Re: Urgent Appeal: Daewoo Maquiladora Workers

[sjwright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Steve Wright)]

>Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 22:13:45 +0000 (GMT)
>From: dckom@xxxxxxxxxx (dckom)
>Subject: Re: Urgent Appeal: Daewoo Maquiladora Workers
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> oneunion@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>
> Emergency Alert support for Daewoo Workers requested
>
>
>      The following emergency alert was issued by the Support
> Committee for Maquiladora Workers, Craftsman Hall, 3909 Centre
> St. #210, San Diego, CA 92103  Phone (619) 542-0826  Fax (619)
> 295-5879  The Support Committee for Maquilador Workers is
> affiliated with the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras.
>
>
>                       Emergency Alert
>
>      Workers Take Action Against Sexual and Physical Abuse
>                    in Daewoo Maquiladora
>
> Workers at the Hyo Seung maquiladoras in San Luis Rio Colorado,
> Mexico have filed actions with the Public Ministry and the Labor
> Board against sexual abuse, physical beating and multiple
> violations of labor law.  The plant, which opened just several
> months ago, employs 66 workers, and is located near the Mexican
> border with Yuma, Arizona about 120 miles east of Tijuana.
>
> Women workers, who form the majority of the workforce, report
> that they have each been subjected to sexual harassment by the
> Company President Kwang Beom Shin and Company Directors Mr. Oh
> and Mr. Lee, including touching them and offering them money for
> sex, with the threat that they will lose their jobs if they do
> not agree.  When the directors believe a worker has committed an
> error he or she is locked up in a "punishment room" where they
> are exposed to toxic solvents without ventilation.  The company
> president regularly enters the women's bathroom to demand the
> women hurry to return to work, grabbing them and pushing them.
> Both directors and the president of the company regularly insult
> the workers, calling them "dogs" and other slurs and stating that one
> Korean is worth 10 Mexicans.  Workers also report  that they are made
> to take Korean medicines of unknown contents by the directors.  No
> doctor or nurse is present when these "medicines" are distributed.
>
> The three Korean management personnel often are inebriated on the job,
> drinking in the plant and offering liquor to minors working in the
> plant.  On March 3, a 17 year old worker was beaten repeatedly in the
> stomach by Mr. Oh, who accused the youth of stealing his wallet.  The
> worker was then locked in the "punishment room" for one and a half
> hours and forced to sign a resignation from the company.  Mr. Oh later
> found the wallet he had misplaced and nothing was missing from it.
>
> Workers report they are paid the equivalent of $3.37 per day and
> work from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with only one 40 minute break.
> Many are forced to work overtime until 10:00 p.m. with only one
> additional 15 minute break and without being paid extra as
> required by law.  Workers are exposed to lead and solvents
> throughout the work day without proper protections such as safety
> glasses, masks and ventilation.
>
> Five Hyo Seung workers were unjustifiably fired in the two weeks
> prior to March 12 for speaking out against this abuse.  Hyo Seung
> workers have formed an organizing committee and are demanding all
> violations of labor rights be corrected and that the fired workers be
> reinstated.
>
> The Hyo Seung plant in one of seven Daewoo plants in San Luis
> which produces remote controls that sell under the brand names of
> Daewoo, General Electric, Hitachi, and Sony.  Other Daewoo plants in
> San Luis produce Daewoo televisions and VCRs.  Daewoo is a
> Korean-based conglomerate that hopes to commandeer 10% of the world's
> electronics market by the year 2000.  It has a history of worker abuse
> in many parts of the world.  In January of 1993, for example, the
> International Labor Organization upheld a Pakistani union's complaints
> that Daewoo cooperated with Pakistani government officials to  try to
> intimidate workers on a road- construction project from organizing a
> union.  Union members reported they were arrested and sent to an
> insane asylum where they were subjected to police torture, including
> electric shock, having chili powder forced into their mouths and being
> forced to sit naked on blocks of ice.
>
> Urgent Action Requested:
>
> Please send letters demanding the Hyo Seung maquiladora cease its
> sexual and physical abuse of workers, end all violations of workers'
> rights and reinstate the workers who were illegally fired.
>
> Fax to:  Soon-Hoon Bae, Chairman & CEO
>          Daewoo Electronics Corporation of America,
>          1055 West Victoria St.
>          Compton, CA 90220
>          USA
>          The fax number for Daewoo is (310) 763-0447.
>
> Fax a copy to:  Support Committee for Maquiladora Workers
>                 (619) 295-5879
>  *********************************************************
>
>
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Free thought, neccessarily involving freedom of
>speech and press, I may tersely define thus:no
>opinion a law-no opinion a crime.
>          Alexander Berkman
>

ATB,

Steve

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