The Mis-Adventures of AmCham in Vietnam : Melbourne Indymedia

Americans Abroad: The Mis-Adventures of AmCham in Vietnam

With President Bush in Hanoi attending the ASEAN annual conference, we decided to do a little digging to see what the American Chamber of Commerce has been up to in Vietnam. Surely AmCham and the corporations they represent—including NIKE, Coca-Cola, Fed-Ex, Pfizer, and Exxon—have been living up their promises to the US Congress and the American people to raise labor standards and wages in Vietnam.

Well, not quite…

In September 2005 the Vietnamese government called on foreign companies to increase workers’ minimum wages, with the largest increases targeted towards the poorest workers in the semi-rural areas and small cities.

According to Michael Karadjis writing for the ASEAN Focus Group based at the Australian National University,

“This government decision had come about due to a demand for a minimum 40 per cent increase by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL), the country's peak trade union body. [In response], many foreign investors asked the government to defer the wage rise until after the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, which began on 28 January 2006, because they 'couldn't afford' to pay the wage rise and also pay the Tet bonus. The Tet bonus is the equivalent of a thirteenth month salary that Vietnamese workers are legally entitled to. The government, thus, left it up to the bosses and workers to bargain over when it would be implemented before Tet...

Feeling they had waited long enough, workers downed tools with the full knowledge that they had the law, the open sympathy of most Vietnamese, the discreet sympathy of the government and the active support of the official trade union leadership on their side.”

As a result, from late 2005 through early January 2006, foreign enterprises located in the southern industrial zones around Ho Chi Minh City were crippled by the largest wave of strikes in Vietnam’s recent history (there have been some 900 reported since 1995.)

During this same period, AmCham sent a letter to the Chairman of the People’s Committee in Hanoi entitled “re: minimum wage, and illegal strikes involving violence, 11 Jan 2006.” The letter opens:

“We are writing to seek your urgent attention to help resolve a critical issue, one that we believe is vital to Vietnam’s continued economic and social development. As you know, one of the major attractions for manufacturing industry to come to Vietnam is the labor force. This is both the quality of the labor force, which is well educated and hard working; and importantly, in the past, the discipline of the labor force, which rarely had taken any illegal industrial actions. However, recent mob actions in the core of the Southern Focal Economic Zone have quickly shattered this perspective. We would like to seek your immediate assistance to restore quickly the law-abiding quality of Vietnam labor force, so we can continue to cooperate with you in attracting more manufacturing foreign direct investors to Vietnam.”

AmCham goes on to describe a “number of illegal strikes involving violence, destruction of property, and bodily harm in dozens of large foreign-invested factories in the Southern Focal Economic Zone”, claiming to have “no idea” why their specific factories were targeted. Quickly shifting the blame to the Vietnamese government, AmCham insists:

“We believe that one cause of these disturbances is the sudden and confusing manner in which the authorities have introduced proposed changes to the minimum wage rules. None of our member companies were consulted before announcements started appearing in the press that workers were entitled to a 40 percent increase in the minimum wage.”

According to Karadjis, the European Chamber of Commerce also wrote to the Prime Minister, Phan Van Khai, to warn him that investors initially chose to move to Vietnam because, they imagined, “the workforce is not prone to industrial action.”

Now AmCham is using President Bush’s visit to Hanoi as an opportunity to continue their lobby campaign. Timed to be released as Bush meets with Vietnamese leaders, the US Chamber of Commerce and American Chamber of Commerce issued a 26-page report entitled “Southeast Asia: Dynamic Opportunities for U.S. Competitiveness”. The report is stocked with recommendations for how Vietnam and their neighbors can remain in the good graces of US corporations. One of their suggestions is for the Vietnamese government to “Ensure appropriate public discussion of draft commercial legislation before passing laws to create a transparent and stable investment climate.” On heels of the January 2006 strike wave, this might be code for: “Don’t raise the minimum wage again without our prior approval and maintain “stability” in the export processing zones by aggressively stamping out strikes”?

AmCham Vietnam is composed of some of the most profitable and well-respected corporations in the world, including NIKE, Fed-Ex, Coca-Cola, and Time-Warner. (A complete list of AmCham Vietnam corporations click on the following link: http://www.amchamvietnam.com/company). These are the very companies that have promised to raise working conditions for desperate workers around the world. They’ve once again been caught saying one thing to the American people while actively doing the opposite overseas.

A letter recently sent to President Bush, signed by 27 members of Congress, concerning AmCham’s opposition to the China’s new draft labor law, is apropos to AmCham’s efforts in Vietnam:

“This shameful American corporate lobbying campaign is inconsistent with our country’s commitment to promote respect for fundamental worker rights everywhere…It also discredits the long-professed claims of many U.S. corporate that U.S. companies and investors in China de facto are leading by example, to respect the basic human rights of all Chinese workers and improve their working conditions and living standards.”

US and European corporations are constantly bullying countries like Vietnam with the threat of moving to China unless they clamp down on the labor force. But these very same corporations are using identical scare tactics in China by threatening to move to countries like Vietnam if the government raises wages or improves working conditions. Earlier this year, when China released the draft of their new labor law extending modest new rights to Chinese workers, Dr. Keyong Wu, an expert for the British Chambers of Commerce, told the China Morning Post, “Business is attracted to China not only because of its labour costs but also because of its efficiency. If regulation starts to affect that and flexibility, then companies could turn to India, Pakistan and South-East Asia.” In short, the strategy of the global employers is to drive down labor costs in each country and then tell other countries they must drive down their labor costs even further or their jobs will leave.

AmCham’s opposition to raising wages in Vietnam and the fundamental right of workers to strike to improve their working conditions is of concern to workers in America and throughout the world. Indeed, as US wages stagnate, Americans increasingly worry that low wages and labor standards in Asia are driving down those in America. According to Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey, “It is challenging enough for hard-working Americans to compete in the new global economy without having U.S. corporate leaders seeking to play them off against the least-protected and lowest-wage workers in the world.”

Posted on November 17, 2006 in AmCham, China, Corporate Campaigns, Southeast Asia COMENTS

Well, that's two AmCham's that have been exposed for not wanting to follow the law.

I would suggest the AmCham in Tokyo as well ought to be exposed. Thousands of migrant workers work for American businesses there without National Health Insurance AND they are Westerners! English teachers.

The Social Insurance Agency of Japan, upon the urging of the General Union of Osaka, launched a industry-wide probe against private language English schools in Japan for failing to enroll employees (overseas English teachers) into Japan's social insurance programs (shakai hoken).

The largest single employer of migrant workers in Japan is actually a language school named Nova. They employ around 5000 foreigners, nearly all of whom are not enrolled into mandatory social insurance plans such as National Health Insurance.

Interac, part of an American corporation, also fails to enroll employees into social insurance as well, they use fake outsourcing contracts (gyomu itaku) with over 1000 overseas English teachers.

I know working in China as a factory worker is a lot worse since I read the reports every day, but the same management tricks are used in Japan as in China when it comes to powerless workers. However, some factories actually do automatically enroll their employees into social insurance programs; whereas in Japan, in the private language school industry there were none that did so, affecting 20,000+ workers.

Dumb All Over
Frank Zappa

Motel room mo-mo-mo-mom mo-mo-mom
Motel room mo-mo-mo-mom mo-mo-mom
Motel room mo-mo-mo-mom mo-mo-mom
Motel room mo-mo-mo-mom mo-mo-mom

Whoever we are
Wherever we're from
We shoulda noticed by now
Our behavior is dumb
And if our chances
Expect to improve
It's gonna take a lot more
Than tryin' to remove
The other race
Or the other whatever
>From the face
Of the planet altogether

They call it THE EARTH
Which is a dumb kinda name
But they named it right
'Cause we behave the same...
We are dumb all over
Dumb all over,
Yes we are
Dumb all over,
Near 'n far
Dumb all over,
Black 'n white
People, we is not wrapped tight

Nurds on the left
Nurds on the right
Religious fanatics
On the air every night
Sayin' the Bible
Tells the story
'N makes the details
Sound real gory
'Bout what to do
If the geeks over there
Don't believe in the book
We got over here

You can't run a race
Without no feet
'N pretty soon
There won't be no street
For dummies to jog on
Or doggies to dog on
Religious fanatics
Can make it be all gone
(It won't blow up
'N disappear
It'll just look ugly
For a thousand years...)

You can't run a country
By a book of religion
Not by a heap
Or a lump or a smidgeon
Of foolish rules
Of ancient date
Designed to make
You all feel great
While you fold, spindle
And mutilate
Those unbelievers
>From a neighboring state

TO ARMS! TO ARMS!
Hooray! That's great
Two legs ain't bad
Unless there's a crate
They ship the parts
To mama in
For souvenirs: two ears (Get Down!)
Not his, not hers (but what the hey?)
The Good Book says:
"It gotta be that way!"
But their book says:
"REVENGE THE CRUSADES...
With whips 'n chains
'N hand grenades..."
TWO ARMS? TWO ARMS?
Have another and another
Our God says:
"There ain't no other!"
Our God says
"It's all okay!"
Our God says
"This is the way!"

It says in the book:
"Burn 'n destroy...
Repent, 'n redeem
'N revenge, 'n deploy
'N rumble thee forth
To the land of the unbelieving scum on the other side
'Cause they don't go for what's in the book
'N that makes 'em BAD
So verily we must choppeth them up
Or stompeth them down
Or rent a nice French bomb
To poof them out of existance
While leaving their real estate
Just where we need it
To use again
For temples in which to praise
OUR GOD
("Cause he can really take care of business!")

And when his humble TV servant
With white hair
And a brown suit
And maybe a blond wife who takes phone calls
Tells us it's okay to do this stuff
Then we're supposed to do it,
'Cause if we don't do it,
We ain't gwine up to hebbin!
(Depending on which book you're using at the time...
Can't use theirs... it's all lies...
Gotta use mine...)
Ain't that right?
That's what they say
Every night...
Every day...
Listen, we can't really be dumb
If we're just following God's Orders
After all he wrote this book here
An' in the book it says:
"He made us all to be just like Him," so...
If we're dumb...
Then God is dumb...
(An' maybe even a little bit ugly on the side)

DUMB ALL OVER
A LITTLE UGLY ON THE SIDE
DUMB ALL OVER
A LITTLE UGLY ON THE SIDE
DUMB ALL OVER
A LITTLE UGLY ON THE SIDE
DUMB ALL OVER
A LITTLE UGLY ON THE SIDE

Wargasm
L7

Wargasm, wargasm, one two three
Tie a yellow ribbon 'round the amputee
Masturbate, watch it on TV
Crocodile tears for the refugees

Wargasm, wargasm, one two three
Smutty bloody pictures, ecstasy
Blue balls waiting impatiently
>From Alcatraz to Lady Liberty

Body bags and dropping bombs
The Pentagon knows how to turn us on

Wargasm, wargasm, one two three
Pig Bowl Pig Bowl ecstasy
Wave those flags high in the air
As long as it takes place over there

Body bags and dropping bombs
The Pentagon knows how to turn us on
Wargasm
Turn us on
Wargasm...

Comments:

>From "Bricks Are Heavy" 1992

Wasteland of the Free
Iris Dement

We got preachers dealin' in politics and diamond mines
And their speech is growing increasingly unkind
They say they are Christ's disciples --
They don't look like Jesus to me
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got politicians runnin' races on corporate cash
Now don't tell me they don't turn around and kiss them peoples' ass
You may call me old fashioned --
That don't fit my picture of a true democracy
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got CEOs makin' 200 times the worker's pay
And they fight like hell against raisin' the minimum wage
If you don't like it, mister,
They'll ship your job to some Third World country 'cross the sea
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

Living in the wasteland of the free
Where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our problems on the weak ones --
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got kids fighting inner-city wars
And what do we do, we put these little kids behind prison doors
And they say we're the advanced civilization --
That sounds like crap to me
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We got high-school kids wearin' Calvin Klein and Guess
Who cannot pass a fifth grade written test
But if you ask them, they can tell you
The name of every crotch on MTV
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

We kill for oil, then throw a party when we win
Some guy refuses to fight and we call that the sin
He's standing up for what he believes in --
That sounds pretty damned American to me
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free

While we stand gloating in our greatness
Justice is sinking towards the bottom of the sea
And it feels like I am living in the wasteland of the free
Living in the wasteland of the free

Tis of Thee
Ani DiFranco
UserEMail: raincrooner@hotmail.com

they caught the last poor man on a poor man's vacation
they cuffed him and they confiscated his stuff
and they dragged his black ass down to the station
and said "ok the streets are safe now.
all your pretty white children can come out to see spot run
and they came out of their houses and they looked around
but they didn't see no one.
and my country tis of thee

to take swings at each other on talk show TV
why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun
'cause we'll never live long enough to
undo everything they've done to you
undo everything they've done to you

and above 96th street,
they're handing out smallpox blankets
so people don't freeze
the old dogs they got a new trick
it's called criminalize the symptoms
while you spread the disease
i hold on hard to something
between my teeth when i'm sleeping
and i wake up and my jaw aches
and the earth is full of earthquakes
and my country tis of thee

to take shots at each other on prime time TV
why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun
'cause we'll never live long enough to
undo everything they've done to you
undo everything they've done to you
they caught the last poor man
flying away in a shiny red cape
and they brought him down to the station
and they said "boy you should know better
than to try and escape"

and i ran away with the circus
'cause there's still some honest work left for bearded ladies
but it's not the same goin' town to town
since they put everyone in jail 'cept
the cleavers and the bradys
and my country tis of thee

to take swings at each other on talk show TV
why don't you just go ahead and turn off the sun
'cause we'll never live long enough to
undo everything they've done to you
undo everything they've done to you

Trickle Down
Ani DiFranco

you cease to smell the steel plant
after you've lived there for a while
smoke is snow is ash are leaves that blow
through the air aloft
all our houses dim their siding
to the same soot gray style
and we hang our laundry out on sundays
when they turn the furnaces off

everybody's daddy works up on the line
the stienbrenners and the wilczewskis
have been there the longest time
everybody's mommy squints into the sun
sunday afternoon after all the laundry's done

sometimes a distant siren
can set a dog to barking late at night
then it dominos on down
til every dog is joining in
the first rumours of the layoffs
sang like a distant siren might
and we all perked up our ears
and paced the fence
of the ensuing din

every night, we were glued to the tv news
at six o'clock
cuz it was hard to tell what was real
and what was talk
they explained about the cutbacks
all with earnest frowns
but what they didn't say was that the plant
was slowly shutting down

this town is not the kind of place
that money people go
they make their jokes up on the tv
about all the snow
and they're building condos downriver
from where the plant had been
but nobody really lives here
now that the air is clean

the president assured us
it was all gonna trickle down
like it'd be raining so much money
that we'd be sad to see the sun
mr. wilczewski's brother had some business
out in denver
so they left town
and everybody knows they were the lucky ones

you cease to smell the steel plant
after you've been here for a while