Source
Automatically imported from: http://commons.somewhere.com:80/rre/1996/Life.in.the.Global.Toy.F.html
Content
This web service brought to you by Somewhere.Com, LLC.
Life in the Global Toy Fractory: 2/3
``` ---
This message was forwarded through the Red Rock Eater News Service (RRE). Send any replies to the original author, listed in the From: field below. You are welcome to send the message along to others but please do not use the "redirect" command. For information on RRE, including instructions for (un)subscribing, send an empty message to rre-help@weber.ucsd.edu
---
Date: Thu, 01 Feb 1996 00:17:20 -0500
From: Sam Lanfranco
This is the Second Message on Labor and Toy Production Posted here by Sam Lanfranco, LABOR-L ListManager
---
/* Written 6:07 PM Jan 23, 1996 by theorganizer in igc:labr.asia */ / ---------- "Hong Kong Workers Petition - Alert!" ---------- / Hong Kong Workers Petition January 23, 1996 International Liaison Committee P.O. Box 40458, San Francisco, CA 94140. Tel: (415) 641-4440. FAX: 641-8616.
Open Letter to Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten and Hong Kong Toys Council
Dear Sirs,
We, the undersigned trade unionists and political activists in the United States, strongly condemn the violence that was unleashed by the Royal Hong Kong Police on Jan. 10, 1996, against a peaceful protest of unionists and activists outside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, where a Hong Kong Toys Council World Toy Fair was taking place.
Three Hong Kong activists - Winnie Tam, Lo Fan (Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee/HKCTU), and Mok Myu Ying (KF Women Workers Association) - were brutally attacked by the police and required emergency medical care. An additional five activists were arrested by the police, though they were subsequently released after an emergency telegram campaign on their behalf. Those arrested were Wong Ying Yu (HKCTU), Leung King Chaen (HK/Asia Pacific Workers Solidarity Links), Mong Dat (HKCTU), Leung Kwok Hung (April 5th Movement), and Mr. Park (a worker from South Korea).
The demonstration was organized by the Hong Kong Coalition for the Charter on the Safe Production of Toys. The protesters were distributing literature from the campaign and peacefully protesting the Hong Kong Toys' Council refusal to adequately address the serious issues raised by the Coalition. Industrial accident victims, their support groups, and labor organizations from around the world had gathered in Hong Kong on Jan. 9-12 to attend the International Meeting for Toy Workers' Health and Safety.
We, the undersigned, wholeheartedly endorse the international campaign for a Charter on Safe Production of Toys, and we urge the Toy Council to immediately address the health and safety demands raised by the Hong Kong unionists. We have read countless reports in the press of the hundreds of workers' lives that have been lost in the toy factories of Thailand and the Special Economic Zones of China, to mention only a few countries, as a result of the lack of any health or safety provisions in the factories.
We are appalled by the fact that everywhere in the world, workers' health and safety is being sacrificed to corportate greed and profit, with untold consequences for millions of working people.
And we energetically protest the police brutality and arrests that are aimed at intimidating those who stand up to corporate greed.
Sincerely, (*) Walter Hamilton, Exec. Secretary, SEIU Local 620; Ed Rosario, Exec. Bd., GCIU Local 4 Press & Pre-Press Workers; Mya Shone, Calif. Healthcare For All Coal.; Mike Griffin, Exec. Bd., Decatur Trades and Labor Council; Sterne McMullen, Pres., OCAW 2-286 (Salt Lake); Millie Phillips, Vice Pres., S.F. CLUW; Ruth Harer, Retired, OPEIU #3; Tom Hurley, GCIU Local 4 Press & Pre-Press Workers; Eric Lerner, Pres., N.J. Local, NWU/UAW; Larry Duncan, Producer, Labor Beat (Chicago); Steve Zeltzer, Producer, Labor Video Project; Kasmir Zaratkiewicz, PAC Dir., SEIU 535; Ralph Schoenman, NWU 1981/UAW; Robert Irminger, Exec. Bd., IBU/ILWU; Alan Benjamin, Editor, The Organizer; Tom Lacey, Peace and Freedom Party; David Walters, Unit Vice Chair, SF unit, IBEW 1245; Catherine Powell, Green Party; Marc Rich, member, UTLA; Hayden Perry, Gray Panthers; Mark Demming, Oakland Education Association; Burt Vulliet, Retired, Ship Stewards and Clerks (Seattle); Wallace Stich (Santa Cruz); Tom Cantrell, Healthcare worker (SF); John Gulick, Santa Cruz Grad Stud. Assoc.; Manny and Meryl Sunshine, SF P&F; Joseph William Oliver (Pasadena, Calif.); Olga Anderson, Neighbor to Neighbor; Joyce Hasada, Kozmi Touri, Sydney Moy, and Ruth Schein (SF).
(*)titles and organizations for identification only End of text from cdp:labr.global **Thi s material came from PeaceNet, a non-profit progressive networking service. For more information, send a message to peacenet-info@igc.apc.org ** ```
This web service brought to you by Somewhere.Com, LLC.