 27 years, the tanker United Moonlight delivered crude oil products around the world, including to the United States. United Moonlight was owned by the Greek company, Marine Management Services MC, which sold the ship for $3,495,018 to a Bangladeshi shipbreaking yard called Jomuna, owned by a Mr. Aladdin. The ship will be broken into scrap and sold at a healthy profit. The huge ship—676 feet long, 108 feet wide and 20 stories high—now sits beached in the sands of the Bay of Bengal. Hundreds of young workers go into the ship without even the most primitive protective gear or safety precautions to work 12 hours a day for 22 to 32 cents an hour dismantling the ship under some of the most dangerous working conditions anywhere in the world. On April 11, 2009, a huge metal plate fell from the United Moonlight ship, instantly crushing 18-year-old Mr. Helal to death. When it was active, United Moonlight sailed under a Liberian flag of convenience. This allowed the Greek shipping company to avoid Greek regulations and higher taxes and also to hire non-union workers from poor developing countries at less than half the wages and benefits as those in Greece. Mr. Helal was crushed to death while working on the United Moonlight Shipyard of Death At Mamun Enterprise,Three workers killed in a single month in June 2008,Another worker crushed to death in April 2009 Mr. Roise Uddin Mridha, 40 years old, worked as a “loader” carrying heavy metal plates cut from the ship to waiting trucks. He was struck in the head by a falling piece of metal at 2:00 p.m. on June 2, 2008 and died on the way to the hospital. Mr. Hannan, a cutter’s helper, was just 18 when he was killed—in what the workers described as a “horrifying accident”—the night of June 16, 2008. Shipyard officials sent the dead man’s body to his parents’ village that same night, without informing the police of his death. Mr. Habibur Rubel Rahman, 25 years old, was killed at midnight on June 27, 2008, when a heavy piece of metal he was cutting broke loose and crushed him to death. The shipyard owner gave his family 3,000 taka ($43.60) after their sons’ death. It was only under pressure from a local non-governmental organization—Young Power in Social Action (YPSA)—that the shipyard provided further compensation. Mr. Belal, a 27-year-old senior cutter, was crushed to death at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21, 2009. Mr. Belal was assigned to cut sheets of metal from the side of the ship. No safety precautions were taken to guarantee the security of the large steel plates being cut. Using a blowtorch, Mr. Belal was more than half way through his cut when a huge piece of metal broke free, falling and crushing him to death. Two young workers rolling gas tanks out to cut a ship The name of the shipbreaking yard where the workers were killed is Mamun Enterprise, also called S. Trading Corporation, which is owned by a Mr. Shafi. At the time of the workers’ deaths, they were cutting apart two huge ships, the SETA, a crude oil tanker measuring 796 feet long and 106 feet wide and the Gazelle, also a crude oil tanker, 748 feet long and 106 feet wide. Before they were sold to the scrap yard, both ships were owned by shipping companies in the United Arab Emirates, Seta by Emirates Shipping Co. Ltd. and Gazelle by the Global Crown Shipping Co. LLC. In the last year, Seta and Gazelle carried crude oil to ports in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, India, the Gulf and South East Asia. Portrait of Shipbreakers Senior cutters work one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, seven days a week, while earning just 31 cents an hour. Sun glasses, a second shirt, a bandana and a cheap baseball cap are their only “safety gear.” Two experienced cutters One Friday in February, we ran into two shipbreaking workers who had just finished an eight-hour shift, from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., on what was supposed to be their weekly day off. They were experienced cutters who had been working in the yards for 11 years. They were completely filthy. Using a blowtorch, they cut the giant tanker ships into pieces. Their work, they explained, was “absolutely dangerous,” and it was “very common that workers die,” either from explosions, or from slipping and falling into the cavernous ship. When they use their blowtorch to cut, the metal sparks from the flame are flying everywhere. In addition to the heat, the melting iron and lead paint throw off a sickening stench which makes them dizzy. Most of all, they fear the explosions, which can happen if they cut through the metal and hit a pocket of gas vapor. And before they can even begin to work on the metal, they have to hammer away the asbestos. Management does not provide any safety gear other than the cheapest pair of welding gloves. To protect themselves from the flying sparks when they are using the blowtorch, they wear two sets of heavy shirts, hoping that the sparks will not burn through both layers. But it happens all the time. Their arms were full of burn marks and welts. They are sweating constantly, given the combination of 95-degree temperatures, high humidity and the heat of the blowtorches. They buy cheap sunglasses to protect their eyes and wrap dirty bandanas around their mouths and noses to protect their faces and ward off the fumes and flying bits of asbestos. An experience cutter wearing a dirty bandanna around his mouth and nose to protect their faces and ward off the fumes and flying bits of asbestos. Instead of hard hats, they wore cheap baseball caps. Rather than steel-tipped boots, they wore soft rubber “gum boots” that the owner takes from the ship and sells to the workers. The boots are far too big, and the Bangladeshi workers use cut up rags to wrap and pad their feet. Nonetheless, it is common for the workers to get rashes and infections since the rubber boots do not breathe. The shipyard owner, they said, “doesn’t provide anything.” These guys were great. They were thin, cocky and knew that they were good at what they did. Nor did they shy away from work, regularly putting in 13, 14 and 15-hour shifts, from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00, 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. or even midnight. They worked seven days a week, including a four to eight or even ten-hour shift on Fridays, supposedly their day off. They were working over 80 hours a week and sometimes more. All overtime was obligatory. The workers were allowed an hour for lunch, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., and a half-hour break from 5:00 to 5:30 p.m. For all their grueling and dangerous work, these senior cutters were paid just 31 cents an hour, or $4.02 for the normal 13-hour shift and a total of $25.33 for working an 82-hour week. All overtime is mandatory, but workers are not paid the legal overtime premium which is supposed to be paid as double time. They told us that two weeks before, a piece of metal fell on a worker, breaking his leg. Three years ago, when the workers were cutting apart a boiler, it exploded and many died. There were not many children in their shipyard, maybe fewer than a dozen 12 and 13-year olds worked their shift. The kids worked barefoot or in flip flops. These workers received no national holidays, no religious Eid festivals, no May Day—nothing. There was never a paid holiday. There was no healthcare, no vacation days and no contract. If they were hurt or killed, they could not even prove they worked at the yard. The workers told us they had “no comfort, no life,” –which was a gross understatement. Four workers slept in a small room, lying on the dirty concrete floor. No one had even a mattress. Like other worker hovels we have seen, their room had a paper-thin thatched roof which leaked when it rained. When it rains, they said, “we can’t sleep.” All they can do is to sit and try to cover themselves with rags or a light quilt. When we asked if there was a union in the shipbreaking yard, they responded, “No. The company doesn’t want it and won’t accept it. For us it is a dream.” They told us that the ships they dismantled came from Germany, Greece, Singapore and other countries. Workers forced to wear rubber boots, not the protective steel-toed boots that their jobs require A Day in the Life of “Lucky” Shipbreakers M.M. Shipbreaking Yard (Lucky)JahanabadSitakundo, Chittagong There are a little over 1,000 workers at the M.M. Shipbreaking Yard—which almost everyone calls “Lucky.” Currently, the yard is breaking down three huge tanker ships, each of which takes about six months to completely dismantle to be sold as scrap. The yard operates 24 hours a day, running two 12-hour shifts. On the night shift, no one works inside the ships; rather, they work on the beach under glaring fluorescent lights. Lucky Workers speak out about conditions in the shipbreaking yard: “The environment is worse than a prison. We work here only to buy food to survive. Otherwise, it is not a workplace fit for a human being.” “We are fighting with death always. This is not work. This is a place of punishment and death.” “I have seen many workers legs and hands broken. Many workers died.” “Our work is so risky that we always face deadly situations.” (Referring to 18-year-old Mr. Touhid Hosain Babul who was crushed to death at the M.M. Shipbreaking Yard on April 19, 2009, when a huge metal plate from the ship suddenly fell on him as he was cutting it into smaller pieces.) On a hot and rainy July morning, around 9:00 a.m., we had the chance to meet with a group of Lucky shipbreaking workers who had just come off the night shift. They had worked straight through, from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., with just three short breaks—a half hour at 10:00 p.m., a ten-minute break at 2:00 a.m. when management provides them with a cup of tea and a small biscuit, which the workers say costs the equivalent of about four cents, and a 15-minute rest period at 6:30 a.m. During the entire night, they get 55 minutes off. Workers gutting a ship; the ship owners hope to resell what has been salvaged. Using winches and wire cables, a huge holding tank—the workers said it was the size of ten of their dorm rooms—had been dragged from the ship onto the sand and mud. Everyone was soaking wet from the rain, and sixteen workers were assigned to spend the entire night inside the holding tank, cutting it to pieces with their blowtorches. The tank, which was divided into several room-sized chambers, must have held oil. When we met with them that morning, the workers’ clothing was black with oil stains, and everyone smelled of oil. During our meeting, almost all of the workers were coughing and spitting black. Some went outside to vomit. We could hear coughing coming from the surrounding rooms. The workers said that inside the tank, there was a sharp, pungent stinking odor. Their eyes were watering. Their noses and throats were sore. They felt dizzy, and some were near passing out. A few workers tried chewing betel nuts to remove the acid taste in their mouths. Inside the tank it is pitch dark except for the glare of their blowtorches. First, they had to knock off the asbestos, which was wrapped around the pipes and secured with wire. They used hammers to break the asbestos apart. Next, they marked the metal to note the sizes of the pieces they wanted to cut. They used their blowtorches to cut the metal, but since there were a lot of fumes inside the tank, they had to fear explosions. If they cut into a chamber with oil or gas fumes, there could be a flash fire or explosion. It was not only the oil, but also the melting metal and lead paint that added to the deadly fumes. Sparks were flying everywhere from the blowtorches, and the temperature inside the tank soared. Already soaked from the night’s rain, they were also dripping in their own sweat. The workers estimated that it would take two or three nights’ work to dismantle the chamber completely. The shipbreakers do this work with no safety gear, no hard hats, no safety goggles or visors to protect against the glare and sparks, no welders vests and no respiratory masks. Instead, the workers use sunglasses, baseball caps, bandanas wrapped around their nose and mouth and two sets of shirts in hopes of preventing the sparks from their blowtorches from reaching their skin. However, all of them carried numerous scars from being burned. Workers in the water, collecting barrels of fuel from the ship to take to shore. The only safety gear management provides the workers are gloves, and those are only issued to the cutters who handle the blowtorches, not to their helpers or the junior workers. Management sells the workers soft rubber boots that were collected from the ships. The workers are charged 400 taka ($5.81) for them. The boots are too large for the Bangladeshi workers, so they wrap their feet with torn pieces of dungarees. They have no socks, and since the rubber does not breathe, the workers’ feet stink and some get infections. Three or four times a night, when they cannot stand it anymore, several workers take turns sneaking outside to breathe. Outside they stand in the mud and clay, as it continues to rain. The Lucky workers told us, “We have no life.” Some child workers also work on the day and night shifts. A 16-year-old Lucky worker we met with estimated that there were around 15 child workers between the ages of 10 and 12 on his day shift. A similar number of kids worked at night. Young workers pulling large scraps of metal. The 16-year-old said injuries were common in the yard. In June, a heavy piece of metal fell on his foot, and he had to take four days off—without pay. Another group of Lucky workers thought there were about 100 young teenage workers between the ages of 16 and 17 in the yard, along with children as young as ten. Desperately impoverished hovels not fit for any human being: When the shipbreaking workers return “home” sometime after 8:30 a.m., having worked through the entire night, they need to wash off the oil, the stench of oil and gas clinging to their bodies, the asbestos dust and the grime, rust and mud. But these workers do not have showers or baths. They wash next to a manual water pump which they use to fill up small plastic buckets. They use these plastic buckets to wash themselves. The workers have to wait their turns since just two primitive water pumps serve 50 or more workers. The workers brush their teeth, wash their clothes and cook using water from the same pump. The water is not potable, but they drink it anyway. A water pumped used for bathing and laundry. The shipbreakers sleep four to each small, eight-by-12-foot room, with two workers sleeping on a hard wooden platform and the other two sleeping right on the dirty concrete floor. No one has a mattress, just some old rags and sheets, which the workers say are infested with bed bugs. The rooms reek of desperate impoverishment. There is no air, no windows, just a single door. It is stiflingly hot and flies are everywhere. There is no TV, no radio, nothing, just some old clothes hanging from a string. There is no refrigeration. Food sits in open pots on the floor. Two beds, which are sheets on top of the concrete floor. In each room, workers take turns preparing the food. The “kitchen” is a few pots on the floor in a corner with a tiny propane burner. Some workers are so exhausted they skip breakfast and go right to sleep. Those who stay awake eat the cheapest rice they can purchase, which is mixed with pieces of potato, vegetables like cabbage, and lentils. For these workers, eating meat, fish or chicken is only a thing of their dreams. The cheapest mutton costs $1.98 to $2.31 a pound, the equivalent of eight hours of work given that the workers are earning just 22 to 30 cents an hour. The only time they eat meat, the workers laughed, is during the two major religious Eid festivals when middle class people give food to the poor. A worker prepares food in the corner of the room, using a tiny propane burner. Living on $1.45 a day—in misery: A senior blowtorch cutter can earn 250 taka ($3.63) for a 12-hour shift, which comes to 30 cents an hour. The Lucky workers told us they try to survive on 100 taka ($1.45) a day. That has to cover rent for their room, electricity, the cheapest food and lunch or supper at work. The workers cannot even afford to buy used shirts or pants, and they cling to their rags as long as they can. The workers deny themselves everything so they can save money and send their families the equivalent of $2.18 a day. They work 12 hours a day under grueling and dangerous conditions to do this. We asked, do they ever see a doctor? “We can’t afford food,” they responded, “so how are we going to see a doctor and purchase medicines?” Seeing a doctor costs at least 300 taka, $4.36—which is more than 14 hours’ wages for even senior cutters, who earn just 30 cents an hour. “It is common here to get injured” the workers explained. We know the workers had no health care coverage, even for serious work-related accidents. So what do the workers do? “If injured,” they explained, “at best, a worker might get one day off, one day’s leave with pay, and only sometimes will management give you medicines. Usually we have to purchase our own antiseptic solutions. And workers never get paid for a second day off, no matter how badly they are hurt.” We asked them what they did for fun. Their response was: “We have no time for fun. Sleep is our only fun.” “If we don’t work, we don’t get paid.” To work in the shipyard, they went on, “is to invite death.” “Here a dog is more important than a human being.” “After a cow ploughs for one or two hours, they have to be fed. But not us. We have to work 12 to 14 hours with nothing.” Smaller boats used to reach the ships in the water, with the larger ships in the background, waiting to be dismantled. Seven Day Workweek The shipyards operate around the clock, on two 12-hour shifts, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. On Fridays, supposedly the workers’ weekly holiday, they work four hours, from 7:00 to 11:00. If they do not work, they do not get paid. The shipbreaking workers live on the edge. “If we are healthy, we can survive. If we get sick and can’t work, we cannot live.” The workers’ goal is to work every day of the month, but the work is grueling, hard and dangerous, and they get sick and injured. On average, most workers take three Fridays off a month. This puts the workers at the shipyards for an average of 73 hours a week. Some of the Lowest Wages in the World for some of the most Dangerous Work: 22 to 30 cents an hour The cutters’ helpers earn 15 taka (22 cents) an hour—$2.62 for the routine 12-hour shift. Illegally—and it has been going on for over 30 years in broad daylight—no shipyard owner pays the legal overtime premium, which is supposed to be twice the normal wage. The helpers carry or roll the heavy metal tanks of oxygen and liquid gas for the cutters. They also wield hammers all day, banging and chipping away at the rust as the cutters mark the metal and cut it to the right size. Relatively new cutters—who handle the blowtorches—are paid 16.7 taka (24 cents) an hour and $2.91 for their 12 hours of work. Senior cutters with many years experience are paid 20.83 taka (30 cents) an hour and $3.63 for the obligatory 12-hour shift. A worker tries to cut a larger piece of the ship, into smaller parts. The very highest wage—which only the most senior and experienced cutters earn—is 22.92 to 25 taka (33 to 36 cents) an hour--$4.00 to $4.36 for the 12-hour shift. Helpers 22 cents an hour $2.62 per 12-hour shift Cutters 24 cents an hour $2.91 per 12-hour shift Senior Cutters 30 cents an hour $3.63 per 12-hour shift Most experienced, highest paid cutters 33 - 36 cents an hour $4.00 - $4.36 per 12-hour shift The workers say there is no relationship between the dangerous and grueling work that they do and the pitifully low wages they are paid. Such Modest Demands: Workers Dream of Earning 55 Cents an Hour The shipbreaking workers at the Lucky yard know better then anyone that Bangladesh is a very poor country. Some workers even know that in the United States or Europe, workers doing similar jobs can earn in an hour what the Bangladeshi workers earn in a week, or two, or three. Still, their “demands” are so modest that one would think the shipyard owners would blush with shame—along with the ten wealthy shipping countries that dominate the world’s cargo trade, the handful of major shipping companies, the International Labor Organization and the International Maritime Organization. The shipbreakers’ dream is for cutters to earn 300 taka for eight hours work, that is, $4.36 for the legal regular shift, or 55 cents an hour. Helpers dream of earning 200 taka ($2.91) for the regular eight-hour shift, or 36 cents an hour. It is not a lot of money, but for the workers it would allow them to climb out of misery and into poverty where they and their families could survive with a modicum of dignity. As things stand now, even a senior cutter earns just 30 cents an hour and $3.63 for the mandatory 12-hour shift. If these workers’ wages were modestly increased to just 55 cents an hour, and they were paid the legal overtime premium of 100 percent for the four hours of overtime they work each day, they would be earning $8.72 a day, $5.09 a day more than they are paid now. Their wages would only average 72.5 cents an hour, which includes overtime, but it would make a world of difference to them and their families. If helpers earned just 36 cents an hour instead of the 22 cents they are now getting, and if they were paid the proper overtime premium according to the law, they would be earning $5.82 a day for the 12-hour shift, which would be $3.20 more per day than they are currently earning. Working at some of the most dangerous jobs in the world, wages of just 36 to 55 cents an hour should not have to be a dream. Surely the dominant shipping countries and companies, the ILO and the IMO can accomplish this much. The shipbreaking workers also want a contract to prove that they are permanent, full-time workers employed at a shipyard. Right now, they are treated as temporary workers with no rights. If a worker is injured or even killed, the owner can claim that the worker was never employed in his yard. The workers want health insurance to cover work injuries. They want sick days, national holidays and annual paid vacation time to be respected according to the law. And they want basic safety equipment, including helmets, goggles, real boots, welding vests to block the sparks and proper respiratory masks when they are dealing with asbestos, lead paint, gas fumes and other toxins. And they want the right to organize. As things stand now, accidents and even some deaths are not investigated or reported. Workers are exposed to toxic wastes every single day, but there are no medical examinations or long-term studies to document how the workers’ health is affected. Sparks from cutting torches leave burns and scars on workers unprotected skin Caught in a trap One Lucky worker, a small, very thin man who had worked 14 years in the shipbreaking yards told us there have been no improvements at all over these14 years. Nothing has changed and no one has ever helped them. Asked if the Ministry of Labor has ever assisted them, he and the other workers responded, “No. Never!” He went on to say that it was impossible to have hope, especially as the Bangladeshi government is not concerned about its own people. He also warned the younger workers that the grueling hours worked around toxic waste would make them impotent, as has happened to him. “The workers aren’t united,” he said. “We don’t have a union. We can’t bargain. If we tried to organize, we would all be fired and replaced.” “What the owner says is the law.” The Struggle for Hope In several of the poor neighborhoods we visited, workers from different shipyards told us that we were the first foreigners or Western people to come to visit them. The workers said it made them very happy and excited that foreigners cared enough to meet them, and they hoped we could work together. One group of workers got right down to business, saying they could bring together a meeting of 1,000 shipbreaking workers if it could be held on a Friday afternoon when the workers had time off. The workers would come if they thought there was a chance to improve working conditions and wages. If it would help them, they would take the risk despite everyone’s fear of the powerful and wealthy shipyard owners. The workers know they are being cheated, denied their rights and recklessly exposed to injuries and death, but they cannot fight back alone. They are caught in a vicious trap. But if international solidarity were offered, the workers would take the leap. Workers tow welding gas tanks up to the top of the ship If it costs less than $350 to save a workers’ life, isn’t it criminal not to do so? The minimal safety gear necessary to protect a cutter in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards would cost just $347.60. Cutters have the most dangerous job in the yards, wielding blowtorches to cut the giant ships into pieces of scrap. Basic necessary safety gear for a cutter: - Hard hat: $6.08 - Face shield: $5.95 - Welders apron: $22.89 - Welders gloves: ($8.35 per pair, new gloves every month) $100.20 - Steel toe boots: $15.00 - Safety harness belt: $29.68 - 3M Asbestos & lead dust respirators: (6000 series, dual cartridge--$11.60/respirator, N100 white filters approx. $13.00 per month) $167.60 Total cost: $347.60 Necessary safety gear for helpers and loaders—as little as $81 a year: - Hard hat: $6.08 - Steel toe boots: $15.00 - Work gloves: $3.03 - Protective safety goggles: $1.25 - Dust filter respiratory masks: ($7.59 for box of 50; new mask 365 days a year.) $55.41 Total Cost: $80.77 Jiri Subedar Shipyard We are in a trap. No one helps. Mr. Najrul Islam, a 25-year-old “loader” was killed at the Jiri Subedar Shipyard on October 28, 2008 when a huge metal plate cut from a ship fell and crushed him. Mr. Najrul died on the way to the hospital. In teams, the “loaders” carry heavy metal plates cut from the ships to waiting trucks for transport to the rolling mills. Mr. Jahagir Alam, an experienced cutter who had worked at the Jiri Subedar Shipyard for four years, was critically injured on August 12, 2008 when he was struck by a huge piece of falling metal. He died on September 6, 2008. On February 18, 2009, Mr. Abdul Halim, a cutter’s helper, was seriously burned at the Jiri Subedar Shipyard when a gas tank they were cutting exploded. The standard shift at the Jiri Subedar Shipyard is 12 hours, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., though in February 2009 when we met with the workers, they were being kept until 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. several times each week, putting in 14 to 15-hour shifts. When they work to 10:00 p.m. or later, the workers are provided with a special 44-cent food allowance. As is standard in the shipbreaking yards—though illegal—no overtime premium is ever paid. “They don’t give you [overtime], a worker told us, “If you work two hours, you get two hours [regular wages].” Junior cutters earned 36 cents an hour, while the most experienced senior cutters could earn up to 55 cents an hour, which is the highest wage we heard of in any of the shipyards. When the workers enter the ship, it is pitch dark. The electrical system is cut once the tanker is beached. The only light they have comes from their blowtorches. The first thing they do is cut small openings in the side of the ship for light. A worker scales the inside of the ship, with no safety harness. Inside the ship, it is…”Hot! Very hot. We are sweating. Everyone is soaked.” They often work on “floating stairs,” which are bamboo-rope ladders. The workers explained it is “very risky.” They hold the rope ladder with one hand and operate the blowtorch in the other. They use their teeth to turn the liquid gas and oxygen valves on and off. The first thing they have to do is to cut or break the asbestos, which is attached to the steel plates and pipes. They break the asbestos “with a hammer, banging it into pieces.” The workers wrap dirty bandanas around their faces to cover their noses and mouths in an effort to not breathe in the asbestos dust. “It’s itchy,” they say. “If it gets on your hands or skin it is itchy, and sometimes it tickles the face.” With the asbestos out of the way, they can mark and begin cutting the metal plates, the largest of which is 20 by 20 feet. Depending on where they are in the ship, the cut plates fall either in the water or on the sand and mud. Using winches and thick wire cables, the huge metal plates are pulled up on shore. They have gloves and hard hats, but no respiratory masks. The workers use the same bandanas they used when breaking asbestos to try to protect themselves from the dizzying fumes and stench coming from the melting steel and lead paint as they cut with their blowtorches. “[A bandana] is not enough. Every time we breathe, we breathe in the fumes.” Despite the extreme heat—it is hotter inside the ship than outside—they also wear two sets of shirts to protect themselves from the flying sparks bouncing off the metal. It’s “common” for some sparks to burn through both shirts, reaching their skin and burning them. The only light inside the ship comes from workers blowtorches. Other workers drill holes in the ship to drain the gasoline, oil and polluted water out of the hold. “Black oil…an oil and water mixture. It stinks,” they say. There is not much else going on in their lives than work. “We only do the work. We only work. Our life is for work,” we were told. If they work, they get paid. If they do not work, they do not get paid. “No work, no pay,” they explain. Most workers try to work seven days a week, but if a worker gets sick or is too exhausted, they may take off up to three days a month. They have no health insurance, no sick days, no overtime pay, no vacation, no national holidays and no safety regulations. Also illegal, management holds back one month’s wages, “To hold the workers. To control us and keep us in the shipyard…so we cannot quit.” We asked if conditions in the shipbreaking yard had improved over the last five or ten years. The response was, “No. The same as before. No change.” Was anyone helping them? “No one. Not government, union, Ministry of Labor. Nothing.” “We are in a trap,” they told us. “Workers are isolated. We can’t meet,”—meaning that anyone who sought improvements would be fired. Could they at least eat half decently? For example, doing the hard labor they do, could they afford to eat chicken or mutton even if it was just two or three times a week? “No. Oh, no. With our salary, it is not possible…maybe every two months, every three months.” “We are doing hard labor. We have to consume more food. Rice. We need to eat eggs, meat, fish. There is no relationship between what we are paid and the hard labor we do.” Their wildest dream would be to earn 70 cents to $1.00 an hour and to be paid the legal overtime premium, to have healthcare for work injuries, one day off a week and a contract that proves they are permanent full-time workers. As the shipbreaking yards are run now, they might as well ask for the moon. Without international solidarity and pressure, nothing is going to change for these workers who in fact are doing one of the world’s most dangerous jobs. The Jiri Subedar Shipbreaking Yard is owned by Mr. Lokman. He also owns Pupali Enterprises Jiri Subedar, which is a separate operation where the large sheets of steel are cut into smaller sizes. In addition, he owns a rolling mill, the Jiri Subedar Steel Re-rolling Mills. Shipyards Violate Every Single Labor Law with Complete Impunity Bangladeshi labor law guarantees the following rights: A 48-hour regular workweek with a maximum of 12 hours overtime per week. All overtime must be voluntary and paid at a 100 percent premium—i.e. at twice the normal wage. 14 paid sick days per year. 15 days paid vacation after completing one year of employment. 11 paid national holidays. Access to clean drinking water. Freedom to organize and form trade unions. A Worker Dies Every Month in the Shipbreaking Yards As of September 8, 2009, nine workers have been killed. Abdul Karim (27 year old)Rign Road, Coxs Bazar, BangladeshDate: July 27, 2009Cause: Fall from the top of ShipShip name: MT. ADITI Place: Madambibir Hat, Sitakund. Babul (22 years old)Hasnabad, Bhatiary, Sitakund ChittagongDate: April 21, 2009Cause: Crushed under large iron plateYard name: MM Shipbreaking yard (a.k.a. Lucky shipyard) Belal (27 years old)Sub-district- Sandwip, Chittagong.Date: April 21, 2009Cause: Struck by a big iron plateYard name: S. Trading Shipbreaking yard Owner: Mr. Shafi Sakhowat (age unknown)Date: February 6, 2009Cause: Hit by Iron PlateYard name: Habib Steel 2 Owner: Mr. Yeasin Ali Tipu (20 years old)Date: February 24, 2009Cause: Struck by Iron Plate falling from top of shipYard name: Habib Steel 1 Owner: Mr. Yeasin Ali Enamul Haque (20 years old)Date: February 24, 2009Cause: Suffocation in tank full of toxic gas Yard name: Mac International Owner: Mr. Joinal Abedin Sunil (age unknown)Date: March 19, 2009Cause: Fell from the shipYard name: Mabiya Enterprise Owner: Mr. Jahangir Helal (18 years old)Date: April 11, 2009Cause: Struck by large iron plateYard name: Jomuna Shipbreaking yard Owner: Mr. AlauddinShip name: United Moonlight Hossain (35 years old) On Saturday morning, September 5, 2009 at 9:00 a.m., 35-year-old Mr. Hossain was burned to death while breaking apart a huge Korean tanker ship at the Kabir Shipbreaking Yard. A second worker, Mr. Ashek, 20 years old, is in critical condition and just barely clinging to life. Three other workers, Md Kuddus, 32, Jahangir, 28, and Khokon, 22, also suffered serious burns and are in the Burn Unit of the Chittagong Medical College Hospital. (List of workers killed prepared by the NGO Young Power in Social Action (YPSA), Chittagong office.) In 2008, Young Power in Social Action documented that 16 shipbreaking workers were killed, which means that a worker died every 23 days. In a 2005 report, the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and GreenPeace estimated that 1,000 Bangladeshi workers died in shipbreaking yard accidents between 1975 when the industry started and 2005. These figures would put shipyard deaths at nearly three workers killed each month. The Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) estimates that there have been around 2,000 worker deaths in the shipbreaking yards since 1998. This would mean a death toll of more than 16 workers per month over the last ten years. In a 2006 publication, “Shipbreaking Activities and its Impact on the Coastal Zone of Chittagong, Bangladesh,” authors Dr. Md. M. Maruf Hossain and Md. Mahmudul Islam of the University of Chittagong note that: “On average, one shipbreaking worker dies at the yards in Bangladesh every week, and every day one worker gets injured.” It is not possible to document every accident and death in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards because accidents and deaths are not even reported let along investigated. The shipbreaking yard owners are very powerful and wealthy people who operate their yards as private fiefdoms. They are the law. The Bangladeshi government plays almost no role, which leaves the workers trapped in what are some of the most dangerous working conditions in the world. In the last 30 years, neither the International Labor Organization nor the International Maritime Organization have been able to effect any positive change. The shipbreaking workers are very clear on this: “There has not been a single improvement. Everything is as it has been.” Worker cuts metal in enclosed space with his face completely uncovered New Shipbreaking Rules Fall Short The International Maritime Organization (IMO)—a United Nations body—recently concluded a convention, issuing new rules to regulate the shipbreaking industry. According to attorney Rizwana Hasan and the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), joined by the international NGO Platform on Shipbreaking and Greenpeace, the new IMO convention fails to deal with pre-cleaning—the removal of toxic materials from the ships before they are beached and dismantled in Bangladesh or other less-developed countries. Starting in 2011, the convention does require ship owners to build new ships without using toxic materials. This means that for the next 27 to 32 years, toxic ships will continue to be dismantled on Bangladesh’s beaches. Nor does the convention call—even in the future—for safer and more environmentally-sound dry docking of decommissioned ships rather than the highly destructive practice of beaching. Shipbreakers Exposed Daily to Deadly Toxic Wastes Each Ship Contains: All 112 Beached Ships Contain: Asbestos: 15,000 lbs 1.68 million pounds Lead Paint: 20,000-200,000 lbs 2.24 to 22.4 million pounds Residual oil: Up to 1,308 cubic yards 146,496 cubic yards Grease, lubricants (engine, bilge, hydraulic, other lubricants): Average 4,228 quarts Average of 473,536 quarts Workers are exposed to: Asbestos, Lead, Mercury, Arsenic, Cadmium, Zinc, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl compounds), Dioxin, Solvents, Black oil residues, carcinogenic cutting fumes (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons). A woman sifting asbestos. (Image By Ruben Dao/FIDH) A 2006 study by the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Chittagong in Bangladesh, “Shipbreaking Activities and Its Impact on the Coastal Zone of Chittagong, Bangladesh: Towards Sustainable Management” by Dr. Md. M. Maruf Hossain and Md. Mahmudul Islam, found deadly levels of toxic waste being released in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards. Each tanker ship contains an average of 15,000 pounds of asbestos, which is used for thermal and sound insulation on the ship’s hull and pipes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly advised that there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos fibers and dust. In July 2009, the National Labor Committee counted 112 giant tankers and container ships run up on the beaches of Bangladesh’s Bay of Bengal near the port city of Chittagong. This means that for all 112 ships, Bangladeshi shipbreaking workers are handling—with absolutely no safety protections—1.68 million pounds of asbestos. The workers use hammers to break the asbestos, which they shovel into plastic garbage bags and carry out to the beach. Child workers are also involved in removing the deadly asbestos. The University of Chittagong research also found that each container ship is covered with between 10 and 100 tons of lead paint. (Lead paint is still used on ships.) When workers cut apart the ship using their blow torches or scrape the metal to clean it, lead, mercury, cadmium, copper, zinc and arsenic are released. All 112 ships beached in Chittagong in July 2009 would contain between 2.24 and 22.4 million pounds of lead paint. Child workers acting as helpers to the cutters are also breathing the fumes given off when the flame of the blowtorch melts the metal and lead paint. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the fumes can be carcinogenic. Child workers also clean the metal plates by hammering off any residues or rust. Each ship contains several thousand liters of oil (engine oil, bilge oil, hydraulic and lubricant oils and grease), for an average of 4,228 quarts of oil per ship, or 473,536 quarts for all 112 ships. Each tanker ship also holds up to 1,000 cubic meters (35,336 cubic feet) of residual oil, or nearly four million cubic feet of residual oil on all 112 ships. These black oil residues mix with and accumulate in the beach sand. The International Labor Organization also lists PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl compounds), dioxins and solvents as “hazardous substances” connected to shipbreaking. The tanker ships are also infested with rats and insects. The shipbreaking beaches are laced with chemicals and toxic waste, and coastal waters are seriously degraded. Fish populations have been destroyed, wiping out the livelihood and threatening the survival of nearby fishing villages. There has been absolutely no attempt to conduct medical examinations of the shipbreaking workers to test for their level of exposure to toxins and carcinogens. In the 30 years that shipbreaking has been going on in Bangladesh, there has not been one long-term study tracking the health of the workers. It is as if their lives do not matter. It would cost almost nothing for the shipyards to install proper showers where the workers could wash with clean water and soap. Ambia Shipbreaking Yard “We have no fun and no time to play.All we do is work and sleep.” --Child worker, Ambia yard In July, we met a child worker from the Ambia shipbreaking yard who told us he was 14 years old. But the older workers quickly explained that he was really just 10. He was tiny. He worked as a “cleaner,” wielding a hammer all day, banging chips of rust off the metal plates that the blowtorch operators were cutting. The work, he told us, was very hard, and at the end of the 12-hour shift, he was worn out and exhausted. Child workers Senior workers estimated that there were approximately 60 children working in the Ambia yard. The child workers work alongside the cutters’ helpers, who are responsible for breaking up the asbestos inside the ship, shoveling it into sacks and taking it outside. They guess that the owner sells the asbestos. The child workers and helpers are paid 20 to 22 cents [13.75 to 15 taka] an hour—$2.40 to $2.64 for the routine 12-hour shift. Though the overtime hours are mandatory, there is no overtime premium—no national holidays, no vacation, no healthcare, no sick days, nothing. In every shipyard the workers told us the same thing—that the Ministry of Labor did absolutely nothing to help the workers. Every single labor law in Bangladesh was being grossly violated in broad daylight and with complete impunity. In fact, Ministry of Labor officials claim that there are no children working in the shipbreaking yards. They have gone in and inspected the yards, they say. But all their visits are announced well in advance, making it easy for the owners to keep the kids in their miserably primitive homes for the day of the visit. There are 500 to 700 workers at the Ambia yard, where three giant tanker and container ships are being dismantled for scrap. Depending on its size, it takes six to nine months to completely dismantle a ship. Senior cutters earn 25 to 29 cents [17.5 to 20 taka] an hour. In the standard, grueling 12-hour shift, from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., the cutters earn from $3.00 to $3.48, and if they toil seven days a week, including four hours on Friday their weekly holiday, they can earn $19 to $22.04 a week. “This is our life,” the workers told us. “If we don’t work, our family will die. Just work and sleep. Without hope.” Working in the shipbreaking yards, they continued, “makes your life short, and reduces our lifespan to around 40 years of age.” Four workers shared each small room, measuring approximately eight by ten feet. Two workers slept on a hard wooden platform, while the other two slept directly on the concrete floor. The rooms were depressing, dark, suffocatingly hot and airless. There were no windows, and the door opened into a covered hallway. There were a few pots lying on the floor in which they cooked their meager food. Other than that, there were a few pieces of clothing hanging on ropes. But there was no TV, no radio, no cassette player, nothing. The workers laughed when we asked if they could afford to eat anything other than rice and vegetables. Could they afford meat? They told us that the only time they ate mutton was during the religious holiday, Eid, when wealthier people give food to the poor. Standing in the room, it was unimaginable how anyone could live here for more than a day or two. Here too, as in other yards, the owner has a network of spies—workers who are paid a few extra dollars to monitor and crush any workers seeking to improve working and living conditions. When the Ambia shipyard workers let loose and dreamed the impossible, they wished they would earn 60 to 70 cents an hour! Instead of raising wages or paying the proper overtime premium, yard management always holds back five days’ wages—up to 1,200 taka ($17.40) to “bond” the laborers to the yard. The fact that workers can be “bonded” and held in the yard for just $17.40 is an indication of how desperately poor and on the edge these workers are. Barefoot workers hauling metal in the mud Shipyard Owners in Bangladesh Defy Court Order In response to a suit filed by attorney Rizwana Hasan, Director of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), the High Court in Bangladesh (equivalent to the Supreme Court in the U.S.) ruled in March 2009 that the shipbreaking yards should be shut down within two weeks if they failed to receive “environmental clearance” from Bangladesh’s Department of the Environment. The Department had already found the shipbreaking yards to be a “Category Red” hazard, meaning that the yards presented “extreme danger” to the environment. BELA’s lawsuit was on its way to being a landmark victory. The High Court extended the grace period from two weeks to three months, giving the shipyard owners time to frame rules guaranteeing environmental and worker safety and the safe removal and disposal of toxic waste. The first three-month deadline came and went in June with absolutely no change in the shipbreaking yards. It was business as usual, as a second three-month deadline slipped by in September. The general secretary of Bangladesh’s Ship Breakers Association, MR. Abul Kasheem, had a unique defense. He said the government had never declared shipbreaking as an industry, and therefore they did not need environmental clearance. The vice president of the Association, Mr. M. Mohsin, calmly observed that he is not aware of any government ban on shipbreaking. It pays to have powerful friends. At least one member of Parliament, Mr. Quasem Master, owns a shipyard. Moreover, his son recently cut down 125 acres of desperately needed mangrove forest to build another yard. The former mayor of Chittagong, the country’s second largest city, Mr. Monjurul Alam Monjo, also owns a shipbreaking yard. Who Is Responsible? For the past 30 years, shipbreaking workers in Bangladesh have been maimed, burned, killed, poisoned, cheated of their wages and denied every single labor right under Bangladesh law and the International Labor Organization’s core worker rights standards. And over the entire three decades, the shipbreaking workers recently told us, “nothing has changed, there have been no improvements.” In addition to the extreme worker rights violations, miles of beaches and ocean have been irreparably degraded and overcome with toxic waste. It is convenient for the major shipping nations and companies—who dominate global cargo trade—to present what is happening in Bangladesh as just another intractable example of the desperate poverty wracking the underdeveloped countries that the G-20, the United Nations, the International Maritime Organization and the International Labor Organization are all racing to fix. In fact, it is very possible to name those who are responsible for the human and environmental crimes in Bangladesh. Certainly the shipbreaking yard owners in Bangladesh are responsible. They have grown fantastically wealthy and powerful on the backs of the exploited, maimed and discarded workers. And, the Government of Bangladesh, in particular the Ministry of Labor, has not lifted a finger to implement Bangladesh’s labor and environmental laws. But there are much bigger fish out there who are also responsible, and who have the means and power to implement change. The ten largest shipping nations control 72.2 percent of all merchant cargo shipments worldwide. Certainly powerful shipping countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Norway, Greece, China, South Korea and Singapore bear a significant responsibility. Six of the largest shipping countries belong to the G-20, where they could forcefully raise this issue. Ten Largest Shipping Nations “…[T]he shipping scene is determined by only a few shipping countries… The top ten shipping nations controlled, in terms of dwt, 72.2 percent of the total world merchant feet tonnage…” 1.) Greece2.) Japan3.) Germany4.) China5.) Norway6.) United States7.) Hong Kong8.) South Korea9.) Singapore10.) United Kingdom - SSMR October 2006 Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics Moreover, just ten container shipping companies control 60 percent of all merchant cargo shipments worldwide. If they chose to do so, these major shipping companies could also have a powerful voice demanding an end to the decades of abuse and exploitation endured by Bangladesh’s workers. These companies could support improvements in the shipbreaking industry. World’s Ten Largest Container Shipping Companies 1.) APM-Maersk – Denmark2.) Mediterranean Shg. Co – Switzerland3.) GMA/GGM Group – France4.) Evergreen Line – United Kingdom, Italy, Taiwan & Hong Kong5.) Hapag – Lloyd – Germany6.) Cosco Container L. – China7.) APL – Singapore8.) CSCL – China9.) NYK – Japan10.) Hanjin/Senator – South Korea The International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) also bear a huge responsibility to end the abuse in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards. However their track record has been extremely poor. The International Labor Organization has been working on improving conditions in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards for the last 20 years with absolutely no positive results. This is wrong and we cannot allow it. Nothing will change as long as respect for and enforcement of labor rights standards remain a gentlemen’s game, politely played behind closed doors by powerful vested interests. The G-20 meets in Pittsburgh on September 24 and 25. Six of the 10 largest shipping nations (not counting the European Union) are G-20 members: United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, China and South Korea. Labor and human rights activists, environmentalists, students, people of faith, women’s groups and others have the right to challenge the G-20 meeting to do more than just talk while young workers and children continue to die and be maimed in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards. We have the right to demand concrete steps to improve the shipbreaking industry. Let’s send the child workers to school Here is the question: Could the shipyard owners in Bangladesh, joined by the ten wealthy nations that dominate shipping, along with the ten largest container shipping companies, the International Maritime Organization, the International Labor Organization and the G-20 countries afford to end child labor in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards? Of course they could. What is lacking is the will to do so. At a minimum, every 10, 11, 12 and 13-year-old worker should be sent back to school. First, the children will need a living stipend to at least replace their regular wages of $10.56 a week, $549.12 for the year. [22 cents/hour x 48 hours = $10.56] In addition, although public schools are free, there are costs for purchasing necessary school materials, such as uniforms, school bags, notebooks, pens, pencils, etc. This would cost 12,000 to 15,000 taka ($174.42-$218) a year—or an average cost of $196.22. The 10 to 13-year-old child workers could return to school with a living stipend and the necessary school supplies for just $745.72 a year and $1,491.44 for two years. Child worker No one knows exactly how many child workers there are in the shipbreaking yards, but credible estimates we heard from the senior workers were that there are approximately twenty 10 to 13 year-olds working in each yard. If that is the case, it would cost each shipbreaking yard less than $30,000 to send their child workers back to school for two years. This is not a lot of money, and one would think that the wealthy shipyard owners in Bangladesh, along with the dominant shipping nations and companies, the International Maritime Organization, the International Labor Organization and the G20 nations, could accomplish this much. It is critical that we challenge these major players to do the right thing. As an aside, according to the ILO, no one under 18 years of age should be employed in dangerous occupations that may damage their health. Surely shipbreaking is among the most dangerous jobs in the world—but the convention is completely ignored in Bangladesh. Thirteen-year-old Killed Thirteen-year-old Sultan Nasiruddin Molla was killed at the Sultana Shipyard on his first day of work on July 14, 2008. He was struck in the head when a large plate of steel from a ship came free. The ship being dismantled was the MT Rufazi. The owner of the yard is Mr. Adnanur Rahman. Mamun Enterprise Shipbreaking Yard “We work. We eat. We sleep. We don’t have any life.” We had the chance to meet with several groups of workers from the Mamun Enterprise shipyard, which the workers called “Shafi” after the owners’ name. The yard was always busy, and there were up to 1,000 workers. Grueling hours, dangerous conditions, pitifully low wages, miserable living quarters and some child workers: The “Shafi” yard operates 24 hours a day on two 12-hour shifts—from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. The yard works seven days a week, though on Fridays—the workers weekly holiday—the shift is ‘just’ four hours, from 8:00 a.m. to noon. This puts the workers in the yard 76 hours a week. Helpers are paid just 22 cents (15 taka) an hour and $2.61 for the standard 12-hour shift. Cutters, operating blowtorches to cut the ships to pieces, earn 29 to 33 cents (20 to 20.5 taka) an hour, depending upon seniority and experience. Working the mandatory 12-hour shift, cutters earn $3.49 a day, up to a high of $3.92, which few workers earn. Despite the forced overtime every day, no overtime premium is paid. If the shipbreakers do not work, they do not get paid. They have no paid sick days, no public holidays, no religious festivals, no vacations. The work is exhausting. Most of the helpers are so poor that they carry the heavy sheets of metal all day long in scorching temperatures, going barefoot or wearing the cheapest flip flops because they cannot afford shoes. The helpers told us they had to take one or two days off a month—unpaid—as they were too exhausted or sick. The night shift workers knew of at least a dozen 12 and 13-year-old children who also worked the whole night through. The living conditions are not fit for animals. Five workers share each primitive room, sleeping on a dirty concrete floor. There are no beds, no mattresses. The rooms have paper-thin roofs of woven bamboo slats, which leak when it rains. When it rains, the workers sit up all night, covering themselves with pieces of plastic. The workers can only afford to subsist on the cheapest rice and vegetables. Chicken, fish and meat is out of the question and only a distant dream. Workers on the outside of a ship with no safety harness. The owner has started taking the workers’ timecards away at the end of each month so that there are no records of how many hours they work each week or month or of how many years they have worked at the yard. This way, if a worker gets badly hurt or even killed, the owner can claim that the worker never worked in his yard. Also, without timecards there is no way to document how many hours of legal overtime pay the workers are cheated of. The workers also report that “Shafi” management uses “spies”—workers who have been paid off—to make sure that the workers can never unify around a set of basic demands, such as respect for their basic legal rights. The Bangladeshi Ministry of Labor never helps. Like every other group of shipbreaking workers we spoke with, the “Shafi” workers were adamant in saying that over the years, there have been no improvements at all. Nothing has changed. The workers are trapped in danger and misery. “Bhatiary Steel” Yard/Bhatiary Shipbreaking Ltd. To survive, we have to die…We laugh to release our sorrow. --Worker, Bhatiary Steel Shipbreaking Yard In February 2009, a newly hired helper at the Bhatiary Steel Yard was seriously injured and crippled when a heavy sheet of metal crushed his back. He was fired with no compensation or medical care. There are approximately 400 workers at the Bhatiary Steel yard, working two shifts around the clock, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. On the dayshift, the workers are often kept to 8:00, 9:00 or 10:00 p.m., putting in a 13 to 15-hour shift. This routinely happens four or five times a week. On Fridays—the weekly holiday—the workers toil five hours, from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The shipbreakers work every day they can. It is only when they are sick, exhausted or injured that they take a day off. If they do not work, they receive no pay. If they were healthy enough to work all seven days, they would be at the shipyard 80 hours a week. On the day shift, the workers get an hour for lunch at 1:00 p.m. and a half-hour break at 5:00 p.m. when management provides tea and a small biscuit. Senior cutters—using blowtorches to cut the ship to pieces—earn 29 cents an hour, while helpers are paid 18 or 19 cents an hour. The legal overtime premium is never paid. If the workers dare ask for their proper pay, the response from the owner is: “The gate is open. Get out. Go.” The workers estimate that there are about 15 children between the ages of 11 and 13 working on the dayshift. Workers working in the polluted waters, retrieving barrels of fuel and oil to take to shore. Inside the ship, fumes from gas leaks, burning metal and lead paint burn the workers eyes and make them dizzy. Many vomit. When we met with the workers, they were basically dressed in rags. One older man was wearing a torn, worn-out MIT tee shirt. Four workers share a small room which leaks when it rains. It costs the workers 500 taka, or $7.22 a month. They subsist on rice, mashed potatoes, the cheapest of vegetables, and dahl (lentils)—which they can afford twice a week. A pound of mutton costs $2.91, the equivalent of nearly eight-hours’ pay. They never eat meat more than once a month. Similar to what we heard in other shipbreaking yards, the most experienced Bhatiary workers, who had been around the longest, confirmed that there had not been any changes over the years, and absolutely no improvements. Actually, the situation may have even gotten worse, as the cost of basic food was constantly rising. So in some ways, the workers said, “We are going backwards.” More than 700 Ships will be Scrapped this Year In 2000, Greenpeace estimated that 700 ships a year were being scrapped in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, China and Turkey out of a total global fleet of 62,000 container, bulk carrier and oil product tankers. The total number of ships being scrapped in 2009 will be much larger for two reasons. First, many more ships were added to the global fleet between 2000 and 2009. More importantly, the worst global recession in the last 70 years has led to plummeting imports and exports worldwide. According to industry estimates, falling demand will result in the early decommissioning of some 10 percent of the global fleet. Whereas a ship’s normal sailing life is 25 to 30 years, many shipping companies are selling their ships for scrap before they reach their normal year end-of-life cycle. Rather than paying to maintain idled ships, the companies are selling them for scrap to the highest bidder in countries like Bangladesh, where workers are paid pennies an hour, while health and safety, worker rights and environmental standards are not enforced. Khaja Shipmaster Trading Shipbreaking Yard We don’t know when we will die…We have to take death into our hands. --Shipbreaking worker A Clandestine Meeting with the Workers Our visit, they told us, was the first time they had seen an outsider in over ten years. Ministry of Labor officials had never come to meet the workers. “How can we see hope?” the worker said, in response to our question. “The owner sees us as dogs. He ignores us… hates us, and we have to accept this because we have to work.” As in other shipbreaking yards, the night shift workers toil from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., seven days a week. On Friday—their supposed weekly holiday—the shift is reduced to four or five hours. The workers are allowed a half-hour break for supper from 10:00 to 10:30 p.m., and at 2:00 a.m., the workers get a tea break when management provides a cup of tea and a small biscuit, which the workers say costs the owner about four cents to purchase at a local store. The day shift is from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The workers use bamboo rope ladders both outside and inside the ships. It’s an 80-foot climb from the sand or water to reach the deck. There are no safety belts. Inside, cutters cling to the rope ladder with one hand while using their other hand to work the blow torch. Workers climbing 80 feet to enter the ship using a bamboo rope ladder. We saw one thin worker standing in a small plastic bucket being pulled up to the deck with a rope tied around the bucket. It was frightening to even watch. The owner provides a new pair of cheap welding gloves to the cutters every two weeks. Everything else, the workers have to buy, wearing cheap sunglasses rather than proper goggles and wrapping their faces with bandanas in place of respiratory masks. Without welding vests, the workers wear two sets of shirts to ward off the flying sparks of burning metal. They use hammers to tear down the asbestos that is wrapped around the ship’s pipes. The young workers pile the asbestos on the sand. Some yards sell the asbestos, while others wait for rain to wash it to sea. Another standard practice is to drill holes into the ship in order to drain used oil, gas and other toxic chemicals into the sea. For safety, the workers have to rely upon their own folklore. Everyone knows how extremely dangerous it is to cut apart a gas tank—or cut into any chamber where gas fumes could have built up—with a red-hot blowtorch. Deadly explosions are all too common. To protect themselves, the workers first drill holes in the tanks and then put sand in the hole, which they believe may prevent an explosion. When they breathe in too many gas fumes, the workers say it painfully swells their stomachs in addition to causing headaches, dizziness and fever. In some parts of the ship, almost everyone is coughing. Every worker is a specialist, and some workers spend the entire day in the water, roping together and pulling dozens of large metal barrels to land. Oil is constantly leaking into the water and the workers suffer painful rashes. On the day shift, the workers report, there are about two dozen child workers who are 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 years old. Injuries are common. One worker we spoke with was idled for 15 days after a large piece of metal fell, cutting and bruising his leg. The 15 days it took him to recover were unpaid. In the beginning of February 2009, another young teenage worker was struck with an iron rod, which fractured his foot. For two days, the workers related, he lay crying in pain. The workers took him in a bicycle rickshaw to see a doctor. He will be unable to work and without pay for at least two months. “How is he going to survive? He can’t,” a worker told us. In the shipyards, no matter how bad your injury, if you do not work, you do not get paid. A child worker works on a heavy plate of metal. At the Khaja Shipmaster yard, senior cutters earn $3.05 to $3.44 for the standard 12-hour shift—or 25 to 29 cents an hour. Helpers are paid 19 to 20 cents per hour. Not only are shipbreakers’ wages pitifully low, but the owner often delays paying their wages for one or two weeks. When the workers beg for their wages, it is the owner who feels abused and curses them, yelling, “Get out!” Six workers sleep in a single room. They cannot afford a TV or radio, and few have enough money to get married. They go to the movies once every year or two. The workers save every cent they earn so they can send $14.50 to $21.80 home to their parents each month. Their villages are in the north of Bangladesh. The shipbreaking workers usually go home twice a year, staying each time for about ten days. These workers’ dream is to earn 300 taka ($4.36) a day for the regular eight-hour shift, or 55 cents an hour. When they work 12 hours, they should, by law, be paid double time for the four overtime hours, earning $1.10 an hour. So, for the twelve-hour shift, they should earn $8.76—an average regular and overtime wage of just 73 cents an hour. If nothing changes to formally hold the shipyard owners accountable to respect Bangladesh’s labor laws, the workers will continue to be cheated, paid just 29 cents an hour with no overtime premium—for doing one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. U.S. Ships “Re-Flagged” to Export Toxic Waste In 1976, the United States Congress banned the export of toxic materials abroad, to poor developing countries where few protections exist for workers or the environment. The bill, the Toxic Waste Substance Act, can be used to block the export of ships offshore for shipbreaking if they contain high enough concentrations of toxins such as PCBs. However, U.S. commercial ship owners have been evading the law for years. They simply sell the ship, which is then “re-flagged” to sail under the flag of another country, and it becomes perfectly legal to send toxic ships to be scrapped in the developing world. In March 2008, the Christian Science Monitor reported that between 2000 and 2008, at least 91 U.S. flagged commerce ships had been approved for re-flagging so they could be scrapped offshore. Kabir Steel Shipbreaking Yard “We have no security in our lives.” Twenty-five-year old Mr. Masud was killed at the Kabir Steel shipbreaking yard on November 14, 2008. He was struck by a heavy piece of metal and died on the way to the hospital. Mr. Masud worked in a “loader group” of a dozen or more workers who lifted heavy pieces of metal—typically measuring five by fifteen feet—onto their shoulders all day long to carry them from the ship to trucks waiting to take the scrap to nearby rolling mills. The metal sheets are so heavy that the workers must all step in perfect unison, following a rhythmic chant or grunt. If even a few workers were to move out of coordination with the rest, the heavy weight could crush them all. Watching them, we could not help but think of the slaves who built the pyramids in Egypt. The Kabir shipbreaking yard is huge, with approximately 1,500 workers and eight beached ships lined up to be dismantled. A large flame from the blowtorch, used to cut the metal. Bangladesh is a Muslim country, and many of the shipbreaking workers are fasting for the month of Ramadan leading up to one of the most important religious festivals, Eid Al Fitr. When we questioned our friends in Bangladesh, they described Eid as a combination of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Everyone wants to go home, to the villages of their parents, bringing gifts and food. Across Bangladesh, it is traditional for government offices and many businesses to give their workers time off for the Eid holiday and to provide an Eid bonus equal to one month’s pay. But the Kabir shipbreaking yard “celebrates” Eid a little differently. If workers take off for the religious Eid holiday, they are neither paid nor provided with the traditional Eid bonus. In fact, before Eid, Kabir management holds back 500 taka ($7.27) in wages to assure that if the workers go to visit their family homes in northern Bangladesh, they will return to work immediately after the holiday. It speaks volumes about how poor and desperate these workers are that $7.27 in withheld wages is enough to make some workers return on time. Rather than giving their workers the Eid bonus, management holds back the poor workers’ wages to bond them to the miserable conditions at the Kabir shipbreaking yard. What Should Be Done Global Trade Rules Fail to Protect Worker Rights The world is a desperate place for the poor, and as that desperation grows, more workers are fighting to keep jobs that they know will kill them. With no alternatives, the workers have no choice. Their families must survive. The shipbreakers in Bangladesh do not want the yards to be shut down. In fact, they will fight to defend jobs that are exploiting, maiming and killing them. Such is the desperation they face. “To live, we have to die,” the shipbreakers told us. One fact: For 30 years, 30,000 workers in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards have been trapped in danger and misery. Second fact: The global institutions and bureaucracies that oversee the global economy are miserably failing workers across the developing world. The G-20 countries (and the G-7 before that), the World Trade Organization, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization and International Labor Organization have all failed to produce a single improvement over the last 30 years in the lives of Bangladesh’s 30,000 shipbreakers. What a track record! It is frightening to think that the way the global trading system is currently set up, we might not see any improvements over the next 30 years either. In a global trading system where “free trade” is a sacred and immutable right trumping all human rights, shipbreaking is just the last cycle in the race to the bottom in the global sweatshop economy. Even if the International Labor Organization (ILO) wanted to help, it is as if they are starting out with their arms tied behind their back. A lot of conferences and meetings have been held on shipbreaking in the developing world; reports and videos have been distributed and money spent, but to no end, with no concrete improvements. A Common Sense Approach: In truth, if the rights—including worker rights—of the human being were afforded similar legal protections as are currently granted to corporate products and trademarks, it would not be so difficult to improve conditions. What We Should Do: 1. The ILO could work in partnership with Bangladesh’s Ministry of Labor and with local nongovernmental human and labor rights organizations—including providing sufficient funding when necessary—to bring the Ministry of Labor up to par so that it could effectively enforce Bangladesh’s labor laws. 2. Child Labor: Child workers 10, 11, 12 and 13 years of age employed in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards should be returned to school where they belong. It would cost less than $750 a year—including a stipend to replace their wages and to cover all school costs—to do this. Child and teenage workers 14, 15, 16 and 17 years old should be relocated out of the shipbreaking yards and into less dangerous jobs in accordance with ILO convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor. 3. Establish the rule of law in Bangladesh’s shipbreaking yards: Bangladesh’s labor laws are modest and clear: A legal eight-hour day, six days a week, for a regular 48-hour workweek. All overtime must be voluntary and paid at a 100 percent premium. Workers must receive one day off each week. Paid sick days, national holidays and vacations must be respected. Workers must be provided appointment cards, proving they are permanent, full-time workers at a particular shipyard. Workers have the right to organize independent unions and to bargain collectively.The workers have two further dreams—to earn 60 cents an hour and to have health insurance for work-related injuries, just as government workers have. 4. Implementing basic safety provisions: It would cost almost nothing to provide workers with basic safety trainings. Also, showers and clean water should be made available in the shipyards so workers can wash in case they are exposed to toxins and at the end of every shift. We have shown that for less than $350, workers could be outfitted with hardhats, welders’ gloves, welding vests and protective visors, safety belts, steel toe boots and respiratory masks and clean filters if they are working around asbestos, lead or other toxic dust. 5. The ten countries and ten shipping companies that dominate global merchant cargo trade must guarantee that all toxic waste will be removed before ships are sent to Bangladesh—or India, Pakistan, China or Turkey—for scrapping. Surely if these very modest steps were implemented in Bangladesh’s shipyards, the global economy would not collapse like a house of cards. So what is holding us back? If the anointed institutions and bureaucracies directing global trade are stuck in the mud, international human and worker rights activists can take the lead. It might prove very effective to focus on one high-profile campaign at a time, concentrating our efforts, winning, and then moving on to the next campaign. Putting a human face on the global economy is far too important to leave to the bureaucrats. Rolling gas tanks out to the ship Key Organizations Working to Improve Shipbreaking Young Power in Social Action (YPSA)House # F10 (P), Road # 13, Block-B,Chandgaon R/A Chittagong-4212 - BangladeshTel: +88-031-672857 / Tel + Fax: +88-031-2570255E-mail: info@ypsa.orgwww.ypsa.org Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS)House # 446 (Ground Floor) West RampuraDhaka-1219Tel: 8802-7282025 Email: bcws2003@yahoo.com Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA)House # 15/A , Road # 3, Dhanmondi Residential AreaDhaka-1205, Bangladesh Tel: 8802-8614283, 8618706Email: bela@bangla.netwww.belabangla.org NGO Platform on ShipbreakingRue de la Liniere, 11 BE 1060 Brussels, BelgiumTel: +32 (0) 2 6094 419http://www.shipbreakingplatform.com/ International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF)54bis, route des Acacias, Case Postale 1516CH-1227 Geneva, SwitzerlandTel: +41 22 308 5050 Fax: +41 22 308 5055E-mail: info@imfmetal.orgwww.imfmetal.org International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)17, passage de la Main-d’Or75011 Paris, FranceTel : (33-1) 43 55 25 18 / Fax: (33-1) 43 55 18 80www.fidh.org GreenPeace702 H Street NW, Suite 300Washington, D.C. 20001 USATel: (202) 462-1177 or (800) 326-0959www.greenpeace.org Excerpt of interview with Ms. Syeda Rizwana Hasan, attorney Star Weekend Magazine, “The Environment’s Friend, May 8, 2008Director, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers AssociationRecent winner, Goldman Environmental Prize To you shipbreaking is…To me shipbreaking is not just a national issue, but an international one, because developed countries are sending their waste to our countries and using our coastal areas as nothing more than dumping sites. My first fight was against converting our coastal areas into dumping sites. The second was about protecting the environment of our country as well as the laborers who are involved in the industry. On a different note, although we do the campaign (shipbreaking) with our government, it not only confined to the Government of Bangladesh. We also have to do international lobbying with the EU and the US and with other developed countries such as Japan who are sending their dirty ships to Bangladesh. So although it a national advocacy issue, it not limited to national. It has got trans-boundary and international dimensions as well. What should the government do to deal with shipbreaking?The government has to take a decision, does it want to continue with this shipbreaking, if yes than how does it ensure that toxic ships will not enter Bangladesh. If they enter into Bangladesh after they are cleaned, which only removes 80% of its toxicity, then what happens to the remaining 20%? Who will give Bangladesh funds for containing that 20%? The government must also come forward to protect the laborers, and ensure that the laborers are given basic rights. The right to from organization, right to get compensation, the right to know that they are working in an environment that can end up giving them cancer. The government also has to take very strict measures against the defiant shipbreaking yard owners. You have often spoken up against the two main ideas that the shipbreaking industry uses to justify their existence. Could you please inform us of your thoughts on those issues? The shipbreaking industry is currently operating on two main pleas, one is that they are supplying 80% of the iron to Bangladesh and the other is that they employ up to 20,000 workers. Now there are only 14 countries in the world that have a natural supply of iron and only five countries in the world that are doing shipbreaking, what about the rest of the countries? How are they meeting their iron demands? Are the people in Sri Lanka buying iron at a higher rate than us, the answer is no. If you read the draft policy that the department of shipping prepared on shipbreaking, it has said that the shipbreaking industry supplies 80% of the iron to Bangladesh. And yet after a price rise in 2007 when the shipbreakers were blamed for the increase, the owners openly came out and said they do not supply 80% of the iron, but merely 25%. Then one could ask, if they did not artificially increase the price then who did? The answer is that whichever is the source of getting iron, whether its imported iron billet or from shipbreaking, all of it is sent to the re-rolling mills. Who owns the re rolling mills? It the shipbreaking companies. That is where they do the manipulation and increase the price. But the point is clear, that they do not supply 80% of the iron. Their second plea is that they employ 20,000 laborers, but when you ask them they will never be able to give you a list of those workers. I have not come across another sector where every two weeks a minimum of 1 person is dying and there is no labor unrest. These workers are dying, getting cancer, getting skin diseases; they are also losing their hands and legs. After working in the shipbreaking yards for a few years their bodies are in such a horrible condition that they can barely do any other form of labor. It is essentially crippling them for life. Often people worry what will happen if this industry is shut down, many will lose their jobs. To them I would say, if it a choice between unemployment and gross exploitation then I would chose unemployment. So basically both the pleas on which they are operating are futile to say the least. U.S. Ships Being Broken Up in Bangladesh Profiting on 22 to 32-cent-an-hour wages and no safety, environmental or labor rights standards, a shipbreaking worker is injured every day and one is killed every three or four weeks. “[A ship owner will get] ‘more than 10 times the price by selling to a yard in Bangladesh than to a yard in the European Union,’ where regulations are stricter,” - Inguild Jenssen, Director, NGO Platform on Shipbreaking Agency France Press, May 15, 2009 “Dozens of Nations Sign Treaty on Shipbreaking” Swift Fair (IMO 7910773): Owner: Sterling Grace Corp., United StatesSize: 799 feet long, 106 feet wide, 179 feet highFlag of convenience: LiberiaCargo: GrainTrading area: East Coast, U.S.; Caribbean; East coast of South America; United Kingdom; Mediterranean, Far EastSold in Bangladesh for: $4,421,700 Caribbean Wind (IMO 8523101):Owner: Eastwind Group, United StatesSize: 587 feet long, 83 feet wide, 161 feet high Blue Ridge (IMO 7818418)Owner: East Group, United StatesSize: 493 feet long, 73 feet wideSold in Bangladesh for: $4,733,652 Chinese Ships Being Broken Up in Bangladesh Hebei Century (IMO 8015685)Owner: Hosco, ChinaSize: 922 feet long, 174 feet wide, 166 feet highSold in Bangladesh for: $6,426,000 Hebei Pioneer (IMO 8109979)Owner: Hosco, ChinaSize: 886 feet long, 141 feet wide, 180 feet highSold in Bangladesh for: $4,295,565 Hebei Hawk (IMO 7924944)Owner: Hosco, ChinaSize: 984 feet long, 165 feet wide, 203 feet highSold in Bangladesh for: $6,404,350 Hebei Dove (IMO 8020511)Owner: Hosco, ChinaSize: 817 feet long, 148 feet wide, 165 feet highSold in Bangladesh for $4,585,350 Danning Princess (IMO 8127660)Owner: Cosco, ChinaSize: 834 feet longSold in Bangladesh for $4,377,250 Hong Wan (IMO 7404592)Owner: Fuzhou Xingiahong Shpg. Co. Ltd, ChinaSize: 602 feet long, 91 feet wide, 157 feet highSold in Bangladesh for: $2,224,940 http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=672 2009-09-16 00:00:00 reports Updates: NLC Responds to Jordan Ministry of Labor Statements on the Musa Factory (August 13, 2009) Sweatshop Scandal Rocks Israel (August 13, 2009) Full Report (July 24, 2009) http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=667 2009-08-19 00:00:00 article Well known Israeli labels Jump – Pashut – Bonita – IritLinked to Musa sweatshop in Jordan Foreign guest workers from Bangladesh were trafficked to Jordan and stripped of their passports at the Musa garment factory in the Al Hasan Industrial park. The guest workers are housed in crowded, primitive company dorms sleeping 10 to a room in double-level bunk beds. Water was available just one or two hours a night. The dorm was infested with bed bugs. The workers describe the food they were fed as terrible—half-cooked and too little. Before the Wall Street meltdown led to a global recession, the guest workers at Musa were forced to toil 12 ½ to 13 ½ hour shifts, from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. All overtime was mandatory. They were required to work seven days a week, putting in an obligatory 6 ½ hour shift on Fridays, from 7:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.—supposedly their day off. The workers are paid 75 cents an hour. Six workers were imprisoned and forcibly deported in July. Six more workers remain imprisoned. The workers are terrified and some have gone into hiding. The Musa factory is owned by two Israeli businessmen, Jack Braun and Moshe Cohen. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=665 2009-08-13 00:00:00 article August 13, 2009 The Jordanian MOL alleges: Foreign guest worker passports were never confiscated at the Musa factory. There was no forced overtime and Musa workers were not obligated to work on their weekly day off or on national holidays. Musa’s dorms met “acceptable standards” in Jordan, although “sanitation needs some improvement.” Over the course of several months the NLC has interviewed—in person, through other trusted parties and by phone—many more Musa garment workers than has the Jordanian Ministry of Labor. Also, our interviews are conducted in safe locations where the workers are free to speak the truth. The workers confirm that they were stripped of their passports, which were confiscated by Musa factory management. Such human trafficking is an extremely serious international human rights violation. Musa workers report that up through November 2008—before the worldwide recession led to a precipitous fall in global apparel sales—all overtime was obligatory and they worked 12 ½ to 13 ½ hours a day. Work on Fridays—their weekly day off—and on national holidays was also mandatory. The primitive and overcrowded Musa company dorm does not meet acceptable standards for human habitation. The Jordanian Ministry of Labor has not said why six Bangladeshi guest workers at Musa were arbitrarily imprisoned, beaten and then forcibly deported the very day after officials gave their word that the workers would not be deported. Another six workers remain in prison and are also threatened with forcible deportation. Guest workers remaining in the Musa factory say they are terrified there will be further attacks. Freedom of movement: The NLC has repeatedly urged the Jordanian Ministry of Labor to adopt a policy guaranteeing the right of guest workers to relocate from sweatshops to better factories. As the Israeli Supreme Court has pointed out (in a decision with regard to the country’s own guest workers), guaranteeing guest workers’ freedom to relocate to better factories is the single most effective way to isolate and eradicate sweatshop abuses. To date, the Jordanian MOL has yet to respond. Foreign guest workers in Jordan remain bound to a single factory. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=666 2009-08-13 00:00:00 article Bangladesh Update:Victory at R.L. Denim R.L. Denim Workers ReportMuch Better Treatment August 10, 2009 We had the opportunity to meet recently with a group of R.L. Denim garment workers in the city of Chittagong, Bangladesh on their day off, Friday afternoon, July 17. The workers continue to be genuinely excited and pleased with all the recent improvements in the R.L. Denim factory. Metro Group has returned its orders, and everyone is now working. The young workers were grateful for the international solidarity they have received. Now, no one is cursed at, humiliated or beaten as they were in the past. The workers were very clear that after the firing of the general manager and most abusive supervisors “treatment is now quite good.” They are paid correctly and on time. Overtime is no longer forced, and the standard shift is from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with a half-hour morning tea break and an hour off for lunch. In the past, they were often forced to work through their lunch hour. Other improvements include the fact that the factory has been cleaned and painted, and there is now a small factory clinic with free medicines. Also, there is now a canteen where workers can take their lunch, rather then sitting in the dirt or on the roof as they did in the past. Several workers commented that the bathrooms are now clean and there are even towels. There have also been health and safety improvements: They have been provided with clean drinking water, respiratory masks, hair caps, vests and identification cards. The workers also know that they cannot just sit still; they must organize if they are to guarantee their new rights and factory improvements. It will not be easy. But the workers are not alone. In addition to international solidarity support, both the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity (BCWS) and the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) are accompanying the R.L. Denim workers. In fact, it appears that some very preliminary but hopeful initial steps are being taken by the new government of Bangladesh to finally confront the worst abuses in the country’s 4,500 garment factories. An official Ministry of Labor investigation reports that 34 percent of garment factories surveyed are in violation of Bangladesh’s labor laws. Fifteen percent of factories are not even paying regular wages to their workers. As bad as that sounds, it is doubtless a vast understatement of the abusive and illegal working conditions endured by the more than two million mostly young women garment workers. However, this is the first time the Bangladeshi government and Ministry of Labor have openly confronted and exposed the routine violations in the country’s garment factories. Hopefully the next step will be to finally hold the powerful factory owners accountable to respect the fundamental legal rights of the workers. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=663 2009-08-10 00:00:00 article August 5, 2009 http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=661 2009-08-06 00:00:00 article August 5, 2009 Honduras's three principal labor centrals, the Unitary Confederation of Honduran Workers (CUTH), General Workers Central (CGT) and Confederation of Honduran Workers (CTH) have called for a national strike tomorrow, August 6, 2009. Here is their statement. (en Español) http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=662 2009-08-06 00:00:00 article Human Trafficking, Abuse, Forced Overtime, Primitive Dorm Conditions,Imprisonment and Forcible Deportations of Foreign Guest WorkersAt the Muse Factory in Jordan July 24, 2009 Updates and Press By Charles Kernaghan Musa Textile Ltd.Al Hassan Industrial CityIrbid, Jordan Phone: 02 739154Fax: 02 739153 The Musa Textile factory is reported to be owned by an Israeli, Mr. Musa. In Jordan, the factory is called “Musa Garments.” There are approximately 209 workers at the Musa factory, of which 181 are foreign guest workers—132 from Bangladesh and 49 from India. Just 27 or so Jordanian workers are employed there. 1.) Human Trafficking: Upon their arrival at the Musa factory, foreign guest workers are stripped of their passports—they are confiscated and withheld by management. Many of the guest workers have been stripped of their passports for two, three or more years. Over the course of years, the workers have repeatedly begged management to return their passports or at least provide them with copies, but management ignored the workers’ pleas. Of course, withholding the passports of foreign workers is illegal and a serious international human rights crime. The Jordanian Ministry of Labor must explain what went so wrong at the Musa factory. Musa Workers Report Being Beaten 2.) Primitive Dorm Conditions: According to a Ministry of Labor report (July 9, 2009):“The general conditions in the dormitories are acceptable. Depending on the size of the dormitory room, it is shared between 4-8 workers. The rooms are regularly cleaned and sufficient toilets and showers are available. Water, electricity and heating are also available.” However, the foreign guest workers who actually live in the dorm provide a very different account. As many as 10 workers are crowded into small rooms (approximately 12 by 14 feet), sleeping on double-level bunk beds. There is no shower. In fact, water is available only one or two hours each night. The workers have to save water, using small plastic buckets in order to take sponge baths in the morning. The water is also not potable. The bathrooms are filthy, give off a strong stench, and they have no doors or lights. The dorm’s roof leaks, and the shoddy electrical system frequently shorts out, burning wires. There is no proper kitchen. The workers cook within their small rooms. Contrary to the Ministry of Labor’s report, there is no heat or hot water available in dorms, despite winter temperatures that reach the freezing point. In fact, the few small portable room heaters in the dorms were purchased by the workers themselves. The workers pooled their money to buy them. There are also bed bugs in the dorm, which at times is so infested that the workers have trouble sleeping. The workers confirm that the primitive, substandard dorm conditions described above have been consistent for at least the last 2 ½ years. When the workers asked for and demanded regular access to water in their dorm, a supervisor warned them that “if they kept talking like that, he would cut off their penises.” Musa workers report being beaten 3.) Substandard Food: According to the Ministry of Report, “Food is provided three times a day—breakfast and dinner in the dormitories and lunch in the factory. The quality and quantity are considered to be sufficient.” Once again, the workers who actually have to eat the company food have a very different opinion, describing it as too little and tasting terrible. The food, provided by a subcontractor, is often just half cooked on the outside and raw on the inside. Blood runs from the chicken when they cut it. For breakfast, the workers are fed a piece of pita bread and a cup of tea. As a special treat, three mornings each week, they also receive an egg. Lunch consists of small portions of fish, beef, chicken or eggs with rice. Any worker daring to ask for a second helping is screamed at. The workers take their supper of vegetables and rice in the dorm. As the food provided is insufficient, the workers had to chip in their own money to purchase the cheapest meats or eggs to cook in their dorm rooms. 4.) Forced Overtime and Seven-Day Work Weeks: Again, to quote from the Ministry of Labor report: “Workers indicated that they voluntarily work on public holidays and that payments for such work are correct…workers indicated they voluntarily work overtime almost every day. On average, they work 2-3 hours overtime each day. Payments for overtime are correct. Occasionally, workers work on Friday. If so, they work voluntarily and are paid correctly.” It is unclear what timeframe the Ministry of Labor is referring to, since for the last eight months or so, the workers at Musa have worked very little, if any, overtime. When the worldwide economic recession hit, as of December 2008 all excessive production and overtime work was basically shut down. Today, standard working hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 or 4:30 p.m. with Friday off. However, prior to December 2008, the routine shift at the Musa factory was 12 ½ to 13 ½ hours a day, from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. The workers also toiled on Friday, their supposed holiday, from 7:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. All overtime was strictly obligatory. The workers worked seven days a week. Anyone daring to miss an overtime shift was docked two or even three days’ wages as punishment. It is true, however, as the Ministry of Labor reports, that the workers were paid more or less correctly for both their regular and overtime hours. Prior to the downturn in December 2008, including their excessive mandatory overtime, the workers could earn 150 to 190 Jordanian Dinar ($211 to $268 U.S.) per month. The workers were also required to work on all Jordanian national holidays, but here the workers were cheated, as they were paid straight time and not the overtime premium legally due them. Since Jordanians will not work in their country’s garment factories, tens of thousands of foreign guest workers have had to be recruited. The guest workers come from Bangladesh, China, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and other countries. They all come for one reason only: to earn as much money as they possibly can to pay off the debts they incurred to purchase their three-year work contracts in Jordan, and to send money home to their families. At the Musa factory, prior to the recession and worldwide collapse of the apparel industry, the workers toiled seven days a week, racking up huge amounts of overtime. There were many illegal abuses, such as the excessive overtime, seven-day work weeks, work on national holidays, and so on, but the workers could put up with it all as long as they were supporting their families. This was their sacrifice. Musa Workers Report Being Beaten 5.) A Failure to Communicate: It is important to understand how these factories function. As mentioned above, it is believed that the Muse Textiles factory is owned by a Mr. Musa, an Israeli, who rarely visits the factory. The general manager of the plant is Mr. Riad, who is Palestinian. Given the large number of Bangladeshi workers at the factory, four out of five top supervisors are also Bangladeshi. There is actually a term, “head Bengali,” for the senior Bangladeshi supervisor, Mr. Rezaul. Another important supervisor is Mr. Mosharraf, who is in charge of production. These supervisors can earn four times what the workers do. Their job is to drive the workers as hard as they can and to spy on and control the workers. It was on June 16 that the trouble started. When the workers complained once again about the lack of water in their dorm, Mr. Rezaul publicly mocked the male workers, saying he would cut off their penises if they continued to complain. Tempers were growing short. Around that same time, 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, June 16, the production supervisor, Mr. Mosharraf, slapped a women sewing operator, Ms. Lovely, very hard in the face for failing to meet her production goal. Many workers witnessed this and anger spread throughout the factory. Tension and anger had been building up for months, and emotions were reaching the boiling point. When the recession hit, around December 2008, management responded with an arbitrary speed-up in production. What the workers had produced in 12 ½ or 13 ½ hours, working from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 or 9:00 p.m., management now wanted them to make in just 8 ½ to nine hours, working from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 or 4:30 p.m. Sewers who had a target of 30 pieces an hour, were now told that they had to complete 40 pieces an hour. Mr. Mosharraf slapped Ms. Lovely when she argued with him, explaining that the production goal was unrealistic and impossible to reach. Musa workers report being beaten All the Bangladeshi workers united. They appealed to the general manager, Mr. Riad, saying that if the very abusive “head Bengali,” Mr. Rezaul, stayed, they would not work. The same went for Mr. Mosharraf, who slapped the woman worker. Mr. Riad reportedly told the workers to go home to their dorm, and that “I’ll see. I’ll see tomorrow,” half promising that the abusive supervisor would be fired. Again, the general manager asked everyone to go homeback to the dorm and come back tomorrow. The workers stayed in the factory until about 3:00 p.m., but did not work. Around 11:00 a.m., 10 to 12 policemen entered the factory. A few guest workers who understood a little Arabic heard the police threatening, “work, or you’ll be handcuffed and imprisoned.” Mr. Riad once again asked the workers to return to the dorm, and they did so at around 3:00 p.m. The workers did not see this as a strike. It was the general manager who told them to go home and return tomorrow. The workers had many grievances: Ms. Lovely being slapped; the filthy and humiliating threats by Mr. Rezaul; the excessive production goals; lack of water in their dorm; the lack of overtime which hindered their ability to send money home; being forced to work on national holidays while being paid for just regular hours; that workers who due to various emergencies had to return home were obligated to purchase their own plane tickets; the lack of adequate health care—(a doctor came to the factory once a week and at most handed out prescriptions which the workers could not afford to fill) etc. On June 17, the management did not send the bus to bring the workers from their dorm to the factory. In fact, the factory gate was chained shut, and the Bangladeshi workers were locked out. On Sunday, June 21, a delegation of Musa workers walked 3 ½ hours to appeal to the Labor Court. There was not much of a discussion, but the workers were told that if they did not return to work within 48 hours, they would be fined 50 JD ($70.52 U.S.)—about two weeks’ wages—for the first day and 5 JD ($7.05 U.S., more than they earned in a day) for each day after that. On June 24, the workers met with an official from the Bangladeshi Embassy, Mr. Shakil, and a local representative of the Ministry of Labor office at Al Hassan. According to the workers, the Ministry of Labor official behaved very rudely, shouting at the workers that “if you don’t listen to us, we will call the police and have you all arrested.” He also threatened that food would be cut off if they did not return to work. (If fact, it appears that all food was cut off on Saturday, June 20.) The Bangladesh Embassy official essentially explained that he had no power to help. On July 2, the general manager, Mr. Riad, met very briefly with the workers, telling them they must either return to work or “I’ll call the police and stop the food.” (Though the food had already been stopped.) Mr. Shakil, the Bangladesh Embassy official, was again present. The workers wanted to return to the factory but asked the Embassy official for help. They would return to the factory, but they wanted their passports back and a guarantee that they would not be beaten by the police. The desperate workers kept pleading with the Embassy official, begging : “You are a Bangladeshi official. Please, you must help us. We have nowhere else to turn to.” Mr. Shakil responded as he had in the past, saying, “I have no power and there is nothing I can do here.” The workers begged him again to arrange an agreement so they could enter the factory to work. When the workers, who had gathered around the Embassy official’s car, continued to plead for help, Mr. Shakil called the police. The workers had peacefully blocked his car for 30 to 40 minutes. Musa workers report being beaten The police arrived and beat five workers, including women, who were visibly bruised and bleeding. At that point, to protect their co-workers, some workers did throw stones at the police, who were beating the women. On July 5, as the workers put it, “We surrendered to the boss.” They knew they would never receive justice. So, in desperation, they agreed to whatever the owner said. They would pay the fine of over 200 JD ($282) if they had to. On July 6, Musa supervisors came to the dorm and picked out about half the workers, asking that they return to the factory immediately. The other half were told they would return to work the following day, July 7. Instead, around 2:00 p.m. on July 6, about 50 police charged the dormitory and took 24 workers—10 men and 14 women, to prison. The men were taken out in handcuffs. Several of the women were not allowed to fully clothe themselves before being dragged out, which for them was a great humiliation. Of the 24 workers taken to the police station, 18 were freed. But six workers were imprisoned from July 6 to July 15, when they were forcibly deported without any of their personal belongings. Two of the six workers, both women, were beaten in prison. One was slapped, and the other kicked when they asked why they were being arrested. Conditions in the prison were very poor. The workers had no mattresses, no pillows, little food, and unsafe drinking water. They only got by because the husband of one of the imprisoned women brought her food every day, which she shared with the other workers. In another bizarre police action, the imprisoned workers were told to give the names of their closest friends to the police, supposedly so they could retrieve their personal belongings. But when the six workers, including one supervisor, showed up at the police station at 5:00 p.m., they too were arrested. To date, no one knows where these six workers are being held. According to the Ministry of Labor report, “…the six workers in question were detained for repatriation by order of the Ministry of Interior on request of the governor by letter of June 30. The reasons for the detention relate to their involvement in activities contravening public security and are not related to their possible involvement in the strike.” The six imprisoned and forcibly deported workers—three men and three women—had all worked in Jordan for up to five years without a single incident or complaint against them. Not only have the six workers been forcibly deported, but six more Musa workers apparently remain imprisoned in an unknown location. Moreover, conditions remain miserable for the workers who are still working at the Musa factory. The workers’ passports are still being illegally withheld! And they are now being threatened that they too will be imprisoned if they fail to reach their mandatory production goals. There are also constant threats of forcible deportation. The workers are terrified since management continues to target the most outspoken workers. Musa Workers Report Being Beaten The Jordanian Ministry of Labor’s report, “Musa Garments,” released on July 9, 2009, is badly flawed, with numerous factual errors. Worse still, six workers were forcibly deported just days after the Ministry of Labor gave its assurance that no action would be taken against the workers pending a full review. It is extremely disturbing that the Ministry of Labor is apparently unaware that the foreign guest workers at the Musa factory have for the last several years been illegally stripped of their passports, which have been held by management. Human trafficking is an international human rights crime. It is not the role of the Ministry of Labor to be an advocate for the foreign guest workers. However, given the special circumstances of the foreign guest workers, who do not speak Arabic, who have little or no contact with Jordanian unions or NGOs and whose embassy is rarely helpful, the Ministry of Labor must at least strive to be objective and open. On July 18, the National Labor Committee travelled to Bangladesh and was able to interview four of the six workers deported from the Musa factory: Ms. Khadija (passport D 0456612), Ms. Nasrin (ID# 718, passport V 0974839), Ms. Sufia (ID# 807, passport P 0695276) and Mr. Yasin (ID# 710, passport V 0807588). We found their account to be credible and honest. The family homes of the two other workers, Mr. Nazrul (ID# 614,--passport B 0656397) and Mr. Habib, were too far from Dhaka for them to attend the meeting with us. The six deported workers are owed an apology by the Ministry of Labor, along with significant back wages and benefits still owed them. Their personal belongings must be returned. One of the workers was actually deported barefoot. There are 11 months left on the work contract that these workers signed with the Musa garment factory. They must be paid their regular wages for those eleven months. These deported workers have all been in Jordan more than five years. For each year, they are due 14 days of vacation pay. It appears the Jordanian government may have utilized the workers’ outstanding Social Security benefits, which they were legally due, to purchase the airline tickets to forcibly deport them. This must be illegal and is certainly immoral. Not only were these Bangladeshi workers illegally stripped of their passports when they reached the Musa factory, but for the first year, they also worked without a contract, which means they were cheated even further on their Social Security benefits. The six workers who remain imprisoned in an unknown location must be immediately released. The Musa garment factory should be immediately brought into compliance with Jordanian labor law and the ILO’s internationally recognized worker rights standards. Press: Haaretz, August 16, 2009, "I worked 12-hour days, seven days a week, with oneday off per month'" By Dana Weiler-Polak The Epoch Times (Sweden),August 16, 2009 ”Made in Israel” tillverkas i Jordanien By Ben Kaminsky Haaretz, August 13, 2009, "In Our Own Backyard," By By Avirama Golan The Epoch Times, August 13, 2009 "'Made in Israel' Really Made in Jordan Sweatshop," By Ben Kaminsky (Article in Hebrew) Haaretz, August 12, 2009, "Jordan: Factory behind Israel clothes labels is nosweatshop," By Natasha Mozgovaya and Haaretz Service Haaretz, August 12, 2009, "Boycott and demonstrations to attack chains marketing 'sweatshop clothes'," By Dana Weiler-Polak Haaretz, August 10, 2009, Report: Israeli businessmen running sweatshop in Jordan, By Dana Weiler-Polak Business and Human Rights Resource Center Coverage Below: -- Ministry of Labor Report, July 9, 2009 -- One of labels produced in the factory -- Photo http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=660 2009-07-24 00:00:00 reports 6/30/2009 * Second day of demonstrations against the new government in all big cities in Honduras. Today demonstrations were bigger than the yesterday ones. The de facto government also organized demonstrations in favor of themselves. *There have been clashes between the army, the police and the demonstrations. At El Progreso, the army was especially rude and attacked the demonstrators. Dunia (COMUN Organization) was at the police station along with others trying to get seven compañeros out of the jail who were captured. The de facto president Micheletti was born in El Progreso. *Communications by cell phone are reestablished, but the government controls the TV stations and radios, so people are not informed about what is going on internationally. *El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua closed their borders with Honduras for 48 hours in protest. Maquila business people here are against the closure of the borders because "it will impact the maquilas, and we can lose 14,000 jobs". *President Zelaya says he will come back to Honduras on Thursday along with the general secretary of the OAS, the president of Argentina Cristina Fernandez, and the president of Ecuador Correa. *The new government is internationally isolated. No government in the world has recognized it, and all the OAS members, including USA and Canada, only recognize Zelaya. *I do hope the Hondurans reach an agreement and avoid a blood bath in the country. These events might have a negative impact in this region as we are almost all in a similar situation: a president that has no majority in the congress and no majority in the Supreme Court, and a powerful oligarchy that is politically blind, although president Funes is backed by Fmln. I thought we had forever left the days when the military threatens societies, but I was evidently wrong. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=659 2009-06-30 00:00:00 article June 29, 2009 Español The military coup d’état in Honduras is a dangerous step backward for Honduras and threatens democracy across Central America. Democracies thrive only when democratic institutions operate peacefully and under the rule of law. The military coup against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya brings back terrible memories of the 1980s when the Honduran military killed, disappeared and tortured thousands of its people during “Reagan’s war.” When New York City mayor Michael Blumberg and the New York City Council recently took steps to extend their two-term limit so that they could run for office again, citizens who opposed this went to court to have the term extension overturned. The case is still in the courts. There was no coup by the New York City police or the U.S. military. And New York City’s population of 8.3 million is far larger than that of Honduras. The NLC strongly urges the following steps: 1.) All U.S. military aid to Honduras should be immediately suspended. 2.) Honduras, a member of CAFTA is among the largest exporters in the world of garments to the U.S., with U.S. companies importing $2.6 billion worth of apparel in 2008. The NLC calls on Wal-Mart, Fruit of the Loom, Russell and the dozens of other major U.S. retailers and apparel firms sourcing production to Honduras to go on record publicly opposing the military coup and insisting on a return to peaceful functioning of the countries democratic institutions. President Manuel Zelaya has supported the rights of trade unions in Honduras, which is one of the reasons the wealthy businessmen and oligarchs are so anxious to remove him from office. See update from NLC representative in Central America “We as CUTH are participating in the defense of the democracy, and we condemn the assault to the democratic power. We support the restitution of President Manuel Zelaya. As the right wing has the control of the media in the country, there’s a lot of misinformation here. The right wing doesn’t tolerate the ideas of popular participation that Zelaya was trying to impel. We along with other organizations are participating in resistance actions to reestablish democracy in Honduras. We make an appeal to the Northamerican people to help us recuperate democracy” - Israel Salinas President of the CUTH Trade Union Confederation in Honduras Vice Presidents of ITUC- International Trade Union Confederation – for the Americas. Tegucigalpa, Honduras, June 29, 2009. Political differences should be resolved via institutional roads, not through coup d’etats. This is a step backward for democracy. Institutions must function. The military cannot and should not interrupt civil and democratic processes. This coup is condemnable—and could encourage the Salvadoran military and elite to intervene in the process in [this] country. - Benjamin Cuellar Director, Institute for Human Rights University of Central America (UCA) San Salvador, El Salvador, June 28, 2009 This is an attack on regional democracy in Central America and a violation of Human Rights in general. We are worried. The military has their specific function. They should not intervene in civilian and democracy processes. We remember that the military had their wicked role in the repression and wars in Guatemala and El Salvador that left more than 125,000 dead. This could give courage to the militaries of our countries. - Gabriel Celada Director, CEADEL/Center for Studies & Support of Local Development Chimaltenango, Guatemala, June 28, 2009 http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=657 2009-06-29 00:00:00 article Monday, June 29, 2009 Manuel Zelaya, president of Honduras for the period 2006 – 2010, was violently taken out of the Presidential House by the military early in the morning of Sunday June 28, and placed in an airplane to Costa Rica. There have been differences between the political class and President Zelaya for some months in Honduras. Zelaya was trying to reform to constitution in order to allow more popular participation of the Honduras, as to introduce the possibilities of referendums which are not allowed with the present constitution. His detractors say his intention is to be reelected. The military have occupied the public buildings in the capital city Tegucigalpa and in the industrial maquila city San Pedro Sula. The major of San Pedro Sula, a follower of Zelaya has been captured by the military. Soldiers and tanks are everywhere in the big cities. A curfew has been imposed from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. starting yesterday. After the coup, a de facto president was appointed, Roberto Micheletti, former president of the congress. The Central American Presidents said clearly they will not recognize Micheletti, but recognize Zelaya as President. None of the Central and South American countries have recognized Micheletti and instead recognize Zelaya. In Honduras, the popular movement, including the 3 big Trade Union Federations: CUTH, CTH and CGT, have called for a peaceful mobilization and resistance against the de facto president. The Honduras Teachers Union has called for a national strike among their members. Trade Unionists and members of popular organizations are protesting in the streets, while the soldiers and the tanks are displaced all over the country. The military closed yesterday all the radio station and TV stations and shut down the cells and internet. TV stations are showing only cartoons and radio stations are only playing music. The only channel that hasn’t been shut is CNN. This is happening in the 4th world exporter of garments to the USA, and the third poorest countries in the Americas after Haiti and Nicaragua. Guatemalan and Salvadorans agree that a blow to democracy in Honduras is a danger for these two countries and a bad message for the elites and military in the countries. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=658 2009-06-29 00:00:00 article 06/19/2009 Metro Group, the world’s third largest retailer, has been forced to do the right thing. Metro Group:Will immediately return all of its orders to the R.L. Denim factory in Bangladesh; Admits to the miserable failure of its past efforts to monitor/protect even the most basic worker rights; Will institute significant changes throughout its worldwide supply chain to guarantee that human, women’s and worker rights standards are finally respected. This is a huge victory for the mostly young women workers in Bangladesh, one that could also give hope to workers all across the developing world. The victory of the R.L. Denim workers clearly shows that with the support of international solidarity, workers in the developing world can struggle for their legal rights and win! Up to this point, it has been all too common that workers daring to ask for their most basic rights are fired and thrown out on the street with nothing. The cowards who beat the young women—the general manager of the R.L. Denim factory and two abusive supervisors—have been fired. Workers are no longer beaten at R.L. Denim. They are treated with respect. Women receive their maternity leave with pay. Workers are now paid correctly. The factory now has a daycare center; a health clinic and a factory dining area have been set up. The workers now have purified water to drink, and the bathrooms are clean and have been supplied with soap and toilet paper. Best of all, R.L. Denim management has agreed to open its factory to the highly respected local Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity (BCWS) and the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) to guarantee continued factory improvements. The workers will have the right to organize a union. Everyone who participated in this campaign deserves a Thank You, and a big hug from the R.L. Denim workers! They dared to struggle for their rights, and one major part of the victory was your international solidarity. In the U.S., the United Steelworkers union played a major role, coordinating with Workers Uniting and the UNITE union in the United Kingdom and the Verdi union in Germany. The German Clean Clothes Campaign and the Romero Christian Initiative played key roles. This was international solidarity at its best—from the R.L. Denim workers and the worker and human rights groups on the ground in Bangladesh to solidarity campaigns in the U.S., Germany, the United Kingdom, Central America and elsewhere. It is good to win! It’s also good to know that the three U.S. staff people of the NLC with two great interns from Carlow University can take on the world’s third largest retailer! More than 700 of you wrote letters to Metro Group demanding that they clean up the factory, guarantee respect for worker rights and return all their work—and that workers who dared to struggle not be thrown out in the street with nothing. More than anything else, your letters led to this victory for the workers across the developing world. Metro Group's Statement http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=652 2009-06-19 00:00:00 article Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 4:05 AMSubject: Statement of METRO Group: Investigation Bangladesh METRO Group is strongly committed to improving social standards at its business partners. A strict ban on child labour, forced labour and any form of exploitation is a fundamental component of METRO Group’s purchasing conditions. As a result, METRO Group was and is very concerned about media reports published in mid-May regarding the death of an 18-year-old worker at a supplier company in Bangladesh. We are deeply saddened by the young woman’s passing. Conducting a thorough investigation of the case was a very important matter to us. For this reason, we dispatched teams to Bangladesh and to our responsible purchasing company in Hong Kong just a few days after the reports on the incident appeared. Under the direction of the corporate audit department, experienced employees from the corporate audit department, quality assurance and procurement as well as external experts conducted an investigation into the incident. The results of this investigation are now available. A central finding is that the woman’s death was not related to the working conditions at the R.L. Denim factory. In addition, the teams on the ground thoroughly examined our procedures and processes in connection with the auditing of the suppliers according to the system of the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI). The investigation determined that about 100 audited suppliers in the textile area had not achieved a positive result and, in many cases, a re-audit had not been carried out on schedule. This shows that the most recent case was not an isolated incident. This is something that is unacceptable to us and will result in appropriate measures. Internal lapses in the information chain in our procurement organisation are the reason for these deficits: Within the audit process, we uncovered shortcomings particularly in the area of inspection and documentation. At times, the prescribed procedure was not followed. As a result, the current incident does not question the system of BSCI regarding the auditing of suppliers, but our implementation. In response, we have developed a number of measures designed to ensure that such lapses do not reoccur in future. At the same time, the responsibilities of suppliers and METRO Group have been redefined: We will ensure that textile suppliers with open re-audits will have signed up for an audit by the end of year and that neglected audits are carried out promptly, or within three months at the latest. Within the audit process, we have optimised our procedures regarding inspections and documentation. Through systematic IT support, transparency is to be assured at all times. In future, the compliance department will become involved in the auditing process of suppliers. This reflects METRO Group’s intention to require suppliers in emerging countries to comply with fundamental social standards. We will continue to work jointly with the BSCI to develop adequate processes for initial audits and re-audits that have been modified to the economic capacities of emerging countries. Also in future, we will play an active role in the further development of the BSCI and will submit relevant proposals. Since our investigation determined that the employee’s death was not related to the working conditions at the R.L. Denim factory, we have begun discussions with R.L. Denim about resuming our business relationship. A fundamental precondition on the part of METRO Group for a renewed business relationship was that R.L. Denim significantly improves working conditions. This has been done in the meantime. R.L. Denim has just recently made considerable improvements in critical areas addressed by the initial audit and achieved positive results. This is also the view of independent local organisations in Bangladesh. Insofar, we expect that we will soon resume our business relationship with R.L. Denim and thus secure the jobs at R.L. Denim. The supplier’s future development will be supported by METRO Group.-------------------------- Rüdiger Stahlschmidt METRO AG Pressesprecher Spokesman http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=653 2009-06-19 00:00:00 article Translation: Public Pressure Wakes Metro Up Metro Group agrees to return to RL Denim in Bangladesh.Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and Ver.di: “Mission accomplished” -- A civil society success During a meeting of the CCC [Clean Clothes Campaign] and Verdi with representatives of the Metro Group yesterday, Thursday, Metro executive Frans Muller announced that Metro would again place orders in the R.L. Denim factory in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Metro had “eliminated“ the supplier relationship (Chief executive Cordes at the investors meeting on May 13, 2009), after important worker rights violations became known. An international group including CCC, Verdi and the Supermarket Initiative in Germany, representatives of the German government, NLC [National Labor Committee] and the Steelworkers union in the USA, Unite–the-Union in the UK, unions and NGOs from Bangladesh and many others had declared in letters to Metro that the withdrawal of the company from the factory was not acceptable. Metro should instead face its responsibility and take care of labor rights in the factory, which has worked for Metro since 2003. An NLC study in early May had discovered that the female workers were beaten and salaries were not paid; they had to work seven days and up to 97 hours a week. A woman had died because she could not bear the marathon pace any more and because she was not allowed to visit the doctor. As a consequence, she collapsed at the work place. Metro denied a connection between the death of the worker and working conditions in the factory, but for CCC and Ver.di, based on the research of NLC, this is likely. Muller allowed that there were big oversights at Metro. The case of R.L. Denim had been a wake-up call for Metro. In the future, the Four Eyes Principle would be used for the control of worker rights, so that transactions would no longer by overseen only by the purchasing side, but also by the Compliance-Area of the company. Metro would, beginning immediately, place orders with R.L. Denim again, with order volumes being as before. Together with the factory owner, Metro would look to any pay that was still due, maternity benefits and other problems. In the future, work there would be according to law, [and that] if costs of production should rise as a consequence, Metro is prepared bear them. Verdi and CCC expressed satisfaction with the steps that Metro announced. It now remains to be seen in the factory’s day to day functioning, how much will happen to improve conditions for the female workers. It was not possible to find agreement regarding the monitoring model: Metro holds tightly onto the monitoring through BSCI [Business Social Compliance Initiative]. The CCC criticized BSCI, because it is not a multi-stakeholder initiative in which NGO and unions are taking part as equal partners. Also, BSCI almost exclusively monitors factories, but ignores the purchasing practices of customers like Metro. CCC and Verdi value the return of Metro to R.L. Denim and the efforts to now pay attention to the implementation of worker rights there as an important success of civil society. As a consequence, the women workers being punished a second time through loss of their workplace - after years of worker rights violations – has now been avoided . CCC / Ver.di 6-19, 2009 http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=654 2009-06-19 00:00:00 article Öffentlicher Druck weckt Metro auf Metro Group stimmt Rückkehr in Fabrik RL Denim in Bangladesch zu – Kampagne für Saubere Kleidung (CCC) und Ver.di: „Forderungen erfüllt“ – Erfolg der Zivilgesellschaft Bei einem Treffen zwischen der CCC und Verdi mit Vertretern der Metro Group am gestrigen Donnerstag verkündete der Metro-Vorstand Frans Muller, Metro werde wieder Aufträge in der Fabrik R.L. Denim in Chittagong, Bangladesch platzieren. Metro hatte die Lieferbeziehungen „eliminiert“ (Vorstandsvorsitzender Cordes bei der Aktionärsversammlung am 13. Mai 2009), nachdem gravierende Arbeitsrechtsverletzungen bekannt geworden waren. Ein internationales Bündnis, darunter die CCC, Verdi und die Supermarktinitiative in Deutschland, Bundstagsabgeordnete, NLC und die Steelworkers-Gewerkschaft in USA, Unite – the Union in GB, Gewerkschaften und NRO aus Bangladesch und viele andere hatten in Briefen an Metro erklärt, dass der Rückzug des Konzerns aus der Fabrik nicht akzeptabel sei. Vielmehr müsse sich Metro seiner Verantwortung stellen und für die Arbeitsrechte in der Fabrik sorgen, die seit 2003 für Metro fertigte. Eine Studie des NLC von Anfang Mai hatte aufgedeckt, dass die ArbeiterInnen geschlagen und die Löhne nicht ausgezahlt wurden; sie mussten sieben Tage und bis zu 97 Stunden pro Woche arbeiten. Eine Frau war gestorben, weil sie den Akkordmarathon nicht mehr aushielt und nicht zum Arzt durfte. Daraufhin brach sie am Arbeitsplatz zusammen. Metro stellte einen Zusammenhang zwischen dem Tod der Arbeiterin und den Arbeitsbedingungen in der Fabrik in Abrede, für CCC und Ver.di, basierend auf den NLC-Recherchen – ist dieser jedoch naheliegend. Muller räumte ein, bei Metro habe es große Versäumnisse gegeben. Der Fall R. L. Denim habe für Metro wie ein „Weckruf“ fungiert. Zukünftig werde für die Kontrolle der Arbeitsrechte das Vier-Augenprinzip gelten, so dass nicht mehr nur der Einkauf die Umsetzung beaufsichtige, sonder auch der Comlpiance-Bereich des Konzerns. Metro werde ab sofort wieder Aufträge in R. L. Denim platzieren, das Auftragsvolumen entspreche dem früheren. Zusammen mit dem Fabrikbetreiber werde sich Metro um noch ausstehende Zahlungen, nicht erteilten Mutterschutz und andere Probleme kümmern. Zukünftig solle dort gesetzeskonform gearbeitet werden. Sollten dafür die Kosten für den Einkauf der Produkte steigen, sei Metro bereit, diese zu tragen.Verdi und CCC zeigten sich zufrieden mit den von Metro in Aussicht gestellten Schritten. Im Fabrikalltag muss sich nun zeigen, wie weit es zu Verbesserungen für die ArbeiterInnen kommt. Keine Übereinstimmung konnte beim Kontrollmodell gefunden werden: Metro hält an Kontrollen durch die BSCI fest. Die CCC kritisiert BSCI, weil es keine Multistakeholder-Inititative ist, an der NRO und Gewerkschaften gleichberechtigt beteiligt sind. Auch setzt BSCI fast ausschließlich auf Fabrikkontrollen, lässt aber die Einkaufspraxis der Auftraggeber wie Metro außer Acht. CCC und Verdi werten die Rückkehr von Metro nach R. L. Denim und die Bemühungen, sich nun für die Umsetzung der Arbeitsrechte dort zu kümmern, als wichtigen Erfolg der Zivilgesellschaft. Damit wurde verhindert, dass die ArbeiterInnen von R. L. Denim – nach den Jahren der Arbeitsrechtsverletzungen – nun ein zweites Mal mit dem Verlust ihres Arbeitsplatzes bestraft wurden. CCC / Ver.di 19.6.2009 http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=655 2009-06-19 00:00:00 article Die METRO Group setzt sich stark für die Verbesserung von sozialen Standards bei ihren Geschäftspartnern ein. Das strikte Verbot von Kinderarbeit, Zwangsarbeit und jeglicher Form von Ausbeutung ist grundlegender Bestandteil der Einkaufsbedingungen der METRO Group. Vor diesem Hintergrund nahm und nimmt die METRO Group die Mitte Mai erschienenen Medienberichte über den Tod einer 18-jährigen Mitarbeiterin in einem Zulieferbetrieb in Bangladesch sehr ernst. Wir bedauern den Tod der Mitarbeiterin zutiefst. Es ist uns sehr wichtig, die Hintergründe lückenlos aufzuklären. Wir haben daher bereits wenige Tage nach Erscheinen der Medienberichte entsprechende Teams nach Bangladesch sowie zu unserer zuständigen Einkaufsgesellschaft in Hongkong entsandt. Unter Führung der Konzernrevision haben dabei erfahrene Mitarbeiter der Konzernrevision, der Qualitätssicherung und des Einkaufs sowie externe Prüfer die Vorkommnisse untersucht. Die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung liegen nun vor. Ein zentrales Ergebnis ist, dass der Tod der Mitarbeiterin nicht im Zusammenhang mit den Arbeitsbedingungen in der Fabrik R.L. Denim stand. Die Teams vor Ort haben zudem unsere Abläufe und Prozesse im Zusammenhang mit der Auditierung von Lieferanten nach dem System der Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) grundsätzlich beleuchtet. Die Untersuchung hat hierbei ergeben, dass bei rund 100 auditierten Lieferanten im Textilbereich noch kein positives Ergebnis vorliegt und in vielen Fällen nicht fristgerecht nachauditiert wurde. Dies zeigt, dass es sich bei dem aktuellen Vorgang nicht um einen Einzelfall handelt. Dies wird von uns nicht akzeptiert und führt zu entsprechenden Maßnahmen. Ursache für die Defizite sind interne Fehler in der Informationskette in unserer Einkaufsorganisation: Insbesondere im Bereich von Kontrolle und Dokumentation haben wir Mängel bei unseren Abläufen im Rahmen des Audit-Prozesses festgestellt. Das vorgegebene Procedere wurde zum Teil nicht eingehalten. Der aktuelle Vorfall stellt somit nicht das System von BSCI zur Auditierung von Lieferanten in Frage, sondern unsere Umsetzung. Wir haben nun ein Maßnahmenpaket geschnürt, um für die Zukunft sicherzustellen, dass derartige Fehler nicht mehr passieren können. Gleichzeitig werden die Verantwortlichkeiten von Lieferanten und METRO Group neu definiert: Wir stellen sicher, dass Textil-Lieferanten mit offenem Re-Audit bis Ende des Jahres zu einem Audittermin angemeldet sind und fehlende Audits umgehend – spätestens jedoch innerhalb von drei Monaten – durchführt werden. Wir haben unsere Abläufe bei Kontrolle und Dokumentation im Rahmen des Audit-Prozesses optimiert. Durch eine systematische IT-Unterstützung soll zudem Transparenz zu jeder Zeit sichergestellt werden. Der Compliance-Bereich der METRO Group wird künftig in die internen Abläufe im Rahmen der Auditierung von Lieferanten involviert sein. Dies spiegelt das Selbstverständnis der METRO Group wider, Lieferanten in Schwellenländern auf die Einhaltung grundsätzlicher sozialer Standards zu verpflichten. Wir arbeiten gemeinsam mit der BSCI weiter daran, adäquate Prozesse für Erst- und Re-Audits angepasst an die wirtschaftliche Kapazität von Schwellenländern zu erstellen. Wir werden auch künftig an der Weiterentwicklung von BSCI aktiv mitarbeiten und entsprechende Vorschläge einbringen. Nachdem unsere Untersuchung ergeben hat, dass der Tod der Mitarbeiterin nicht im Zusammenhang mit den Arbeitsbedingungen in der Fabrik R.L. Denim stand, haben wir Gespräche mit R.L. Denim über die Wiederaufnahme der Geschäftsbeziehung aufgenommen. Eine wesentliche Voraussetzung von Seiten der METRO Group für eine erneute Zusammenarbeit war, dass R.L. Denim die Arbeitsbedingungen signifikant verbessert. Dies ist in der Zwischenzeit geschehen, R.L. Denim hat sich in den kritisierten Punkten des Erst-Audits gerade in der jüngsten Vergangenheit deutlich verbessert und positive Ergebnisse erzielt. Dies ist auch die Sichtweise von unabhängigen, lokalen Organisationen in Bangladesch. Insofern gehen wir davon aus, dass wir in naher Zukunft wieder mit R.L. Denim zusammenarbeiten werden und somit auch die Arbeitsplätze bei R.L. Denim gesichert sind. Die weitere Entwicklung des Lieferanten wird durch die METRO Group begleitet. Rüdiger Stahlschmidt METRO AG Pressesprecher Spokesman Postfach 23 03 61, 40089 Düsseldorf Schlüterstraße 1, 40235 Düsseldorf http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=656 2009-06-19 00:00:00 article 6/4/2009 United Nations special representative John Ruggie, also a professor at Harvard University, reported to the United Nations Human Rights Council that even business leaders now confirm that their efforts at monitoring their supply chains have been "ineffective" and "unreliable." "We keep hearing now, from just about everywhere…monitoring doesn't work," said U.N. expert John Ruggie. "Just about everybody, at least off the record will tell you that monitoring of supplier factories doesn't work because people cheat." (See Women's Wear Daily, June 4, 2009) The National Labor Committee has been documenting the miserable failure of voluntary corporate monitoring efforts for nearly 20 years. Nothing will change until corporations are finally held legally accountable to respect local labor laws in the countries in which they produce, as well as the International Labor Organization's labor rights standards-no child labor, no forced labor, freedom of association, the right to organize a union and to bargain collectively, and decent working conditions. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are all co-signers of an anti-sweatshop bill introduced by Senator Byron Dorgan in the Senate and Congressman Michael Michaud in the House. In the last Congress, there were 26 co-sponsors in the Senate and 176 in the House of Representatives. The United Steelworkers union has been deeply involved in reaching out to members of Congress. If Barbie Doll can be legally protected, by intellectual property and copyright laws, we sure as heck ought to be able to provide similar legal protection to the 16-year-old girl in Indonesia who made Barbie. As things stand now, corporate products-Barbie, Nike's Swoosh, Mickey Mouse-are all protected by enforceable laws backed up by sanctions. But the corporations say that providing similar legal protections to the human beings who make the products would be an "impediment to free trade." We do not have to allow this! If a product is made by children, by forced labor, or is made under brutal sweatshop conditions by workers who are beaten, forced to work grueling hours while being cheated of their wages and denied the right to organize, then that product should be prohibited from being imported into the U.S., sold in the U.S. or exported. The Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act will soon be re-introduced in the new Senate and House. Please tell your members of Congress that human beings deserve to have at least the same legal protections as are currently afforded to corporate products and trademarks. Our economy belongs to the American people every bit as much as it does to the corporations. Let's end the race to the bottom in the global sweatshop economy! If you want to be more involved, please contact us. Thanks. Link: "U.N. Expert Expresses Doubts on Monitoring," by John Zarocostas, Women's Wear Daily, June 4, 2009 http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=651 2009-06-12 00:00:00 article The following is the response issued by Metro Group on 11 May 2009 following the National Labor Committee’s 1 May 2009 report alleging human rights violations at supplier RL Denim (part of Jeans Express Limited) METRO Group focuses intensely on improving social and economic standards that apply to its business partners. A strict ban on child labour, forced labour and any form of exploitation is a fundamental component of METRO Group’s purchasing conditions. For this reason, we work with our suppliers, particularly in emerging countries, in order to gain their commitment to compliance with fundamental standards. This is a permanent process that is reviewed during regular inspections.METRO Group is very concerned about recent reports concerning the death of an 18-year-old worker at a supplier company in Bangladesh. We are deeply saddened by the young woman’s passing. The supplier company in Bangladesh has not been complying with our high, binding social standards. This was the finding of an independent investigation commissioned in 2005 by procurement at METRO Group. Such investigations are a standard procedure at METRO Group and are conducted by the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI). The inquiry uncovered deficiencies that should have been eliminated by the supplier within a year’s time. Normally, these corrections must be checked during a re-audit conducted 12 months later. Unfortunately, this re-audit was not carried out.Following initial internal investigations of the incident, METRO Group acknowledges that this re-audit was not conducted in violation of our clear internal audit regulations. This is an unfortunate case of human failure.Had the normal audit and information chain been applied, we would have learned earlier that the improvements ordered after the first audit had not been carried out. Under our regulations, this would have resulted in the immediate termination of the business relationship. In the aftermath of this entire incident, METRO Group has taken four immediate steps: The business relationship with the supplier will be immediately terminated. All of the supplier’s products will be removed from all markets of METRO Group sales divisions. An investigative commission will immediately begin work to answer all questions associated with the incident. In particular, the commission will determine whether and to what extent working conditions in the factory were related to the worker’s death. This team will include experienced employees from procurement, quality assurance and Group security. Internally, we will review how we can seamlessly link the inspection and information chain to the audit process. As part of globalization, METRO Group actively strives to improve social and economic standards. We view such efforts as an important contribution to creating good standards of living and improving the quality of life in regions that have been mired in poverty up to now. METRO Group is one of the founding members of the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI). The aim of the alliance of European trade and retail companies that was established in 2003 is to assure good working conditions along the entire production chain. A standard code of conduct and a corresponding inspection system apply to the suppliers of BSCI members around the world. The BSCI code of conduct is based on the standards laid down by the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation (ILO). The fact that the first audit uncovered the deficiencies of the supplier in Bangladesh shows the system’s effectiveness. But no system can be protected from human failure. The investigative team sent by METRO Group has been asked to issue a report by the end of May. We will promptly provide the public with detailed information when the results of our investigations are available. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=650 2009-06-03 00:00:00 article June 2, 2009* The general manager of the R.L. Denim factory, Mr. Tapash—who kicked 17-year-old Yasin when he was lying sick and unconscious on the factory floor, has been fired! The abusive supervisors Mr. Munir and Mr. Mahfuz, who slapped 18-year-old Fatema and overworked the sick teenager to death, have also been fired.* R.L. Denim management will not oppose the workers’ right to organize an independent union at the factory! The Bangladesh Center for Workers’ Solidarity (BCWS) can immediately begin awareness training with the workers, many of whom for the first time will learn their legal rights.* Management has agreed to provide open access to the factory to the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity to guarantee that factory improvements, working conditions and respect for workers rights continue. * All threats against workers collaborating with the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity and the National Labor Committee will immediately land permanently cease.Members of the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity and the National Labor Committee inspected the R.L. Denim factory today and can confirm the following major improvements.* Purified drinking water is now being provided to the workers.* A small medical clinic has been set up with a doctor, nurse and a good range of medicines, which will be provided free of charge to the workers.* A small daycare center has been built, with toys, cradles and baby beds.* A factory canteen/lunch room has been built, so the workers will have a proper place to eat their lunch.* Overall, the factory has been cleaned—including the bathrooms, which were nothing but disgusting just a short while ago.* Management has not declared a layoff and though there is not work, the workers are to be paid.* A completed order for Metro Group is sitting in the factory, as Metro has cancelled the shipment.We have never seen anything like this before in Bangladesh. This is the quickest and most serious turnaround we have seen. It is also huge that the workers will have the change to organize an independent union with the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity. Right now you can count on one hand the number of real unions in Bangladesh’s garment industry, which employs more than 2 million workers—who are most often abused and trapped in misery. A real union at R.L. Denim could set a new standard in Bangladesh giving real hope to the workers in the country’s over-4000 garment factories.It would be terribly wrong for Metro Group not to immediately restore all of their former orders to the new and vastly improved R.L. Denim factory. This can be a Win-Win situation, for the workers, R.L. Denim, Metro Group and consumers—that should not be lost. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=649 2009-06-02 00:00:00 article Unprecidented Solidarity with the Developing World Hangs in Balance Please Act Now! 5-18-2009 Unions in U.S. and Europe pledge support to struggling Bangladeshi workers: In an unprecedented act of joint solidarity, the United Steelworkers union in North America, the UNITE union in the United Kingdom and the Ver.di services union in Germany-on behalf of their collective 5.5 million members-have pledged solidarity and support for the workers struggling to win their legal rights at the R.L. Denim factory in Bangladesh. The factory produces clothing for the German-based giant Metro Group, the third largest retailer in the world. Joint Union Solidarity Statement Under pressure, both in Bangladesh and internationally, the R.L. Denim factory has been cleaned up, and the rights of the workers are now respected Management has opened the factory to two progressive Bangladeshi unions-the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) and the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS)-to verify ongoing improvements in human, women's and workers rights. Workers are no longer beaten and are now treated with respect. Pregnant women have the right to maternity leave with full pay. Workers are paid correctly and receive a weekly holiday. However, at the very time that factory conditions are improving and worker rights respected, Metro Group has pulled it work from the R.L. Denim factory This is not what the workers want. The workers need these jobs, especially now that their legal rights are respected. Quotes from workers. The Metro Group has sourced production at the R.L. Denim factory for the last six years, since 2003, and has consistently accounted for the vast majority of production at the plant. In 2005, R.L. Denim failed a Metro audit with serious wage, hour and safety violations. Yet Metro did not pull its work. Why is Metro Group pulling its work now, at the very moment that the workers are in the process of winning their legal rights and transforming R.L. Denim into a decent factory? Whether Metro Group intends it or not, the real result of pulling out, is to deliver a message loud and clear across Bangladesh and other poor developing countries that if workers dare ask for their legal rights, they too will be fired and thrown out on the street with nothing. We cannot let Metro Group get away with this! Please help: Tell Metro Group to immediately restore all their prior work to the R.L. Denim factory. Tell Metro not to punish the workers for asking for their rights. Tell Metro that we will not allow this. Please act now! (Send Model Email Message to Metro Group) This is one of those watershed moments when international solidarity is desperately needed to support the young, mostly women Bangladeshi workers in their struggle for jobs with justice. In Germany several important NGOs are deeply involved Several important German NGOs are deeply involved in this campaign, including the Clean Clothes Campaign and the Christian Initiative Romero, whose representatives spoke at Metro Groups annual shareholders meeting on May 13. The NLC report and media coverage The National Labor Committee report documenting the horrific sweatshop abuses at the R.L. Denim factory-including the case of 18-year-old Fatema, who was sick, exhausted and overworked to death-has received major media coverage in Germany, United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Australia, Taiwan, Qatar, Singapore, Vietnam, New Zealand, Australia… NLC May 18 Letter to Metro Group http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=648 2009-05-22 00:00:00 article Joint Statement in support of R.L. Denim Workers in Bangladesh E.U. and U.S. Unions Support Bangladeshi Workers Print-ready PDF As the Ver.di United Service union in Germany, UNITE in the United Kingdom, United Steelworkers union in North America and Workers Uniting, we are outraged at the illegal and brutal sweatshop conditions at the R.L. Denim factory in Bangladesh, where over 650 mostly young women workers are being exploited sewing clothing for Metro Group and their Makro Cash & Carry stores. We will not forget 18-year-old Fatema, who was sick, exhausted and overworked to death at the R.L. Denim sweatshop in December 2008. When she begged to be allowed to go home, her supervisor slapped her face. We will not forget 17-year-old Yasin, who collapsed on the shop floor and was kicked by the plant manager. No human being, no worker, should be forced to work 13 to 15 yours a day, seven days a week, while being paid as little as 11 ½ cents (U.S.) an hour, leaving the workers and their families trapped in misery. Pregnant women who begged for their legal right to maternity leave with pay were thrown out of the factory without a cent. Workers who fell behind in their mandatory production goals were beaten and forced to work extra hours without pay. Every single labor law in Bangladesh and the International Labour Organization’s core labor rights standards were violated in broad daylight over the course of years. We hold Metro Group accountable. Metro Group has sewn clothing at the R.L. Denim plant since 2003. Moreover, Metro Group accounts for the majority of production at this sweatshop. Metro Group must now make the workers whole again. We call on Metro Group to honor its obligations and; Commit to pay the workers every cent of back wages and benefits legally due them. Publicly commit to not pull their work from the factory, which would only further punish the workers, who have already suffered enough. Instead work with us and colleagues in Bangladesh to improve working conditions and turn the R L Denim factory into a model facility. Specifically Metro Group must work with the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) and the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) Agree to compensate Fatema’s parents for the criminal neglect that led to their daughter’s death. This should be a wake-up call to all of us who believe in and support respect for fundamental human, women’s and worker rights. As the Metro case clearly demonstrates, the race to the bottom in the global sweatshop economy is out of control, leaving corporations free to exploit some of the poorest, most vulnerable, but hardest working people across the developing world. Metro Group’s ability to monitor factory conditions at its supplier plants—along with that of other corporations—has been a miserable failure. Multinationals can no longer walk away from the despair they have caused. They must live up to the social responsibility commitments they are so proud to publicize. The only way to guarantee respect for human and worker rights is to protect the workers’ right to organize and bargain collectively. Once workers have a democratic voice on the shop floor, factory management will no longer be free to beat and exploit with impunity. As Ver.di, the United Service union, UNITE-the-Union and the United Steelworkers union, in the name of over 5.5million workers in our combined membership, we pledge to support our brothers and sisters in Bangladesh as they struggle for their legal rights so they can climb out of misery and raise their families in decency. We will also be in contact with our governments, relevant agencies and our embassies in Bangladesh. Whether we like it or not, as consumers, every one of us is involved in the global economy. We can either choose to do nothing and allow the multinational corporations to pit workers in Europe and North America against desperately poor workers across the developing world who are stripped of their rights, or we can finally hold corporations legally accountable to respect local labor laws and the ILO’s internationally recognized worker rights standards—no child labor, no forced labor, freedom of association, the right to organize and bargain collectively, and decent working conditions. It is time to make the global economy serve people and not the other way around. If you want to be involved, please contact us at;National Labor Committee5 Gateway Center, 6th FloorPittsburgh, PA 15222 Office number: 412-562-2406Fax: 412-562-2411E-mail: nlc@nlcnet.org http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=645 2009-05-18 00:00:00 article R.L. Denim Workers Ask Metro Group Not to Punish ThemNow that they have their Legal Rights “Now that the factory has been cleaned up and conditions improved,Why should the factory be closed?” --R.L. Denim worker Friday, May 15, 2009 Recent Improvements at R.L. Denim Humiliating and violent treatment has stopped altogether: Workers are no longer cursed and shouted at, slapped, punched, kicked or beaten. Workers are happily surprised at the “new system,” where management respects their rights. Death Benefits paid to Fatema’s parents: On Wednesday, May 13, 2009, Fatema’s parents were paid 50,000 taka ($730 U.S.) as a death benefit for their 18-year-old daughter, who was denied sick leave, slapped and overworked to death on December 7, 2008. Maternity Benefits paid: Both Mrs. Fatema and Mrs. Parvin were paid their maternity benefits on May 13 at the R.L. Denim factory. Mrs. Fatema received 9,053 taka ($132.16 U.S.) and Mrs. Parvin 7,085 taka ($103.43). (Mrs. Fatema received slightly more because she was a sewer while Mrs. Parvin was a helper.) The factory is now open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with an hour off for lunch. All Fridays—the Muslim weekly holiday—are now off. Workers are paid correctly and on time. (Workers are now paid on the 7th of the following month. Management is no longer withholding a month’s back wages.) Factory bathrooms have been cleaned. Purified water is now available to the workers. Management is making space to provide the workers with a proper factory canteen, where they can sit at tables to eat their lunch. More importantly, representatives of the progressive National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) and the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) were allowed access to the factory on Thursday, May 14 to verify some of the positive changes. R.L. Denim management agreed to allow NGWF and BCWS representatives open access to enter the factory at any time to monitor ongoing worker rights improvements. Mr. Yasin—17-year-old worker who was beaten: Question: How were the workers abused before? Mr. Yasin: It is almost impossible to describe. Workers were screamed at, beaten, slapped and scolded. The overtime payments were not given correctly. I worked 183 hours in January, including 5 all-night shifts. But I was paid only 3,800 taka ($55.47 U.S.). Question: What do you expect from the factory? Mr. Yasin: We want the factory to operate justly, as it is running at the moment. Also, the buyers should not withdraw their work orders. Because, if the buyers like Metro pull their work out, it will be a great loss for the workers. They will be unemployed. For that reason, I want the factory to run with a proper, legal system that will be good for the workers as well as for management. Ms. Fatema, who was denied maternity leave: My name is Fatema. I have worked with R.L. for many years, 8 years in total. The company did not give my legal payment on maternity leave. The management allowed my leave but denied the payments. For that reason, I applied many times to get my legal dues. Finally, management staff came to my home and took us to the factory and paid up on May 13, 2009. After a report was published, management provided my maternity leave payment, which was Tk. 9,053 ($132.16 U.S.) I would like to thank the people who helped me receive my legal dues. I want the factory to run as it is currently running, maintaining a proper system. We expect buyers will give more work, so that the workers won’t be unemployed. We are observing that the factory has a very little amount of work and may close soon. We don’t want the factory to shut down. We want more orders from Metro Group. I want the factory to run decently and the rights of the workers expected. Question: Are you happy after getting your pending legal dues? Fatema: Yes, we are happy. If the NLC works to improve other bad factories which do not care about workers rights, they will also be turned into good factory like R.L. Denim. I want all factories to respect workers rights. Ms. Parvin, who was denied maternity benefits: Question: Where do you work? Ms.Parvin: At R.L. Denim Question: Did you get your money for the maternity leave? Ms. Parvin: Yes. Question: How much did you get? Ms.Parvin: Tk 7,085 [$103.43 U.S.] Question: Is the factory better now? Ms. Parvin: Yes. It has improved its operating system. Question: What do you want now? Ms. Parvin: I want to be employed soon. I will be happy if the factory is provided with more work orders. We want the factory to run fairly, and to be provided with our legal payments. Workers want Metro to return its orders to R.L. Denim: Question: What are your names: Workers: My name is Morjina, card #771My name is Rokshana, card #659My name is Bakul, card #743My name is Aklima, card # 1618 Question: What is the current condition of the factory? Workers: It is very good. We are now getting pure drinking water. We have Fridays off. We can leave the factory at 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. Our salary is now provided on the 7th, and we get a one-hour lunch break, with many positive changes. Question: If Metro pulls out their orders, will you be happy? Workers: No. No! We want Metro to stay with this factory. If we won’t be able to work, how will we survive? If we don’t get our salary, we will die. If there is no work at the factory, we will have to go back to our villages. We badly need the work with R.L. Denim. We don’t want our factory to be closed. The factory has improved a lot from previously, but we need work. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=646 2009-05-18 00:00:00 article May 18, 2009 Dr. Eckhard CordesChairman of the Management Board and CEOMetro GroupSchlüterstrasse 140235 DüsseldorfGermany Dear Dr. Cordes: The R.L. Denim factory is certainly not perfect, but there is no doubt that significant and concrete improvements have been made at the plant in a very short timeframe. R.L. Denim workers are no longer abused and forced to work seven days a week while being shortchanged of their wages. Pregnant women now receive their maternity leave with pay. Fridays are off. The bathrooms have been cleaned and purified drinking water is now available. Workers are paid properly and on time. Death benefits were paid to the parents of Bibi Kulsum Fatema. Management is now setting up a proper canteen where the workers can eat. Most importantly, management has agreed to grant open access to two very respected labor and human rights organizations—the National Garment Workers Federation and the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity—to enter the factory at any time to verify ongoing worker rights improvements. Every worker we have spoken to is “happily surprised” at the improved conditions and new respect for their rights. Not a single worker wants the factory to close! It is the very opposite: they desperately need these jobs. There is something terribly wrong about pulling Metro Group’s work from the R.L. Denim plant at the exact moment that the factory is being cleaned up and workers rights respected. For years, Metro Group accounted for the majority of production, even as the R.L. Denim factory failed wage, hour and safety audits. Given Metro Group’s long history with R.L. Denim, how can you possibly justify pulling your work from the factory now that significant worker rights improvements are underway and workers are increasingly satisfied and encouraged with their new rights? As you know, Bangladesh is among the poorest countries in the world. Cutting and running from the factory is morally wrong and would only further punish the workers, who have already suffered enough. Please do the right thing and restore all of Metro Group’s orders to the R.L. Denim factory. In not doing do, the real message the Metro Group would be delivery to workers across the developing world is that if they dare ask for their basic human rights, Metro Group will pull its work and throw them out on the street. I am certain this is not the kind of message you want to send. It would be extremely helpful if your head of compliance and standards could contact me. Working together I believe it would be very possible to quickly and positively resolve the crisis at R.L. Denim. Sincerely, Charles KernaghanDirector http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=647 2009-05-18 00:00:00 article Alleged violations at large Metro AG supplierin Bangladesh: One female worker died, frequent beatings by factory foremen are common 5-11-2009 German-language article By Nils Klawitter On the morning of December 7, the Fatema Akter’ body stopped cooperating. According to eyewitnesses, the 18-year-old female worker stopped work and huddled down on a piece of cardboard in the middle of the factory floor. Her employer, R.L. Denim, is a textile factory in Chittagong, a Bangladeshi port city with a population of about one million people. Even the callous factory supervisors seemed to realize that something was not quite right with young woman, and they refrained from delivering the usual beatings. Coworkers claim that management left the female worker lying on the ground. When, after a half hour, no one moved to help the sick worker, some of seamstresses began to protest, and the lifeless woman was carried via rickshaw to the hospital. She died there a few hours later. Dysentery and dehydration are mentioned on her death certificate as the causes of death. Fatima’s father, Abdul Khalek, recalled that his daughter had been suffering from diarrhea and fever. “She asked her supervisor several times for a day off,” he recalled. Her supervisor answered her request with a beating. Fatema Akter did not know this at the time, but she was working for a supplier of the Metro Group. According to an announcement on R.L. Denim website, Metro is the Bangladeshi factory’s main buyer. R.L. Denim’s 600 workers produce 124,000 pairs of jeans each month. Fatema had worked at the factory for only a few weeks as an assistant sewer. Her job was to carry the heavy material to the sewers. At the same time, she was responsible for cleaning the material and removing lint from the fabric. Apparently, her body had difficulty adapting to the hard work. A former housemate tells us that Fatema frequently worked seven days and over 70 hours a week. For this, she was paid 2200 taka (24 Euro). The R.L. Denim factory is a subsidiary of the Jeans Express company. Owner, Ratan Datta, has been in business for over 30 years. Mr. Datta claims to be a man of “integrity” who runs a “vertically integrated” enterprise. On his website he claims to “say yes to the fight against child labor.” Datta’s attorney announced last week that “SPIEGEL’s research is a violation of the “common declaration of human rights of 1948.” Moreover, Mr. Datta claimed that the sick Fatema had been accompanied by her supervisors on her way to the hospital, and that they had also paid the hospital bill. He claimed that no laws were broken and that there was no hitting at the factory. No workers had complained to the BGMEA – but hardly anyone would approach that contractor sector group. “On the surface, it appears that Jeans Express is a model company,” says Charles Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee, a non-governmental organizations that specializes in researching working conditions in developing countries. He says that the Jeans Express runs “certified for-show-factories that produce brands like Wrangler.” Last February, Kernaghan was in the port city of Chittagong collecting material about Bangladeshi ship breakers, when local union representatives called his attention to the R.L. Denim factory. They were able to organize meetings with the workers at night, and Kernaghan was shown the time cards of a few female sewers. The cards recorded weekly work times of 67.5 to 82 hours. The workers reported that the factory’s drinking water smelled of oil, and they often had to work “seven days a week, for the equivalent of 11 cents US per hour. They are denied maternity leave, and they are molested and beaten when they request it,” said Kernaghan. By his calculation, sewers receive 13 U.S. cents per pair of Metro-jeans. The Duesseldorf-based business giant has been sourcing from R.L. Denim since 2003. According to a Metro spokesperson, the Bangladesh factory produces good quality products and was inspected in 2005 as part of Metro’s commitment to the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BCSI). BCSI is a kind of comprehensive insurance protection created by enterprises like C & A, Karstadt and Metro. The initiative has been trying since 2005 to improve working conditions at its textile supplier plants. However, the factory owners decided on the rules themselves and inspections are announced in advance. In spite of the lax inspection standards, the results of R.L. Denim’s inspection still showed that there were problems at the factory, though there was no mention of discrimination, child labor or prison labor. But, according to Metro spokesperson Ruediger Stahlschmidt, “the factory did not meet BCSI standards in terms of work hours, pay levels, health and safety”. Four years after this initial inspection, an night inspection has yet to be carried out. There is a night inspection scheduled for the first half of 2009. Several female workers at R.L. Denim report that the official inspections are a joke, that supervisors warn the workers in advance not to complain. On inspection days, workers are actually let off their shifts on time. There is a blackboard in the factory informing workers about the legal protections for pregnant workers. The protections spelled out on the blackboard are extensive, but “no one has ever had their rights respected.” Fatema Begum[1] is one worker who was forced to leave the factory after the birth of her son. Begum reports that workers who attempt to organize are also fired. Another worker, Aisha Kondaker,[2] was fired after eight years in the factory after asking for her legal maternity leave. Both women reported being beaten at the factory. “The BSCI code is merely an advertisement for consumers; it does nothing for the workers,” says Maik Pflaum of the Christian Initiative Romero. The Christian Initiative is a co-founder of the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC). Inspections were not only unable to prevent child labor at Metro contracting plants (SPIEGEL 25/2005), but also failed to prevent child labor at factories producing for the Otto-Tochter Transport Company and Esprit. These cases, however, “occurred lower down on the supplier chain,” says a BCSI spokesperson. Metro admits, though, to have come across child labor twice during inspections of their main suppliers in Bangladesh. That these grievances had been corrected affirms “the positive effect of the BSCI inspections,” according to Metro. Though, they could just as easily be proof of the factory managers’ quick reaction times. Over the past three years, inspectors have made 481 visits to suppliers in Bangladesh. Eighty percent of these suppliers failed inspection. These failed inspections reflect conditions in a country that has been trying for 30 years to escape poverty through sewing, weaving and dying – and whose inhabitants gain almost nothing from it. The reports also expose much about suppliers who hide behind laws that in reality are nothing more than window dressing. According to Bangladesh law, a 48-hour work week is the rule. Furthermore, workers are entitled to 16 weeks of paid maternity leave, two weeks paid vacation, and clean drinking water in each workplace. When an enterprise hires 14-year-olds, they are not allowed to crouch for eight hours at the sewing machines. By now, every western enterprise, from Lidl to the textile discounter KiK, accepts the principles of “social responsibility.” It is a trend. But these companies’ caring images are not commensurate with their practice of letting local producers compete with one another to drive down prices and wage or with making sewers put in 80-hour weeks to keep up with rapidly-changing fashion trends. “The worst that Metro can do now, is cut and run,” says specialist Kernaghan. Metro should help to transform R.L. Denim into a model factory where there are tangible changes and where worker rights are respected. Company spokesman Stahlschmidt announced at the end of last week that a comprehensive investigation into the death of Fatema Akter has been initiated. Stahlschmidt claimed that up to now, it was assumed that the supplier, R.L. Denim, had been acting properly. Though the family of the deceased has been promised help by the company management, “We have received nothing so far,” says the father. Prior to her death, Fatema was planning to go visit them in the countryside for observance of the “sacrifice celebration.” She had put aside a small portion of her earnings to make the trip. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=644 2009-05-15 00:00:00 article May 14, 2009 A Bangladeshi teenager who died in a garment factory that supplies cheap jeans for export to Europe was "overworked to death", a rights group said. Fatema Akter, 18, a garment worker in the port city of Chittagong, died during her shift in December last year, the US-based National Labor Committee said. "Forced to work 13 to 15 hours a day, seven days a week, Fatema was sick and exhausted, with pains in her chest and arms," the report said. Her job was to clean 90 to 100 pairs of finished jeans an hour, it said. "Rather than grant her a sick day [her supervisor] slapped her face very hard and ordered her to continue working." The committee said an investigation showed that 14-hour shifts with few breaks were common at the factory, overtime was compulsory and workers were regularly beaten by their superiors. The report, released this week, said 80 per cent of garments produced at the factory were supplied to German-based retail giant Metro Group. NCL has called on Metro Group, which sells bargain jeans across Europe, to guarantee the legal rights of the workers. A statement issued by Metro Group said the company was "deeply saddened" by the death and had immediately terminated its contract with the Bangladeshi supplier that used the factory. Rights groups have long questioned the working conditions in Bangladesh's thousands of garment "sweatshops", which provide some of the cheapest labour in the world. Last year Spanish fashion firm Zara forced the closure of a supplier's factory in the capital Dhaka after workers said they were being abused. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=640 2009-05-14 00:00:00 article May 13, 2009 DHAKA (AFP) — A Bangladeshi teenager who died in a garment factory that supplies cheap jeans for export to Europe was "overworked to death," a rights group said. Fatema Akter, an 18-year-old garment worker in the port city of Chittagong, died during her shift in December last year, according to the US-based National Labor Committee (NCL). "Forced to work 13 to 15 hours a day, seven days a week, Fatema was sick and exhausted, with pains in her chest and arms," the report said, adding that her job was to clean 90 to 100 pairs of finished jeans per hour. "Rather than grant her a sick day (her supervisor) slapped her face very hard and ordered her to continue working." The committee said an investigation showed that 14-hour shifts with few breaks were common at the factory, overtime was compulsory and workers were regularly beaten by their superiors. The report, released earlier this week, said 80 percent of garments produced at the factory were supplied to German-based retail giant Metro Group. NCL has called on Metro Group, which sells bargain jeans across Europe, to guarantee the legal rights of the workers. A statement issued by Metro Group said the company was "deeply saddened" by the death and had immediately terminated its contract with the Bangladeshi supplier that used the factory. Rights groups have long questioned the working conditions in Bangladesh's thousands of garment "sweatshops," which provide some the cheapest labour in the world. Last year Spanish fashion firm Zara forced the closure of a supplier's factory in the capital Dhaka after workers said they were being abused. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=641 2009-05-14 00:00:00 article 5/13/2009 Deutschlands größter Handelskonzern METRO hat Spekulationen über einen Zusammenschluss der Warenhausketten Kaufhof und Karstadt eine Absage erteilt. "Wir haben keine Pläne, Karstadt Warenhaus zu kaufen." Das stellte Konzernchef Eckhard Cordes auf Aktionärsfragen am Mittwoch auf der Hauptversammlung der METRO AG in Düsseldorf klar. Die andere Variante, dass Karstadt die nicht mehr zum METRO-Kerngeschäft gehörende Warenhauskette Kaufhof übernimmt, sei unrealistisch. Auf Kritik der Kleinaktionäre stieß die Doppelrolle von Cordes als Vorstandschef von zwei Großunternehmen - METRO und Haniel. Nach Berichten über den Tod einer jungen Näherin in einer Bekleidungsfabrik in Bangladesch, die für den Düsseldorfer Konzern seit Jahren Jeans herstellt, kündigte Cordes Konsequenzen an.ANZEIGE Der METRO-Chef bekräftigte Bedenken gegen mögliche Staatshilfen beim Konkurrenten Arcandor , zu dem Karstadt gehört. Die Kölner METRO-Tochter Kaufhof sei mit harter Arbeit profitabel weiterentwickelt worden, verdeutlichte Cordes. "Vor diesem Hintergrund würden wir staatliche Eingriffe bei Wettbewerbern als eine uns benachteiligende Intervention betrachten, die ordnungspolitisch außerordentlich fragwürdig ist." Der METRO-Vorstand werde sehr aufmerksam beobachten, was sich bei Karstadt abspiele. Das sei unternehmerische Pflicht. Nach Angaben eines Konzernsprechers verschließt sich METRO aber auch nicht möglichen Gesprächen zur Situation bei Arcandor und Karstadt: "Wir sind zu seriösen Gesprächen mit der Politik zur Zukunft des deutschen Warenhaussegmentes bereit", ergänzte der METRO-Sprecher. KEINE GESPRÄCHE MIT ARCANDOR Nach Angaben von Cordes laufen keine Gespräche der METRO mit Arcandor zu Karstadt. Die METRO-Tochter Kaufhof hebe sich klar von den Wettbewerbern ab. Die Kapitalrendite von acht Prozent beim Kaufhof suche im Markt ihresgleichen. Die METRO werde Kaufhof nicht verschleudern und habe wegen schwacher Finanzmärkte den Verkauf 2008 noch gar nicht gestartet. Den Gesamtkonzern sieht Cordes auf Kurs. Bisher gebe es keine Anzeichen, dass die Kunden beim Grundbedarf ihr Konsumverhalten deutlich korrigieren. Dramatische Ausschläge nach unten habe es bislang bei keiner METRO-Tochter gegeben. Dazu gehören die Elektronikkette Media Markt und Saturn, Großhandelsmärkte und der Lebensmittelhändler Real. Das Ostergeschäft, das in diesem Jahr in den April fiel, ist laut Cordes leicht besser gelaufen als 2008. Nach Berichten über den Tod einer jungen Näherin und Missständen in einer Fabrik in Bangladesch seien die Geschäftsbeziehungen mit diesem Bekleidungslieferanten beendet worden. Die Todesumstände der Frau und die Informationskette über die Arbeitsbedingungen in der Fabrik werden untersucht, kündigte Cordes an. Die betreffende Fabrik sei 2005 zwar überprüft worden. Nachdem Mängel festgestellt wurden, habe es jedoch anders als vorgesehen keine neuerliche Überprüfung gegeben. Die junge Näherin ist nach Informationen einer Initiative Anfang Dezember infolge eines Akkordmarathons gestorben. Zur Reaktion der METRO wurde auch Kritik laut: Das Streichen der Fabrik von der Lieferantenliste treffe die schlechtbezahlten Arbeiterinnen, sagte ein Redner. Die METRO lasse die Frauen nun ohne Arbeit zurück. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=642 2009-05-14 00:00:00 article The People (UK) May 10, 2009 Der Spiegel (Germany) May 11, 2009 English Translation The Bild (Germany) May 12, 2009 AFP (France/International) May 13, 2009 (Appeared in newspapers worldwide, including France, Australia, Germany, U.K., Taiwan, Vietnam, Qatar, and elsewhere) Financial Times Deutchland (Germany) May 13, 2009 The New Age (Bangladesh) May 13, 2009 Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) May 14, 2009 http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=643 2009-05-14 00:00:00 article May 13, 2009 By Nazrul Islam and Kazi Azizul Islam An international labour rights group has dug up chilling stories of exploitation of workers in a large Bangladeshi garment factory where overwork caused the death of a teenage female worker in December 2008. An investigation conducted by the National Labour Committee, the US-based anti-sweatshop organisation, reveals a ‘medieval-style slavery and deprivation’ of workers in the Chittagong-based RL Denim Limited that produces jeans for leading international retailers, including Metro Group of Germany. The NLC report titled ‘Is a Bargain on a Pair of Jeans Worth a Young Woman’s Life? President Obama Thinks Not,’ was released globally on World Mother’s Day on Sunday. The report has also sought to draw attention of the Obama administration as the United States is the largest importer of Bangladeshi garments. Bibi Kulsum Fatema, an 18-year old RL sewing helper, fainted due to overwork at her workplace and died after she was taken to a nearby hospital, according to the report. The report contains as an annexe an application the girl’s father had submitted to the labour ministry seeking justice and compensation. The ministry is learnt to have forwarded the letter to the factory management which did not pay any heed. ‘Everyday she worked 13-15 hours at a stretch. One day she was so exhausted that she fell sick for ten days,’ Fatema’s mother told NLC investigators led by Charles Kernaghan, who along with Bangladeshi right actors interviewed dozens of factory workers and others concerned to prepare the report. Fatema had repeatedly begged her supervisor, Monir, for a day off as she [Fatema] had been suffering from dysentery in early December, Fatema’s parents told the investigators. Fatema sought leave, but the supervisor slapped her and she was so exhausted that she fainted on the floor that day and died after being taken to the hospital, alleged co-workers and her mother. She was not taken to a hospital immediately as she fainted on the factory floor in the morning of December 7. She was left unconscious on the floor until the evening. As the co-workers demanded, Fatima was taken to nearby Al-Amin Hospital where the physicians declared her dead, NLC investigators were told by the workers. Fatema’s Father Abdul Khalek on January 29, 2009 had sought Tk 300,000 as compensation for the death of his daughter and sought her legal life insurance due of Tk 100,000. Khaleq’s letter was forwarded to RL administration but dues remain unpaid. The report said that many workers informed the investigators that another seventeen-year-old worker who had collapsed on the factory floor was kicked by the factory manager and many workers are often beaten and forced to 20-hour shifts. The workers have limited access to bathroom inside the factory. They are allowed two or at most three times a day to use the restroom provided they are permitted by the supervisor, added the report. Another 21-year old worker, whose name is also Fatema, told NLC investigators that after working six years in the factory she was asked to leave the factory in July 2008, without maternity leave although she was pregnant at that time. The workers alleged that the factory fans are often kept switched off in the name of saving energy bills, speaking is strictly prohibited during working hours and they take lunch either on the crowded stairs or on the rooftop. RK Dutta, the chairman of Jeans Express Limited the parent company RL Denim, termed initially the NLC report as, ‘A piece of yellow journalism.’ But as he was clarified that the report was by a fact finding mission of the influential US-based labour rights group, Dutta referred RL managing director Asish Das to comment on. Ashis Das admitted the death of the factory worker. But he said Fatima was not under the coverage of insurance claim as she started the job only three weeks before the incident. ‘We paid her family a small amount to bear the cost of Fatima’s funeral ritual,’ the managing director said adding Fatima got sick in the morning and factory officials told her to go home but she stayed there to have her half month’s salaries as that was the payment day. He, however, denied any abuses of workers. The Bangladesh Garments Manufacturer and Exporters Association president Abdus Salam Murshedy claimed that his organisation had devoted in implementation of labour rights and compliances in its member factories so such a report disappointed him. ‘The BGMEA will reinvestigate the alleged abuse on the workers and ensure compensation of Fatema, he assured. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=639 2009-05-13 00:00:00 article May 9, 2009 Dr. Eckhard CordesChairman of the Management Board and CEOMetro GroupSchlüterstrasse 140235 DüsseldorfGermany Dear Dr. Cordes: I write on a matter of extreme urgency to request your assistance and immediate intervention with one of your contractors in Bangladesh, R.L. Denim/Jeans Express Limited, where the most basic legal rights of the mostly young women workers are being grossly and systematically violated on a daily basis. The R.L. Denim factory in Chittagong sews the Authentic, Youkon and TiP labels for the Metro Group. Some of your labels have been at the factory for over a year, and it appears that Metro Group garments account for 80 percent or more of total factory production. At the R.L. Denim factory, every labor law in Bangladesh is being violated—as are the International Labour Organization’s internationally recognized worker rights standards. One young 18-year-old worker, Ms. Bibi Kulsum Fatema (Card # 532), who was ill and begged for sick leave, was instead slapped by her supervisor and forced to continue working. Ms. Fatema collapsed on the factory floor, and was declared dead two or so hours later, on December 7, 2008. Pregnant women are routinely denied their right to maternity leave with full pay. In fact, we do not know of a single instance when maternity leave rights have been respected at the R.L. Denim plant. A 17-year-old boy who was ill and passed out on the factory floor was reportedly kicked by the factory manager. All overtime is obligatory. Twelve to 14-hour shifts are the norm, often seven days a week with just one or two days off a month. There are also 20-hour, all-night shifts, from 8:00 a.m. straight through to 4:00 a.m. the following morning, before clothing shipments must leave for the Metro Group. R.L. Denim workers earn just 11 ½ to 17 cents (U.S.) an hour and report they are routinely shortchanged on their legal overtime pay. The factory keeps two sets of timecards, a doctored one to show corporate monitors and a real one which more or less accurately tracks the hours actually worked. Workers report that they are routinely cursed at, slapped and even kicked by supervisors. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the Metro Group has the power to work with your contractor, R.L. Denim, to clean up the factory and implement concrete changes so that the legal rights of the workers are finally respected. The very worst thing Metro Group could do would be to “cut and run,” pulling your work from the R.L. Denim factory, since this would only further punish the workers, who have already suffered enough. It is not acceptable for Metro Group to pull your work out of R.L. Denim or other Jeans Express factories. Metro Group’s current level of production must remain the same as you work with your contractor, R.L. Denim/Jeans Express, to improve conditions and bring the factories into full compliance with Bangladesh’s labor laws and the ILO’s core labor rights standards. I must also urge that you immediately and strongly instruct R.L. Denim management that Metro Group will not under any circumstance tolerate retaliation targeting workers suspected of speaking truthfully regarding the sweatshop conditions at the factory. Workers are already being threatened. You should also know that the R.L. Denim factory was open on Friday, May 8, and that some workers in the finishing section were kept to 8:30 p.m. Friday is supposed to be the workers’ weekly day off. I am attaching a list of critical steps that the Bangladeshi workers, local Bangladeshi women’s and labor rights organizations and the National Labor Committee expect Metro Group to take. You can access the NLC’s full report at: http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=633 Our hope is that through Metro Group’s intervention the R.L. Denim plant could become a model factory—which would be a win-win situation for the workers, European consumers, the R.L. Denim factory and Metro Group. R.L. Denim management was notified ahead of time that a corporate audit would take place today, Saturday, May 9. The young workers were told not to come to the factory. Management is racing to arrange for purified drinking water, and the factory is being cleaned. As is the norm, workers have been instructed to lie to the auditors. Some workers have been threatened and some of the young women, especially, are frightened. Under such circumstances, this most recent corporate audit will also be seriously flawed. In light of the above, I have a serious proposal to you. If Metro Group guarantees that there will be no retaliation against any R.L. Denim worker who speaks truthfully about factory conditions over the last year, we are our colleagues on the ground in Bangladesh could bring together at least 100 workers to participate in a meeting with you and your staff. This way you could be assured of learning the truth. The National Labor Committee will work together with you in any way we can, including travelling to Bangladesh to meet with R.L. Denim/Jeans Express management. I want to thank you in advance for the serious attention you give this urgent matter. You or your staff can contact me any time via email (bbriggs@nlcnet.org) or cell phone (412-417-9384) or in our office at the above phone and fax. Sincerely, Charles KernaghanDirector Attachment: CC: Hannes Floto, Managing Director, Makro Cash & Carry http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=634 2009-05-11 00:00:00 article Is a Bargain on a Pair of Jeans Worth a Young Woman’s Life? President Obama Thinks Not May 2009 Eighteen-year-old woman overworked to death Seventeen-year-old who collapsed on the shop floor kicked by manager; Beatings and forced 20-hour shifts common; Women asking for their legal right to maternity leave are kicked out of the factory without a cent. Metro’s clothing is sold in Germany, the United Kingdom and across Europe. 8/10/2009: Update: R.L. Denim Workers Report Much Better Treatment 6/19/2009: Clean Clothes Campaign / Verdi Union Press Release (English) / German Release 6/19/2009: Unprecedented Victory for Workers across the Developing World 6/19/2009: Metro Letter Addresses Conditions at the R.L. Denim factory 6/19/2009: Metro's Statement (English)--German Statement 6/3/2009: NLC letter to the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) 6/2/2009: New R.L. Denim Update 5/22/2009: Workers Uniting Pledges Solidarity with Workers in Bangladesh 5/18/2009: R.L. Denim Update 5/18/2009: R.L. Denim Workers Ask Metro not to Abandon them 5/18/2009: NLC Urges Metro not to Cut and Run 5/15/2009: U.S. and European Unions Release Unprecedented Joint Statement in Support of the Bangladeshi workers 5/11/2009: Metro Response to National Labor Committee’s May 2009 report Press NLC Letter to Metro http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=633 2009-05-07 00:00:00 reports February 12, 2009 Weblink: http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20090212-working-hp-microsoft-china-serving-prison-sentence-sweatshop-dell-ibm-china A report issued by human rights activists reveals that young migrant workers are labouring under sweatshop conditions for IBM, Microsoft, HP and Dell in a factory in China. Twelve hours a day, seven days a week, the people who put your keyboard keys into place are paid 60 euro cents an hour to do it. And they're not even allowed to raise their heads or go to the toilet... Taiwanese-owned Meitai factory in Dongguan City, Guangdong province (southeast), employs two thousand young workers, 75% of them women, to produce computer equipment including keyboards and printer cases for Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Lenovo, Microsoft and IBM (as we go to press IBM and Dell are yet to confirm this). The damning research, published online by the National Labor Committee, was carried out between June and September of 2008, and updated mid January 2009. When we contacted the companies cited in the report, only Microsoft and HP replied to say that they had been made aware of the report. Both gave similar statements about their commitment to the "fair treatment and safety" of workers contracted to produce their software.ContributorsCharles Kernaghan's picture Charles Kern..."They’re not even allowed to raise their heads or put their hands in their pockets" Charles Kernaghan is one of the National Labor Committee members who worked on the report. The young workers sit on hard wooden stools twelve hours a day, seven days a week as 500 computer keyboards an hour move down the assembly line, or one every 7.2 seconds. They're allowed just 1.1 seconds to snap each key into place, repeating the same operation 3,250 times an hour, 35,750 times a day, 250,250 times a week and over one million times a month. All overtime is mandatory, with 12 hour shifts seven days a week and an average of two days off a month. A worker daring to take a Sunday off - which is supposedly their weekly holiday - will be docked 2 ½ days' wages. Including unpaid overtime, workers are at the factory on average 81 hours a week, which exceeds China's legal overtime limit by 318 percent! A worker toiling 75 hours a week will earn a take-home wage of $57.19 [€45], or 76 cents [60 euro cents] an hour including overtime and bonuses. In mid-2008, the Meitai factory was advertising for workers with a huge want ad posted outside the factory: "Meitai Company seeks large numbers of female workers ages 18-35 for 1200-1500 RMB [€137 - €171] a month" [not including overtime]. Other factories in the area have similar working conditions, but what's so shocking about this one, is the restraints on liberty. Workers are prohibited from talking, listening to music, going to the toilet on shift. They're not even allowed to raise their heads or put their hands in their pockets. They're fined for being one minute late or for failing to trim their fingernails, as this could impede their work. They're searched on the way in and out of the factory, and those who hand out flyers or discuss factory conditions with outsiders are fired. When they leave a room, they stand up together and walk out in single file. Meitai factory's 'Factory Regulations and Discipline': '...idle chat...is forbidden while on a shift.''Employees shall maintain the factory image... Employees shall dress in clean and appropriate clothes... not post flyers in the company, should not walk on green areas or plants...'. One worker summed up the general feeling in the factory: 'I feel like I am serving a prison sentence.' Ten to twelve workers share each crowded dorm room, sleeping on narrow metal bunk beds that line the walls. They drape old sheets over their cubicle openings for privacy. Workers are locked in the factory compound four days a week and are prohibited from even taking a walk. Names of workers fined for not cleaning their dorms are displayed on a whiteboard. The bathroom with a squat toilet. In the winter, workers have to walk down several flights of stairs to fetch hot water in a small plastic bucket, which they carry back to their rooms to take a sponge bath. To symbolize their ‘improving lives' the workers are served a special treat on Fridays - a small chicken leg and foot. For breakfast, they are given watery rice gruel. Workers are only given 15 minutes to eat lunch. The other factories in the area have given their staff a week off for New Year (which is equal in importance to Thanksgiving and Christmas combined for North Americans). But the Meitai factory has only given three days off, which makes it impossible for the staff to get home and back. They're all migrant workers. I think the factory fears that if workers leave for a home with a month's wages, they'll never come back. What's also shocking is that this factory deals with such big names. If there's one factory these companies should pay any attention to, then it's this one. While Microsoft is fighting to protect its trademark in China, it cares very little about any laws that might protect the workers who actually make the software. Dell, HP and IBM have all promised to do something. But all they'll do is put in place ‘monitors' in the factory. These workers are terrified; they won't dare tell them anything. It's not because they're in love with the Chinese people that these companies are here; it's because people in China can be forced to work for nothing, and they're not going to fight against that. Meanwhile, China is sacrificing these young workers to build a middle class which they themselves will never see. To get hold of this information we had people inside the factory, but we can't openly discuss our research methods. We did the interviews with workers off campus. Some of them do come to human rights and health and safety organisations on their day off. But they're very cautious. The organisations have to keep moving around so they're not tracked by the factories. And most of the workers have never even heard the word ‘union' - they think it's a breakfast meeting. The workers have no healthcare to speak of. They're hanging by a shoestring. Of course they're hoping to move on to a better job. But with the financial crisis, it will be even harder to find another job now. Twenty million migrant workers have just been made redundant in China. It's a difficult, miserable situation." http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=625 2009-03-06 12:03:25 article February 17, 2009 By Rebecca Thomson Weblink:http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/02/17/234866/prison-like-conditions-for-workers-making-ibm-dell-hp-microsoft-and-lenovo.htm Chinese factory workers are working in prison-like conditions for 41 cents an hour to make computer parts for IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Dell, a report claims. US organisation the National Labour Committee (NLC) found 2,000 workers at the Meitai factory work an average of 74 hours a week, for a base wage of 64 cents an hour. This drops to 41 cents an hour after room and board is removed. The workers, mostly young women aged from 18 to their mid-20s, are not allowed to talk, listen to music, look around them, put their hands in their pockets, or go to the toilet unless it is an official break. Workers are encouraged to monitor each other and are fined if they break rules. These include being one minute late for a shift or putting personal items on a work desk. On the assembly line, a keyboard passes each worker every 7.2 seconds. The worker has to snap six or seven keys into place in that time.Prison sentence The NLC visited the factory between June and September 2008 and in January this year. One worker said, "I feel like I am serving a prison sentence. We are really livestock and should not be called workers." The Meitai Plastics and Electronics factory in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, China, makes keyboards and other equipment for Dell, HP, IBM, Microsoft, and Lenovo. The companies said they would investigate conditions at the factory but none said they would cancel contracts linked to the factory. Microsoft said the factory supplies one of its contracted manufacturers. A spokesperson said, "We are working closely with our industry partners and contracted supplier to conduct an investigation and make any necessary improvements to comply with all guidelines and regulations."Actively investigating Lenovo also said it does not deal directly with the factory, which has links with one of its suppliers. The company said the factory will be audited by the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition. It also said its supplier would be investigating the factory. A spokesperson for HP said, "The factory named in the report is not one of HP's direct suppliers, but is a supplier to two of our suppliers. HP will audit this facility through a validated industry audit. This will be conducted promptly by a third-party audit firm on behalf of the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition. Based on the results of the audit, we will work together with our supplier to develop corrective actions where appropriate." Dell said it was "actively investigating" the issues in the report. A spokesperson said, "I can tell you that any reports of poor working conditions in Dell's supply chain are investigated and appropriate action is taken." Charles Kernaghan, report author and director at the NLC, said, "The $200 personal computer and the $22.99 keyboard may be seen as a great bargain, but in the long run they come at a terrible cost." "Through the (Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), of which IBM is a founding member, a joint-audit is being conducted to assemble the facts and address this issue with the supplier/or suppliers involved." http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=624 2009-03-06 11:49:37 article February 15, 2009 Weblink: http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/15/2020200 "Think you've got a bad job? Think again. You could be making keyboards for IBM, Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo and HP at Meitai Plastic and Electronics, a Chinese hardware factory. Prompted by the release of High Tech Misery in China by a human-rights group, a self-regulating body set up by tech companies will conduct an audit of working conditions at the factory. In return for take-home pay of 41 cents per hour, workers reportedly sit on hard wooden stools for 12-hour shifts, seven days a week. Overtime is mandatory, with workers being given on average two days off per month. While on the production line, workers are not allowed to raise their hands or heads, are given 1.1 seconds to snap each key into place, and are encouraged to 'actively monitor each other' to see if any company rules are being transgressed. They are also monitored by guards. Workers are fined if they break the rules, locked in the factory for four days per week, and sleep in crowded dormitories. Okay, it's not all bad news — they're hiring." http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=623 2009-03-06 11:45:33 article Feburary 10, 2009 By Jason Chen Weblink: http://i.gizmodo.com/5150655/your-keyboards-may-have-been-made-in-appalling-conditions I don't mean to get super human-rights on everyone, but if you're using a keyboard from Microsoft, IBM, Dell, Lenovo or HP, there's a chance it was made under some horrific working conditions. A study by The National Labor Committee, which is a worker's rights group that actually is not associate with the government, found very crazy (and very cruel) working conditions in a Meitai factory in Dongguan City. Here's a very small subsection of cruelties employees were subjected to: • Workers are prohibited from talking, listening to music, raising their heads, putting their hands in their pockets. Workers are fined for being one minute late, for not trimming their fingernails-which could impede the work, and for stepping on the grass. Workers are searched on the way in and out of the factory. Workers who hand out flyers or discuss factory conditions with outsiders are fired. • The assembly line never stops, and workers needing to use the bathroom must learn to hold it until there is a break. • All overtime is mandatory, with 12-hour shifts seven days a week and an average of two days off a month. A worker daring to take a Sunday off-which is supposedly their weekly holiday-will be docked 2 ½ days' wages. Including unpaid overtime, workers are at the factory up to 87 hours a week. On average, they are at the factory 81 hours a week, while toiling 74 hours, including 34 hours of overtime, which exceeds China's legal limit by 318 percent! • The workers are paid a base wage of 64 cents an hour, which does not even come close to meeting subsistence level needs. After deductions for primitive room and board, the workers' take-home wage drops to just 41 cents an hour. A worker toiling 75 hours a week will earn a take-home wage of $57.19, or 76 cents an hour including overtime and bonuses. The workers are routinely cheated of 14 to 19 percent of the wages legally due them. Workers are also routinely penalized for random things, including these, which BoingBoing highlighted: * "Infractions" punished with the loss of over two hours' wages (fine of 10 RMB—$1.44), including for- —"Being 1 to 5 minutes late to start a shift…" —"Not periodically trimming fingernails, which will affect product quality." —"Not lining up correctly while punching time cards or at the cafeteria." —"Wearing work shoes outside the work room after work." —"Putting hands in pant pockets while inside the factory or workroom." * "Infractions" punished with the loss of 4 ½ hours wages (20 RMB fine, $2.88) —"…answering a personal telephone call in the workroom." —"Not diligently working or raising ones head to look around when guests or cadres come to visit." —"Putting personal objects on the work desk." —"…listening to the radio while on the job." —"Not parking bicycles according to company regulations; riding bicycles in and out of the company in a way not in accordance with company regulations." —"Returning to the dorm after regulated hours [curfew]." * "Infractions" punished with the loss of nearly seven hours' wages (30 RMB fine—$4.32) —"Switching beds without authorization." (Dorm beds are assigned by management.) * "Infractions" punished with the loss of nearly 1 ½ days' wages (50 RMB fine—$7.20) —"Workers who arrive over one hour late…" —"Riding the elevator without permission." —"Plugging in electronics [using electricity] in the dorm room for personal use." —"Using the company phone to make personal calls." —"Producing products of low quality…" —"Workers who…go to visit other workers during working hours." —"Chatting at the workstation during work hours…" —"Entering or leaving the factory area without allowing door personnel [security guards] to inspect [search workers]." —"Treating supervisors with an arrogant attitude…" * "Infractions" punished with the loss of nearly three days' wages (100 RMB fine—$14.40): —"Leaving one's workstation without permission…" —"Putting up personal notices…or handing out flyers." —"Revealing confidential company or production-related information." * "Infractions" punished with firing: —"Violating labor discipline…and not obeying the company's work arrangements." —"…Taking part in illegal organizations." [In China, this means independent unions; human, women's and children's rights organizations and non-state-sanctioned religious organizations.] —"Not following the procedures spelled out by government regulations on stopping work, slowing work down, encouraging others to stop or slow down work." —"Missing three days of work." —"Disobeying China's one-child policy." —"Not obeying company arrangements or directions or…collectively causing trouble as a group…" —"Any behavior similar to that listed above or helping or colluding in such behavior." If you think these conditions are obscene—and I think most of us should—contact details for the companies that contract Meitai for manufacturing are located at the bottom of the link. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=622 2009-03-06 11:42:11 article February 13. 2009 By Tom Espiner Weblink: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,39616091,00.htm A technology industry watchdog plans to investigate conditions at a Chinese hardware factory that supplies IBM, Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo and HP, following a damning report on conditions there by a human-rights organisation. The National Labor Committee report, High Tech Misery in China, said the technology companies use Meitai Plastic and Electronics, a keyboard supplier that operates a factory that "dehumanises young workers". In response, the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), a self-regulating body set up by technology companies, will carry out a third-party audit into the working conditions at the factory, IBM told ZDNet UK on Friday. "Through the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition, of which IBM is a founding member, a joint-audit is being conducted to assemble the facts and address this issue with the supplier or suppliers involved," wrote an IBM spokesperson in an emailed statement. Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo and HP are also members of the coalition. The report by the National Labor Committee, a US human-rights organisation, covers the work environment in the Meitai Plastic and Electronics factory in Dongguan City in China. According to the report, released in February, workers sit on hard wooden stools for 12-hour shifts, seven days a week. Overtime is mandatory, with workers being given on average two days off per month. The report also said that while workers are on the production line, they are not allowed to raise their hands or their heads, and they are given 1.1 seconds to snap each key into place. Workers are prohibited from talking or listening to music, and are encouraged "actively monitor each other" to see if any of the multiple company rules are being transgressed. They are also monitored by guards, according to the report. It also found that workers are fined if they break the rules, that they are locked in the factory for four days per week, and that they sleep in crowded dormitories. The workers' gross wage is 64 US cents (44p) per hour, which the report claims "does not even come close to meeting subsistence level needs", while their take-home pay is 41 cents per hour. However, report co-author Charles Kernaghan, who is co-director of the National Labor Committee, questioned whether the EICC probe would be effective. "It's excellent [there will be an investigation]. But the fact that they've announced the date, of February the 23 and 24, guarantees the investigation will be compromised," Kernaghan told ZDNet UK on Friday. "It gives the factory time to threaten the workers, who will be coerced and terrified." Kernaghan called on Lenovo to put pressure on the Chinese government to improve working conditions. "Lenovo is very important," he said. "As a Chinese company, they have the power and the right to approach the Chinese government and demand that labour laws be enforced." Lenovo told ZDNet UK that it was involved in the investigation as a member of EICC, but that it did not purchase supplies directly from the Meitai facility. "Lenovo makes every effort possible to investigate and ensure that our suppliers adhere to and comply with accepted international manufacturing standards and labour practices, and takes these matters very seriously," it said in a statement. In addition, Lenovo said it will call on its intermediate supplier to investigate the facility to verify the findings of the report and "help identify corrective actions". HP said that it would wait until the results of the EICC audit until taking action. "The factory named in the report is not one of HP's direct suppliers, but is a supplier to two of our suppliers," the company said in a statement. "HP will audit this facility through a validated industry audit. Based on the results of the audit, we will work together with our supplier to develop corrective actions where appropriate." Microsoft and Dell had not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing. The National Labor Committee report was first publicised by Observers de France 24. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=620 2009-03-06 11:20:43 article February 19, 2009 Web address: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/19/content_10849560.htm BEIJING-- Five global information technology giants said Wednesday they will cooperate with an investigation into allegations that one of their hardware suppliers in south China made its employees work a back-breaking schedule under "dehumanizing" conditions. The China offices of IBM, Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard told Shanghai Daily that they welcome a probe into accusations by a U.S.-based non-government group spotlighting substandard working conditions at Meitai Plastic and Electronics Co, a producer of computer equipment for the five firms in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province. Audit ordered The tech giants all emphasized that Meitai, which manufactures keyboards and printer cases and is owned by Taiwan entrepreneurs, was a subcontractor and that none of them had any direct business with the factory in Dongguan's Changping County. The intermediary contractor was not identified. The U.S.-based Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition, a self-regulating body composed of 30 global tech firms, said it will carry out a third-party audit of the working conditions at the factory. The five firms are members of the coalition, which aims to improve working conditions and environmental stewardship throughout the electronics supply chain, according to the group's Website. The original report targeting the problems was released this month by the U.S. National Labor Committee, a non-government group based in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It said workers were required to sit on hard wooden stools for 12-hour shifts seven days a week, as 500 computer keyboards moved down the assembly line each hour. The workers were reportedly allowed just 1.1 seconds to snap each key into place, repeating the same operation 3,250 times an hour for a salary of less than 3 yuan (44 U.S. cents) an hour. Overtime at Meitai was mandatory, the report said. Employees worked 80.5 hours a week, including 40.5 hours of forced overtime, which exceeds China's legal limit by 388 percent, it noted. On average, workers were allowed only two days off per month. Employees at Meitai were not given state-mandated work injury, health care or maternity insurance, according to the document. In the molding department, workers suffered skin rashes due to excessive heat, the report said. Ten to 12 workers shared each dorm room, sleeping on narrow metal bunks, the report said. In winter, workers had to walk down several floors to get hot water, which they carried back to their rooms for sponge baths. They were confined to the factory compound four days a week and were not allowed to take walks without permission. The report quoted one worker as saying that workers had to beg the boss if they wanted to go out on a date. "I feel like I'm serving a prison sentence," one worker told the researchers. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=619 2009-03-06 11:08:51 article 2009年2与19日 作者： 袁萌 老实说，美国劳工委员会(本文简称NLC，National Labor Committee)的调查报告(High Tech Misery in CHINA)的原文此刻就放在我的身边。“血汗工厂”(sweatshop)这个词，起初我不敢用，因为，我不敢断定NLC的真实用意及其矛头所向。该调查报告的副标题是“把生产我们的(our)计算机键盘的年轻女工视为动物(Dehumanization)”，其中“our”一词提醒了我，说明该调查报告的矛头所向不是我国政府，这就好说了。 该调查报告一开头就开宗明义，说明了调查行动是秘密进行的，时间长达数月之久，被调查者均在人身安全的地方对其进行询问，以求真实，并且调查配有大量的真实图片。NLC承认这些调查资料(包括工厂内部的文件、资料)都是偷偷带离(smuggled out)调查现场的。大家知道，图片是不能大规模进行造假、伪造的，因为，可以在事后必要时进行现场实地比对。NLC干这种“行当”，肯定是老手了。 调查报告的图片说明：印有“Lenovo”、“Dell”、“Microsoft”和“IBM”标记的键盘就摆放在该工厂的生产组装线上;组装线旁边有一长排园形的小木凳;女工饭盒中的稀饭几乎如水一样透明;工厂星期五改善伙食的餐盘中只有那么两个小小的鸡腿和凉拌粉皮;女工宿舍的那一片片避体用的花色各异的布帘;女工厕所及洗澡间里面的大片黄色污渍，......,这些图片的真实性能够抵赖吗? 该调查报告共计12章，第8章的名称是“Lenovo and the Olympics”，其中特别点了联想董事长杨元庆的名字，敦促(urge)其立即采取行动改变这种状态，其他IT跨国巨头还没有这种特别的待遇。 这里，问题的严重性在于：一旦美泰公司被定性为“血汗工厂”，那么，按照相关国际法律，它的产品就是“违禁品”(contraband)，不得进入、污染(pollute)国际贸易的流通渠道，而不管美泰公司是联想的几级供货商。《第一财经日报》的上述“驳”文章的结尾处说：“其实美泰一直是常平镇的标杆企业，(NLC)调查报告所说的情况绝大部分都不是真实的”(常平镇对外经济办公室负责官员如此说)。 这简直是一派胡言乱语。好一个“标杆企业”! 这一下，东莞市常平镇就要国际出名了。这就是“血汗工厂”的可悲之处，是非颠倒，颠倒是非。高科技带给中国年轻女工的命运就是如此悲惨，把他们视如牲畜 (Livestock)(调查报告之副标题)，任人驱使，强迫劳动，缺失尊严。请这位常平镇对外经济办公室负责官员睁开眼睛，看一看NLC的报告 (至少相关图片能看明白)，反映的是不是2008年5月份美泰“血汗工厂”的实际情况。 拿今天的(修正过的)事实去证明过去存在的事实，是没有任何用处的，因为，时光不能倒流。奉劝那些企图蒙混过关的当事人和政府官员，请你们记住一点：血汗工厂，越涂越黑。我们要问，在中国境内，“血汗工厂”的存在到底是不是事实?联想到底是不是当事人? http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=628 2009-03-06 02:54:49 article 2009年3月2日 连接：http://mnc.people.com.cn/GB/8887328.html 针对“血汗工厂”事件，惠普等科技巨头日前做出了类似的相关回应。 惠普表示，公司不能容忍对劳工权益的侵犯，并承诺对任何在供应链上违背惠普行为准则的特别行为立即采取行动。惠普公司非常重视对违规行为的指控，并将立即着手调查。惠普称，报告中提及的工厂并非惠普的直接供应商，而是惠普公司一家供应商的供应商。一项由该直接供应商负责的调查已经在开展当中。 IBM表示，公司已经参与了美国科技业自律组织“电子产业公民联盟”(简称“EICC”)的调查，该组织由多家科技公司联合创立并进行自我监管，他们将对美国劳工委员会揭露的东莞工厂的工作情况做一次独立的第三方调查。戴尔公司也表示正在参与调查，目前没有过多的细节可以透露。 上述公司表示，其都有相应的供应链行为准则，在劳工、健康与安全、环境及道德规范等方面对其供应商提出了明确的要求，他们将和供应商一起努力，以保证执行相应的行为准则。 据了解，全美劳工委员会日前曾经发布过一份报告，报告称，微软、IBM等科技业巨头向美泰塑胶电子公司(Meitai)采购产品，而美泰是一家“血汗工厂”。据报告称，美泰的工人每天坐在硬木凳上工作12小时，每周工作7天，每月只放两天假，工人加班是强制性的。 http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=627 2009-03-06 02:18:50 article February 09, 2009 By Christine Young Weblink: http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090209/BIZ/902090316 Chinese factory workers making keyboards for IBM and other American companies are treated little better than slaves, according to a 60-page report released Thursday by The National Labor Committee. The report, "High Tech Misery in China," describes horrendous sweatshop conditions at the Dongguan Meitai Plastics & Electronics Factory in southern China, which produces keyboards for IBM, Lenovo, Dell, HP and Microsoft. "This is dehumanization," said NLC Director Charles Kerrigan. "If it's not slavery, it's very close." Prompted by the report, IBM says it is reviewing its relationship with the factory, where, the NLC alleges: # Employees work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with just two days off a month, for 41 cents an hour.# Workers sit on hard, backless stools as 500 keyboards an hour move down the assembly line.# Workers are locked in the factory compound four days a week, prohibited from taking a walk. "This factory is very frightening in the sense that management tries to control every second, every movement of the workers' lives," said Kerrigan. There are 1.4 million electronic assembly jobs left in the U.S. that may be lost to China, according to the NLC. "Companies the size of IBM like these countries because they're authoritarian," Kerrigan said. "They produce for much less and work longer hours under primitive conditions. IBM is there for a reason, and it's clearly not because they're in love with the Chinese people and culture." IBM spokesman Doug Shelton said the company will do an audit to see if the factory complies with Big Blue's supplier-conduct principles. "The other named companies are also looking into this in the same manner," Shelton said. "We intend to assemble the facts ... and address this issue with the supplier or suppliers involved." The NLC is not asking the companies to pull out of China or out of the Meitai factory, but to demand higher standards, Kerrigan said. "IBM has a responsibility to be especially vigilant because there's no safety net for these workers," he said. "They're in a trap, and IBM should not milk that trap. If this is happening in this factory, it's happening in others. They're going to have to step up to the plate to make sure their presence doesn't facilitate prison-like labor." Christine Young covers IBM. She can be reached at 346-3140 or cyoung@th-record.com. IBM Notebook appears Mondays. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=621 2009-03-06 00:00:00 article 新华社, 03/02/2009, 《惠普IBM回应血汗工厂事件表示正在调查 不能容忍》 Xinhua, February 19, 2009, "IT supplier blasted for exploiting its workers" 国际财经时报， 02/19/2009，《好一个“标杆企业”：血汗工厂》，袁萌 ComputerWeekly.com, February 17, 2009, "`Prison-like` conditions for workers making IBM, Dell, HP, Microsoft and Lenovo products," by Rebecca Thomson Slashdot.org, February 15, 2009, "High Tech Misery In China." ZDNET.co.uk, February 13. 2009, "Tech coalition launches sweatshop probe," by Tom Espiner France 24, February 12, 2009, "Working in a Chinese sweatshop for HP, Microsoft, Dell and IBM." Gizmodo, Feburary 10, 2009, "Your Keyboards May Have Been Made In Appalling Conditions," by Jason Chen Times Herald Record, February 09, 2009, "IBM Notebook: Chinese factory like slavery, report says." by Christine Young http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=626 2009-03-06 00:00:00 article Update, March 14, 2009: Auditors speak with Nicotex workers Corporate auditors visited the Nicotex factory on Thursday and Friday, March 5 and 6, 2009. Workers described a tall woman auditor who interviewed them alone in an office at the Nicotex factory. Some workers, terrified—having been threatened by management with immediate firing if they spoke truthfully—told the auditor that everything was “Okay” at the plant. However, other workers did tell the truth, confirming the widespread maltreatment of workers at Nicotex, the forced overtime, that they had been cheated for years of the legal vacation times due them, and explaining the schemes management used to deny the workers and their children access to the Guatemalan Social Security Institute (IGSS) health care system, which is mandatory and for which the workers were paying. We hope that in weighing the evidence, the auditors were experienced enough to see through the climate of fear management has created in the factory and the impact this would have on many of the frightened workers. The NLC and CEADEL anxiously await their report. March 6, 2009 SUMMARY: Following the release of the NLC/CEADEL report on February 25, 2009 documenting the abusive sweatshop conditions at the Nicotex factory: Workers fired in retaliation for daring to speak truthfully about factory conditions, with more firings and blacklisting threatened; Nicotex management instructs workers to lie to corporate auditors (scheduled to visit the factory on March 5 or 6), denying that there are any violations; Along with the firings and threats there have been some positive improvements: Toilet paper has been placed in the bathroom; Mandatory overtime has been cut back to two hours a day; Workers were finally paid the second half of their Christmas bonus; Management says it will start respecting the workers’ legal right to paid vacation days; Supervisors are collecting the workers’ national ID cards so they can be inscribed in the Guatemalan Social Security Institute, as required by law. What must be done: Management must pay the fired workers their correct back wages, benefits and severance pay. All threats of future firings must immediately cease; Auditors from Briggs New York and Lane Bryant should meet in a safe location with the fired workers so they can learn the truth about the abusive factory conditions. The auditors should meet with the highly respected local Guatemalan human rights organization, CEADEL, and guarantee that going forward CEADEL will play a critical role in monitoring the Nicotex factory. ### Three North American corporate monitors, accompanied by South Koreans, did visit the Nicotex factory on Thursday, March 5 and spent the day speaking with management and inspecting the Briggs New York and Lane Bryant garments. DETAILS: The Nicotex factory in Guatemala sews women’s clothing for Briggs New York (Kellwood) and Lane Bryant (Charming Shoppes, Inc.) Following the release of the joint National Labor Committee and Center for Studies and Support for Local Development (CEADEL) report on February 25, 2009, which documented serious sweatshop abuses at the Nicotex plant, management lashed out at the workers, firing eight workers—claiming they were “traitors” for daring to speak the truth about factory conditions—and threatening further dismissals. One fired worker told us that management told her that Nicotex has “informed all the Korean companies in Guatemala about the traitors and has sent around their names and photographs by Internet asking the other Korean companies not to give them a job.” Management’s plan is to frighten workers, who are also being instructed to lie to corporate auditors and deny that there are any violations at the plant. Nine workers were fired at noon on Saturday, February 28: - Heriberta Santos Vasquez- Efraín Vásquez Nolasco- Jaime Alonzo Tezen Sitan- Alberto Jerónimo Cumum- Amado Juárez Pérez- Tomas Top Aguilar- Julio Sebatijay Álvarez- Joaquín Tuja Morales- Pilar Bautista In a brief note signed by the factory’s head of human resources, the workers were informed that they were being fired due to a “reduction of personnel due to lack of work.” The reality is quite different. Starting on February 26—a day after the report was released—small groups of two to six workers each were brought to management’s office by line supervisors. Over two dozen workers were summoned in this manner. Once in the office, they were threatened and accused of being “traitors” and “liars” who were out to damage the Nicotex factory. The Human Resources chief, Lucrecia Jongezoon, told the workers they could be fired without receiving a single cent of the back wages, benefits and severance due them. Management claimed that they knew who the “traitors” were as “on the internet there were pay stubs, pictures and IDs [identity cards] of the workers.” This was a lie meant to frighten the workers, as NLC and CEADEL made certain that in the report any copies of pay stubs and other documents could not be traced to any particular individual. The eight fired workers were paid a total of $6,699.41—or an average of $837.43 each, in back wages, benefits and severance payments. According to calculations by the Guatemalan Ministry of Labor, the fired workers were underpaid by nearly 30 percent of the total wages, benefits and severance legally due them. The workers should have been paid a total of $9,951.37—or an average of $1,243.92 each, meaning that the workers were cheated of $3,251.92 which is legally due them. Nicotex management must immediately pay these eight fired workers the full back wages, benefits and severance pay legally due them. The unjustly fired workers have made the hard decision not to demand reinstatement, knowing full well that if they were to return to the factory, they would be isolated and the target of constant harassment by management for having dared to speak the truth about factory conditions. On March 4, Nicotex owner Mr. Kim assembled the workers and instructed them to “carefully and thoroughly clean their work stations” before leaving the factory because there would be “an important visit from auditors tomorrow [Thursday, March 5] or Friday” and it was critical “to present a good image to the auditors.” Mr. Kim then went on to frighten the workers with threats of more firings if anyone dares to speak truthfully about factory conditions. “We have information,” Mr. Kim said, “of another six workers who are traitors to the company. We have their names, and we are going to fire them after the auditors complete their visit.” He went on to tell the workers “not to tell lies to the auditors” and to “deny what the Nicotex report says…because I’ve paid you the bonus.” A Carrot and Stick Approach: Mr. Kim was referring to the second part of the workers’ Christmas bonus ($91.50), which the factory finally paid—a month late—on February 27, 2009. On February 26, the day before, toilet paper was placed in the factory bathrooms. Since the report was issued, obligatory overtime has been cut back to two hours a day—until 5:40 p.m.—and no one is being required to stay working until 9:40 p.m. Management has announced that they will start paying for annual vacations, with the first group of workers beginning their vacations on March 2, 2009. Supervisors have started to collect photocopies of the workers’ National Identity Cards (cedulas) and management says it will now comply with the law and inscribe all its workers in the mandatory Guatemalan Institute for Social Security, which would finally guarantee the workers the health care and maternity leave they are already paying for. What Must Be Done: The eight fired workers must receive the full back wages, benefits and severance pay legally due them. All threats of additional punitive firings must immediately cease. The Nicotex factory must comply with Guatemalan labor law, particularly in guaranteeing that all overtime work is voluntary and paid correctly; paid vacations respected, and all workers inscribed in the Guatemalan Social Security Institute. The corporate auditors sent by Briggs New York and Lane Bryant should meet in a safe location with the fired workers so they can learn the truth about the abusive sweatshop conditions at the Nicotex plant. The auditors should also meet with representatives of the highly respected local Guatemalan human rights organization, the Center for Studies and Support for Local Development (CEADEL), and, going forward, should invite CEADEL to play a key role in monitoring the Nicotex factory. If these basic steps are implemented, the Nicotex factory will be on the road to ending sweatshop abuses and complying with Guatemalan labor law. http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=629 2009-03-06 00:00:00 article February 16, 2009 One anonymous worker from the Meitai factory reached out to us yesterday with the following message: I am a worker in CHINA,We are not human i want change my li,fe.we need right ,but how can? http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=615 2009-02-17 00:00:00 article Women in the U.S. are purchasing clothing sewn by women who are exploited in Guatemala. The Nicotex sweatshop produces clothing for Briggs New York and Lane Bryant. The U.S. Free Trade Agreement with Central America continues to fail,Undermined by corruption and a total lack of enforcement of labor laws. A Joint ReportByNational Labor Committee&Center for Studies and Support for Local Development (CEADEL) February 25, 2009 Update, March 14, 2009: Auditors speak with Nicotex workers EN ESPAÑOL This research and preparation of this report was a joint effort between the National Labor Committee and CEADEL, the Center for Studies and Support for Local Development based in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. CEADEL is dedicated to promoting human rights and especially the rights of women and children. In the last several years, the NLC and CEADEL have collaborated successfully on a number of cases that have contributed to progress toward the eradication of child labor in the agro-export industry and diminishing human and worker rights violations in the “maquila” garment export sector. Company responses Media Coverage: "Labor Rights Panel Cites Labor Abuses," Women's Wear Daily (Feb.26, 2009) "Behind the Seams" Ethical Style Blog (Feb. 26, 2009) http://www.nlcnet.org/article.php?id=614 2009-02-13 00:00:00 reports The Dehumanization of Young WorkersProducing Our Computer Keyboards February 2009 Print-ready PDF High Tech Misery reported in the Sunday Mirror (Feb. 22, 2009) High Tech Misery report in the media The Research The research for the Meitai factory report was carried out between June and September of 2008 and updated through mid-January 2009. During this period there were no significant changes in the factory. Our research was based on interviews carried out over months in safe locations along with photographs of primitive factory, dorm and cafeteria conditions which were smuggled out of the factory. Moreover, internal company documents were also smuggled out of the plant, detailing a long list of draconian disciplinary measures and fines which were used to control every movement and almost every second of the workers’ lives. Unlike toy, garment, furniture and auto parts plants, the Meitai factory in Dongguan City has not, to date, been hit hard by the worldwide recession and it continues to operate at near full capacity with few layoffs. Table of Contents 1) Introduction: The New Assembly Line2) Dongguan Meitai Plastics & Electronics Factory3) Brainwashing4) All Employees should regard the factory as home—but…5) Big Brother is Watching6) Export Subsidies in China HELPED Duty-free Entry to the U.S.7) Hours—Excessive forced overtime8) Lenovo and The Olympics9) Wages: Workers cheated of up to 19 percent10) Company Dorms…primitive conditions11) Illegally—Workers Not Inscribed in national Social Security Health Insurance12) Health & Safety violations Factory Documents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY High Tech Misery in China Meitai Plastics & ElectronicsDongguan City, GuangdongCHINA Two thousand workers, mostly young women, produce computer equipment including keyboards and printer cases for Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Lenovo, Microsoft and IBM. Management instructs the workers to “love the company like your home,” “continuously strive for perfection” and to spy on and “actively monitor each other.” Workers are prohibited from talking, listening to music, raising their heads, putting their hands in their pockets. Workers are fined for being one minute late, for not trimming their fingernails—which could impede the work, and for stepping on the grass. Workers are searched on the way in and out of the factory. Workers who hand out flyers or discuss factory conditions with outsiders are fired. The young workers sit on hard wooden stools twelve hours a day, seven days a week as 500 computer keyboards an hour move down the assembly line or one every 7.2 seconds. Workers are allowed just 1.1 seconds to snap each key into place, repeating the same operation 3,250 times an hour, 35,750 times a day, 250,250 times a week and over one million times a month. The workers are paid 1/50th of a cent for each operation. The assembly line never stops, and workers needing to use the bathroom must learn to hold it until there is a break. All overtime is mandatory, with 12-hour shifts seven days a week and an average of two days off a month. A worker daring to take a Sunday off—which is supposedly their weekly holiday—will be docked 2 ½ days’ wages. Including unpaid overtime, workers are at the factory up to 87 hours a week. On average, they are at the factory 81 hours a week, while toiling 74 hours, including 34 hours of overtime, which exceeds China’s legal limit by 318 percent! The workers are paid a base wage of 64 cents an hour, which does not even come close to meeting subsistence level needs. After deductions for primitive room and board, the workers’ take-home wage drops to just 41 cents an hour. A worker toiling 75 hours a week will earn a take-home wage of $57.19, or 76 cents an hour including overtime and bonuses. The workers are routinely cheated of 14 to 19 percent of the wages legally due them. Ten to twelve workers share each crowded dorm room, sleeping on narrow metal bunk beds that line the walls. They drape old sheets over their cubicle openings for privacy. In the winter, workers have to walk down several flights of stairs to fetch hot water in a small plastic bucket, which they carry back to their rooms to take a sponge bath. In the summer, dorm temperatures reach into the high 90s. Workers are locked in the factory compound four days a week and are prohibited from even taking a walk. To symbolize their “improving lives” the workers are served a special treat on Fridays—a small chicken leg and foot. For breakfast, they are given watery rice gruel. The workers say the food has a bad taste and is “hard to swallow.” Illegally, workers are not inscribed in the mandatory work injury and health insurance and Social Security maternity leave program. In the Molding department, due to the excessive heat, the workers suffer skin rashes on their faces and arms. One worker summed up the general feeling in the factory: “I feel like I am serving a prison sentence.” INTRODUCTION By Charles Kernaghan The New Assembly Line Making Computer Keyboards and other PeripheralsFor Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Lenovo, Microsoft and IBM --“I think it’s fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tools we’ve ever created. They’re tools of communication, they’re tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user. --“The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.” -Bill Gates --“We feel like we are serving prison sentences.” -Meitai factory worker making Microsoft keyboards The workers sit on wooden stools, without backrests, as 500 computer keyboards an hour move down the assembly line, twelve hours a day, seven days a week, with just two days off a month. Every 7.2 seconds a keyboard passes each worker, who has to snap six or seven keys into place—one key every 1.1 seconds. The assembly line never stops. The workplace is frantic, monotonous, numbing and relentless. Each worker inserts 3,250 keys an hour; 35,750 keys during the official 11-hour shift; 250,250 a week, performing over one million operations a month. Workers are paid 1/50th of a cent for each operation they complete. Of the 2,000 or so workers at the Meitai factory, the majority are young women, ranging in age from 18 to their mid-twenties. While working, the women cannot talk, listen to music, or even lift their heads to look around. Workers are ordered to “periodically trim their nails”—to facilitate work, or be fined. Workers needing to use bathroom must learn to hold it until there is a break. Security guards spy on the workers, who are prohibited from putting their hands in their pockets and are searched when they enter and leave the factory. The factory operates 24 hours a day on two 12-hour shifts, with the workers rotating between day and night shifts each month. The workers are at the factory for up to 87 hours a week, and all overtime is strictly mandatory. There are just two half-hour meal breaks per shift, but after racing to the cafeteria and cuing up to get food, the workers have only about 15 minutes to eat. The base wage is 64 cents an hour, which after deductions for primitive room and board drops down to a take-home wage of just 41 cents an hour. There is also mandatory unpaid overtime to clean the factory and dorm. At the end of a shift, workers must stand at attention as the foreman reviews the day’s work and what improvements must be made. The workers get up around 6:00 a.m. When they return to their dorm, sometime between 9:00 and 9:30 p.m.—they bathe using a small plastic bucket. Summer temperatures routinely reach into the high 90s. During the winter, workers have to walk down several flights of stairs to fetch hot water in their buckets. Ten to twelve workers share each over-crowded dorm room, sleeping on narrow metal bunk beds that line the walls. Workers drape old sheets over their cubicle openings for privacy. If a worker steps on the grass on the way to the dorm, she is fined. The workers are locked in the factory compound four days a week and are prohibited from even taking a walk. Management tries to brainwash the young workers, telling them they “…must love the company like their home...” and that “to serve society, each worker must be devoted to their duty…continuously striving for perfection…” and “developing good personal work habits.” These good workers also have to spy on each other for “…employees should actively monitor each other.” Communism in China has come a long way as the young workers at the Meitai factory are taught that, “economizing on capital…is the most basic requirement of factory enterprise.” Workers who hand out flyers or discuss factory conditions with outsiders will be fired. Many young workers have never heard the word union and have no idea what it is. All the workers know is that they all—“feel like we are serving prison sentences.” God help us if the labor-management relations being developed in China becomes the new low standard to be accepted by the rest of the world. The $200 personal computer and the $22.99 keyboard may be seen as a great bargain, but in the long run they come at a terrible cost. A good question is: Would you want your daughter to work in this factory? Corporations attempt to dumb down every job so they can slash wages and benefits. If workers oppose this and try to fight back, the work is outsourced. The result is a Race to the Bottom, where workers are pitted against one another to compete over who will accept the lowest wages, the least benefits and most miserable working and living conditions. There are no winners in this battle. “Goods produced under conditions which do not meet a rudimentary standard to decency should be regarded as contraband and not allowed to pollute the channels of international commerce.” -Franklin Delano Roosevelt The Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act (S.367), introduced by Senator Byron Dorgan in the last Congress, was co-sponsored by then-Senators Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and others, along with over 180 members of the House. The bill simply demands that corporations respect wage, hour and labor rights laws in the countries in which they produce and that they adhere to the International Labor Organization’s core worker rights standards, including freedom of association, the right to organize a union and bargain collectively. Under this bill, corporations that fail to meet these minimum labor rights standards will be prohibited from importing or selling their goods in the U.S. or exporting them. Passage of the Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act in the new Congress would be a groundbreaking step toward finally holding corporations legally accountable to respect fundamental worker and human rights standards and ending the Race to the Bottom in the global economy. Keyboard assembly line. Workers sit on hard wooden stools without backrests 12 hours a day racing to complete 500 keyboards an hour. Each worker will complete 35,750 operations a day. “I feel like I’m serving a prison sentence...” “The factory is forever pressing down on our heads and will not tolerate even the tiniest mistake. When working, we work continuously. When we eat, we have to eat with lightning speed. When I need to go to the bathroom, I have to try my hardest to control myself, to hold it in and not go. The security guards are like policemen watching over prisoners. We’re really livestock and shouldn’t be called workers. “Even when you get off your shift, there is no freedom. Even such simple pleasures as taking a walk or strolling down the street are closely managed by the factory.” --Meitai worker #1 “My hands are moving constantly….” “Every day I enter the factory and I assemble keyboards. My hands are moving constantly and I can’t stop for a second. Our fingers, hands and arms are swollen and sore. Every day I do this for 12 hours. What makes it even worse is the constant pressure and boring monotony of the work.” --Meitai worker #2 “We are not human…” “Working like this every day I don’t see how we are any different from machines. Management treats us so harshly; it is like we are not human. They don’t see us as people. They treat us like tools. The factory has to pay money to purchase the machines, but they don’t have to spend money on us.” -Meitai worker #3 “We have to beg the boss for mercy…” “The factory rules are really like a private law. We are forced to obey and endure management’s harsh treatment. Some young workers have boyfriends and girlfriends outside the factory and if they want to go on a date, we have to beg the boss for mercy to be able to leave the factory compound.” -Meitai worker #4 5500 computer keyboards will move down the assembly line each day. Dongguan Meitai Plastics & Electronics FactoryMulun North Ring Road Industrial AreaChangping Town, Dongguan CityGuangdong, China Taiwanese-owned Produces computer equipment and peripherals such as keyboards and printer cases for Lenovo, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Microsoft. Approximately 2,000 employees, an estimated 75 percent of whom are young women. In mid-2008, the Meitai factory was advertising for workers with a huge want ad posted outside the factory: Meitai Factory "Meitai Company seeks large numbers of female workers ages 18-35 for 1200-1500 RMB a month” Storage area inside the factory “Brainwashing” “All employees must…love the company like their home.”(Meitai factory’s “Factory Regulations and Discipline”) “All employees must establish a link between the factory’s prosperity and their personal honor and love the company like their home. They should work hard and continuously forge ahead and expand the factory’s work.” “To serve society, each employee must be devoted to their duty, work hard to improve and continuously collect practical experience.” Workers must be “continuously striving for perfection, developing good personal work habits.” “Our company’s principle of quality is to ‘increase skills, collect experience, strive for perfection and achieve stable development.” “…all employees must take part in activities to protect the environment.” “…idle chat…is forbidden while on a shift.” “Employees shall maintain the factory image… Employees shall dress in clean and appropriate clothes… not post flyers in the company, should not walk on green areas or plants…” “Economizing: This is the most basic requirement of factory enterprise, economizing on capital.” “All employees… should regard the factory as home” but… Work Discipline Meitai Factory Regulations and Discipline, Chapter IV “All employees in the factory should regard the factory as home, be friendly and help each other out. “All employees must voluntarily accept the arrangements made by a superior… and actively complete all demands and tasks assigned by the company. “If employees do not follow the company’s arrangements… the company has the right to re-assign such employees or demote them; to re-adjust the compensation accordingly; or even to dismiss such employees. “All employees shall strictly comply with production discipline… “Employees shall concentrate on work during work hours… “Employees must wear work uniforms and work shoes; employees must wear their factory ID cards… “All employees of the company shall obey the confidentiality rules and shall not disclose company secrets and technological materials. Without authorization of the company, employees shall not willfully photograph or videotape within the factory…The employee who violates thi