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Pittsburgh, PA and New York, NY– The United Steelworkers (USW) has sent letters to select members of the American Chamber of Commerce in China urging them to distance themselves from the Chamber’s attempt to undermine a proposed law that would bolster some fundamental rights of Chinese workers.
The letters note that while the Chinese Draft Labor Contract Law does not go far enough in protecting the rights of Chinese workers, it would be a significant improvement over current Chinese labor law.
“It is therefore a great tragedy that segments of the business community have attempted to seriously undermine the draft law. The American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China) has stridently opposed China’s Draft Labor Contract Law since it was released in April 2006,” the letter reads.
Alcoa responded to the USW’s letter by distancing itself from this effort by AmCham China. The company committed to express its concerns to the Chamber and seek out like-minded companies to work with jointly on this issue.
“We are attempting to peel away as much support as possible for AmCham’s immoral campaign to undermine Chinese workers’ rights, and Alcoa’s response to our letter was a step in the right direction,” said USW President Leo Gerard. “Now it’s up to Alcoa to follow through on its commitments.”
According to GLS co-director Brendan Smith, “The opposition to these modest reforms reveals the hypocrisy of US based multi-national corporations. They claim to be bringing improved labor rights and standards to China when in reality they are lobbying to preserve the status quo of low wages and poor working conditions for Chinese workers.”
Besides Alcoa, USW sent letters to the following members of AmCham China that employ USW members: British Petroleum, Corning, Dow Chemical, Dupont, Exxon Mobil, Goodyear Tire & Rubber, Libbey, MeadWestvaco, Philips, PPG Industries and Rio Tinto.
The letters were signed by Leo Gerard and other USW officials. One letter was co-signed by Paul Howes, a Vice President of the Australian Workers’ Union.
The USW is the largest industrial union in North America, representing more than 850,000 workers in the United States and Canada. It recently announced the inception of a formal process to prepare the ground for the creation of the first Trans-Atlantic trade union.
Global Labor Strategies is a resource center providing research and analysis on globalization, trade and labor issues to assist unions and their allies to function effectively in the global economy. For more on GLS visit: http://laborstrategies.blogs.com
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