 International
Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation presents Choi Shin
case to OECD Korean National Contact Point
For immediate release: February 25, 2002
Global Union Declares War on Exploitation
The global union representing workers in the garment sector worldwide
hasdeclared war on exploitation, and in particular the injustice
practised by multinational investors producing for export in developing
countries.
The Brussels-based International Textile, Garment and Leather
Workers' Federation (ITGLWF) has lodged a complaint with the OECD,
accusing the Korean-owned Choi Shin plants in Guatemala of serious
breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
Says ITGLWF General Secretary Neil Kearney: "Ever since workers
organised to fight exploitative conditions last July, Choi Shin
has tried everything to destroy the union.
"Management offered bribes, threatened workers with blacklisting,
and hired gunmen to stalk workers in their neighbourhoods. When
activists refused to quit the union, the company whipped fellow
workers into a frenzy of mob violence through a well-orchestrated
fear campaign. Union supporters were lynched and beaten inside the
factory by their co-workers. The situation grew so serious last
July that union supporters feared their lives would be at risk if
they went to work.
"The Labour Ministry stepped in to help negotiate a settlement,
but the government then did nothing to ensure that agreement was
upheld, nor to punish those responsible for the violence.
"Now, eight months of impunity have emboldened the company
to renew its attacks against the union. In January, at a meeting
in the presence of labour officials, management demanded the names
of the union members, claiming the union no longer had the minimum
number of members required by law. More recently, the children of
one union member who has been fighting for reinstatement were terrified
when the personnel managers visited their mother at home and made
veiled threats about the youngsters' safety".
Kearney says this behaviour is a gross breach of the OECD Guidelines
for Multinational Enterprises. The Guidelines are a multilaterally-endorsed
framework of rules governing the activities of multinational enterprises.
First issued in 1976, they were revised in 2000 to bring them up
to date in the rapidly-changing global economy. The new Guidelines
cover all internationally-recognised core labour standards as well
as covering general policies for good corporate behaviour.
In particular, the Guidelines say companies must respect the right
of their workers to be represented by trade unions, and must not
threaten to transfer their operations out of the country concerned
in order to prevent workers from organising.
Says Kearney: "The Korean government has signed on to the
Guidelines. It must now take urgent steps to implement them".
When a company is believed to be in violation of the Guidelines,
a trade union can raise the case with the 'National Contact Point'
(NCP), in this case with the Vice-Minister of Commerce, Industry
and Energy of Korea, who must then try to resolve the issue.
The ITGLWF has asked the Korean NCP to convene a meeting between
the international union and the company President Mr. Sung Pyo Hong
in order to resolve the situation.
Concludes Kearney: "We are determined to drive exploitation
out of the industry, and all possible instruments will be used to
achieve that end. The OECD Guidelines are one such instrument".
The Choi Shin case has also been the subject of a recent complaint
to the Committee on Freedom of Association of the International
Labour Organisation in Geneva.
-end-
The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation
is Global Union Federation bringing together 225 affiliated organisations
in 110 countries with a combined membership of 10 million workers.
For more information, contact: Neil Kearney (General Secretary)
at
32/475932487 (mobile) or ITGLWF Secretariat at tel: 32/2/512.2606,
fax:
32/2/512.0904 or office@itglwf.org
ITGLWF
8 rue Joseph Stevens
1000 Brussels
Belgium
Tel: 32/2/512.2606
Fax: 32/2/511.0904
E-mail: office@itglwf.org
Internet: www.itglwf.org
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