Global Labor Orgs Demand Justice for Chong Won Factory Workers

From the Maquila Solidarity Network:

Six months after receiving reports from the Philippine Workers’ Assistance Center (WAC) of violent attacks by Export Processing Zone police on striking workers, as well the unjust firings of two union leaders and 117 strikers, Wal-Mart has still not taken sufficient action to rectify the situation. 

In addition to carrying out its own investigation, Wal-Mart has since received reports from two other investigations verifying that the workers’ rights have been violated. The first report, based on an independent investigation by the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), was submitted to Wal-Mart in December 2006. A second report, from the US monitoring organization Verité, was submitted to Wal-Mart in the beginning of March. 

While Wal-Mart is telling its supplier to immediately reinstate the 117 unjustly-fired union members, it is not demanding that the company negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the independent union. Management’s refusal to enter into negotiations with the union is the main reason behind the strike.

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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, March 29, 2007