Global Labor Orgs Demand Justice for Chong Won Factory Workers

UPDATE - JUNE 21, 2007: The Chong Won factory workers’ strike has suffered another assault. At 8:30 pm on June 10, armed thugs sent by the struck-against company Chong Won Fashion and paid two million to break the strike descended from a vehicle and began threatening the strikers at knifepoint and beating them. The full story, blogged by the Workers’ Assistance Committee, can be found here.

April 17, 2007: The Financial Times reports that Wal-Mart has entered negotiations with Chong Won factory managers, threatening to withdraw the company's large standing orders if working conditions change. Some workers have expressed concern that Wal-Mart will make these demands, but fail to ensure that they are implemented. Bob Jeffscott, of the Maquila Solidarity Network, said, ""We don't want [Wal-Mart] to leave this factory without trying to find a solution. There has been progress, but that progress will be lost if they don't take the next step." We will be sure to update this page with any further changes.

Protestors Abused at Chong Won
		Click here to view a slide show of worker abuse on the picket line at Chong Won.

March 28, 2007 It's been a little over a month since the Workers’ Rights Consortium released their assessment report of the Chong Won factory in the Philippines that manufactures clothes primarily for Wal-Mart. The WRC report detailed numerous abuses hurled upon Chong Won workers by management. The following are a fraction of the violations that were committed:

• A worker with severe asthma problems frequently requested not to work overtime but she was forced to work nonetheless. She died of cardio-pulmonary arrest in November 2005, one morning after working an overtime shift.
  
• When orders are high, workers work for 24 hour shifts for at least two weeks. Overtime is not mandatory but workers found it difficult to decline to work. There have been incidents where workers were suspended from working for two weeks as they declined overtime.
  
• Workers are paid sub-standard wages that are below the minimum wage in the Philippines.
  
• Workers striking for better working conditions and to get a union are also subjected to various intimidation tactics and anti-union violence.
  Since the release of the report, Wal-Mart has not done much to mediate the conflict or even ease tensions. The workers fear that Wal-Mart has become complacent as the most recent move it has made has been to engage an NGO to conduct another audit of Chong Won.

			Click here to read the Worker Rights Consortium's assessment of the Chong Won factory. >>

Meanwhile, as Wal-Mart has turned a blind eye to the plight of the striking Chong Won workers, civil society and labor organizations worldwide have taken up their cause and are actively promoting letter writing campaigns to Wal-Mart and Chong Won executives. Groups like Maquila Solidarity Network and LabourStart are encouraging citizens everywhere to denounce Wal-Mart’s inability to compel their suppliers to abide by ethical production standards, and take care of the workers who keep their clothing racks stocked with cheap clothes.

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.

To participate in the LabourStart campaign and declare your support for the workers, please visit their website here >>

Click here to visit the Maquila Solidarity Network's homepage.