The Factory Girl
From the damp, dirty hallway,
From the long lines of the cafeteria,
From the rumble of the machines and the unbearable factory noise,
The daylight drifts by, the starlight drifts by.
Forever crying on the production line,
The Factory girls endure exhaustion and hardship.
Every peaceful, lonely night,
The factory girl is bursting with long for her village
And she can hear the sweet call of the mountain goat.
She dreams about the soft, warm bend of her mother's arm,
And she can smell the sweetness of the old, secluded garden.
-Nanfei
Like a factory worker
I cut off my long hair
Short to the roots
Mali Zhe saw it
Patted me and said
Oh my, your head is truly ugly
Like that of a factory worker
I became quite sad
Not for my head
But for the factory workers
For the workers who were leaders in all
I was like a real worker
Glanced in the mirror
The reflection of myself in a desperate state
My hair short and messy
My forehead and face adopted a few new lines
The autumn wind encircles me again
Exposes my ever so trend-setting scalp
As it shivers in currents of cold
-Li Wei
31 May 2009
26 May 2009
Nike Workers in Vietnam Strike
Striking out
Nike workers ‘just doing it’ for themselves
In early April, 21,000 Vietnamese workers at the Ching Luh factory, which makes Nike sneakers, walked off the job, demanding a 20 per cent pay rise and better food in the company cafeteria. After several days of discussions, the ruling party-controlled trade union brokered a deal for 10 per cent and a promise of better food. This failed to impress angry workers, who blocked the factory gates amid minor scuffles, prompting the Taiwanese managers to keep the factory closed for another few days. Four workers who passed out leaflets urging colleagues to reject the deal were interrogated and detained by the authorities, and 20 leaders of the ‘rejection’ movement were forced to resign, according to the Committee to Protect Vietnamese Workers (CPVW), a group with offices in Poland and Australia.
Nike is the largest indirect employer of Vietnamese workers. Last December, the company said that there had been 10 strikes in its 35 supplier factories; since that time, 31,000 more have gone on strike in two other factories. Indeed, fully 85 per cent of strikes in Vietnam have taken place in factories supplying foreign corporations, according to Government figures. Yet these are supposed to be the ‘best’ workplaces; certified, inspected, monitored and otherwise ‘socially responsible’.
There are no independent labour rights organizations in Vietnam, but despite the possible repercussions, strikes and resistance have become increasingly common. In December, four leaders of the banned United Workers & Farmers’ Organization (UFWO) were convicted for posting to a ‘reactionary’ website, ‘abusing democracy’ and ‘spreading distorted information to undermine the state’. In the export processing zones around Ho Chi Minh City, strikes have gone up by over 400 per cent in the past three years, due mainly to inflationary price rises.
(Read Full Article)
Nike workers ‘just doing it’ for themselves
In early April, 21,000 Vietnamese workers at the Ching Luh factory, which makes Nike sneakers, walked off the job, demanding a 20 per cent pay rise and better food in the company cafeteria. After several days of discussions, the ruling party-controlled trade union brokered a deal for 10 per cent and a promise of better food. This failed to impress angry workers, who blocked the factory gates amid minor scuffles, prompting the Taiwanese managers to keep the factory closed for another few days. Four workers who passed out leaflets urging colleagues to reject the deal were interrogated and detained by the authorities, and 20 leaders of the ‘rejection’ movement were forced to resign, according to the Committee to Protect Vietnamese Workers (CPVW), a group with offices in Poland and Australia.
Nike is the largest indirect employer of Vietnamese workers. Last December, the company said that there had been 10 strikes in its 35 supplier factories; since that time, 31,000 more have gone on strike in two other factories. Indeed, fully 85 per cent of strikes in Vietnam have taken place in factories supplying foreign corporations, according to Government figures. Yet these are supposed to be the ‘best’ workplaces; certified, inspected, monitored and otherwise ‘socially responsible’.
There are no independent labour rights organizations in Vietnam, but despite the possible repercussions, strikes and resistance have become increasingly common. In December, four leaders of the banned United Workers & Farmers’ Organization (UFWO) were convicted for posting to a ‘reactionary’ website, ‘abusing democracy’ and ‘spreading distorted information to undermine the state’. In the export processing zones around Ho Chi Minh City, strikes have gone up by over 400 per cent in the past three years, due mainly to inflationary price rises.
(Read Full Article)
20 May 2009
Nike Job Cuts
Nike will cut 1,750 jobs, including 500 at Oregon headquarters
by Mike Rogoway, The Oregonian
Thursday May 14, 2009, 8:44 PM
Nike delivered Oregon's latest economic nastygram Thursday, announcing plans to lay off 1,750 employees worldwide, including 500 at its headquarters near Beaverton.
The shoe and apparel company has been planning a massive restructuring since February, but today's cutbacks -- 5 percent of the company's global work force -- are even larger than Nike had forecast last winter. Oregon will be especially hard hit, with more than 7 percent of the 6,800 workers at Nike headquarters losing their jobs.
(Read Full Article on OregonLive.com)
18 May 2009
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