Horrific Heinemann : Melbourne Indymedia

Hasn't Heinemann, the electrical switchboard manufacturer sunk to a new low? The South African-owned electrical company is in dispute with the Electrical Trades Union over a new enterprise agreement in which the union is seeking wage increases and most importantly, security of current employee entitlements. So what did the company do? It refused to pay workers for five days of work simply because those workers knocked back over-time. And despite Kevin Andrews saying otherwise in the media, over-time is not compulsory. More importantly, in what country can you go to work for a week and be told you are not going to get paid?
'Since the South African owner CBI (Circuit Breaker Industries) took control of the plant in recent years, the workplace has degenerated into one in which workers are subjected to workplace bullying in one of the worst management styles I have ever seen,' ETU Branch Secretary Dean Mighell told the media at a rally outside the plant on Thursday 7 September.
'Australian workplaces are degenerating into slave and master relationships which may well suit these South African owners but the ETU will not let Australian workers be treated this way,' he went on to tell workers. With the media swarming over the issue, Heinemann and their legal mates at Freehills have been exposed. If this doesn't put a nail in Howard's coffin what will? Going by the spirit of workers at the rally the tide is turning against Howard.

Woman migrant worker dies from overwork at Guangzhou factory

A female migrant worker from Chongqing died in a toy factory in Guangzhou after reportedly working non-stop for 21 hours.

More than forty fellow workers in the factory who also came from Chongqing staged a strike to protest against the factory's original refusal to pay any compensation to the victim's family. The factory management finally agreed to pay the victims' family 52,000 yuan in compensation.

The victim, Yang Xixiang, went out from her home village in Chongqing in 1992 to find work in the cities to support her husband's hepatitis B treatment. Wang Yan, who was Yang's co-worker at the factory in Zengzheng county in Guangzhou and shared the same dormitory room with her, recalled that before Yang was found unconscious in the dormitory at 7pm on 8 August, she had worked for 21 hours non-stop, except for meal time. Yang was declared dead after she was taken to the hospital. The cause of her death was found to be brain stem bleeding.

Wang said workers in the factory always had to work for more than 12 hours each day in the factory. "We start working at 8am and finish work at 2am or 3am on the next day. If we don't do overtime work, we'd be fined by the factory management," she continued.

When Yang's husband Jiang Chengming arrived at the factory, the factory manager denied Yang's death was related to overwork and said she suffered from other illnesses. But Jiang was certain that his wife died from overwork. On 17 August, Jiang together with his three young daughters kneeled in front of the factory gate demanding for an explanation and compensation from the factory.

After hearing the factory management's treatment of Yang's family, forty fellow workers who were also Chongqing natives, staged a strike to support the family's demand. Under tremendous pressure, the factory management eventually agreed to pay Jiang 52,000 yuan in compensation.

Source: Chongqing Morning Post (24 August 2006)

8 September 2006
China Labour Bulletin
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