Campaigns

Gold Peak Cadmium poisoning case

On 7 September a small protest was held outside the Gold peak Annual General Meeting at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Hong Kong. The following letter was given to participants.

(Background details)

  致金山工業集團主席羅仲榮

Letter to Gold Peak Industries Chairman Mr. Victor Lo   
September 7, 2007

今天是貴集團(GP)舉行週年股東大會的日子，超霸電池鎘害事件關注組再向貴集團進行抗議，要求貴集團立即接受工人提出的主要要求。

Dear Mr. Lo

Today is GP’s annual shareholder meeting. Once again the GP Cadmium Poisoning Coalition stages a protest against your company, which continues to poison many workers with cadmium in your plants in mainland China. The Coalition urges GP to accept the workers’ major demands.

貴集團轄下的超霸電池，由於長期忽略生產安全，導致大陸和香港的廠房到今天分別有21名和3名工人中毒，幾百名和21名工人鎘超標。但從國內中毒工人的人數由2004年的2人増加到今天的21人便可知道鎘害事件正在擴大及深化而非縮小或完結。儘管貴集團說會對受害工人負責到底，但從不少跡象顯示，貴集團並沒有真正負責到底；例如有離職中毒工人幾經艱辛爭取了超過一年才獲得與其他在職中毒工人差不多的待遇。離職的超標工人也受到廠方的歧視，例如有參與去年148體檢官司案件的工人和沒有打官司的超標工人的待遇就有區別--體檢表分成兩種，報銷和吃飯都比148案件的差。種種跡象表明,本來是工人應有的權益都要逼工人走訴訟道路，目的是要耗盡他們的時間和金錢。這是負責到底的做法嗎？

Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Hong Kong owns GP batteries in China and as such has direct responsibility. As a result of GPs long-term negligence in production safety, many workers were found to have been poisoned through their work at GP:

---21 workers from three mainland GP plants and three workers from GP plants in Hong Kong are affected by cadmium poisoning.

--- Several hundred workers from the mainland and 21 workers from Hong Kong are still found to have excessive cadmium levels and have been placed under observation.

The increasing number of workers, from two to 21, being poisoned by cadmium shows that the incident is expanding and deepening, instead of diminishing and being resolved. Although your company has said you will always take care of the workers, evidence shows that your company is not responsible enough. For example, Xiang Zhiqing, an ex-GP worker being diagnosed as cadmium poisoning in early 2006 had to fight for more than one year before being accepted as a victim of cadmium poisoning.  Ex-GP workers with excessive cadmium levels have been highly discriminated against by the GP management. For example, the treatment between those who joined the collective (148 workers) court case demanding legal and qualified body check ups and those who did not joined is different—the check up forms were different, reimbursements and meals were not as good as those involved in the court case. Evidence shows that even for a small legitimate right, GP wants the workers to file a court case to fight for it. This leads to the exhaustion of workers’ time, money and energy. Is this a responsible way of solving the problem?    

超霸電池國內員工自2004年開始向貴集團要求合理賠償，一直受到你們的拒絕。貴集團堅持已經給予離職工人比法例規定的更多補償，那就是一筆三千至八千元的法律以外的額外「補助」，至今貴集團再沒有對工人作出賠償。當年許多鎘超標的工人被廠方誤導而離職(按照法律精神，職業病工人或疑似職業病工人應當盡可能保留勞動關係，同時廠方也無權解僱他們)，而他們離職以後都找不到工作，生活困難，因此一直要求與貴集團恢復勞動關係。今年5月底政府同意把達到中毒的工人先恢復勞動關係，但這個諾言到今天還沒有得到貴廠的落實，而超標的離職工人更一個也未被接納。其實恢復中毒工人的勞動關係對於貴集團來說不會增加額外的負擔，因為達到中毒程度的工人，貴廠一定要負擔他們的醫療費，誤工費和營養費等等；所以對中毒工友來說，是否恢復勞動關係並非最重要。反倒是對超標的離職工人更重要因為他們受歧視找不到工作，沒有收入，生活最艱難。對於這一批工人，到今天為止貴廠仍拒絕讓他們復工。

Since 2004, workers at GP batteries in China have been demanding fair compensation from your company but you have always rejected their just demands. Your company insists that extra compensation outside the law has been given to workers, i.e. the small sum of ‘subsidy’ ranging from 3,000 - 8,000 Yuan. You have never made any other compensation to the affected workers. In 2004, many workers with excessive cadmium levels were misled by the GP management and left the company. According to law, the company should keep an employment relationship with workers with occupational diseases or those suspected of having a disease and should not dismiss the affected workers. Many workers later found that they were discriminated by other employers and could not find a new job because they had worked for GP before. These workers have been facing a difficult economic situation and have always been demanding reinstatement.

In May 2007, through the Huizhou local authorities, your company agreed to reinstate those newly found with cadmium poisoning. However, this promise has not yet been realized even today.- let alone help offered to those with excessive cadmium levels. We understand that reinstatement of those newly found workers with cadmium poisoning is not as urgent as those with excessive cadmium levels because once a worker is diagnosed as cadmium poisoning with a medical certificate; your company, by law, has to pay for her medical treatment, wages, and nutrition fee, etc. despite the fact that she/he is no longer a GP worker. Reinstatement of those with excessive cadmium levels is more urgent and helpful because this group of workers is in dire economic situation—no work and no income. However, your company has rejected their demand. 

工人還有另一個擔憂: 大陸的鎘超標工人經過今年的體檢後，有關方面算出的超標人數已從原來的400人變成200人左右，一年之間減少一半。按這個速度計算，原來鎘超標的工人很快便不再超標，這樣工人就再沒有權利向貴廠提出任何要求了。很多工人都很懷疑體檢的結果是否真實反映他們體內的鎘水平，因為有些工人事後自費到省職防院檢查尿鎘仍是超標的，但他們卻不再被算進觀察對象之列，也失去體檢的機會了。鑒于過去曾經有過嚴重的隱瞞真相的企圖，這次超標人數大量減少使人懷疑是否有人透過造假來盡快了結此事。

Workers have another worry: according to the results of the 2007 annual body check ups kept by the officials, the number of workers with excessive cadmium levels has fallen from 400 to around 200, which is 50% less within a year. According to this “official” speed, workers with excessive cadmium levels worry that they will soon be informed that they no longer have excessive cadmium levels in their body. That means they no longer have the rights to demand GP be responsible for them.

Many workers suspect the urine test result does not reflect the real cadmium levels in their body because some workers who are told they have “normal’ cadmium levels paid – out of their own expenses - to have a double check up at the same Hospital for the Treatment and Prevention of Occupational Diseases and they found themselves being tested as positive for still having excessive cadmium levels in their body. Despite this test, according to the official records kept by GP, they are no longer in the list of workers placed under observation and thus have lost the right to come back for a body check next year. Due to serious attempts to cover-up the truth in the past, the examinations conducted by the same hospital but with completely different diagnosis means that the workers suspect that the real truth is being covered-up in order to close the case as soon as possible.

因此，我們藉著貴集團(GP)舉行週年股東大會之際，再次提醒貴集團立即接受工人的主要要求:

1. 為工人及其子女提供全面的身體檢查及負擔全部的醫療費用；
2. 按工人要求的條件恢復勞動關係；
3. 立即對不願意恢復勞動關係的工人作出合理而全面的賠償。

Today we demand your company accept the workers’ major demands immediately:

1. Provide full medical examinations and treatment to all the affected workers and their children;
2. Reinstatement of all the workers who have signed up to be reinstated;.
3. Full compensation for those who do not want to be reinstated.

If the above demands are not fulfilled, please pay full compensation now!

超霸電池鎘害事件關注組 / GP Cadmium Poisoning Coalition

Background information: Gold Peak [Hong Kong] & cadmium campaign background:

8 [1] PDF Copy of the 18 April, 2007 release about the trade union cadmium campaign:
[http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpQ_9i.EN.pdf].
8  [2] PDF Copy of the 1st Wednesday 21 March, 2007 release about the trade union cadmium campaign:
[http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpQ_9h.EN.pdf].
8  [3] Copy of a 28 April ‘company’ profile of Gold Peak Industries:
[http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpQ_9d.EN.pdf]
8  [4] Globalisation Monitor (GM): [http://www.globalmon.org.hk/en/index.html],
PO box 72797, Kowloon Central Post Office, Hong Kong, Tel (852) 6448 3943.
8  [5] GM’ “Report on the Gold Peak Cadmium Poisoning Case”, March 2007:
[http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpQ_9f.EN.pdF].
8  [6] SOMO – The Netherlands: Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations:
[http://www.vbdo.nl/index.php] or contact Francis Weyzig [f.weyzig@somo.nl].
8  [7] SOMO’s Gold Peak corporate structure: [http:/www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpQ_9e.EN.pdf].
8  [8] SOMO’s background of GP’s functioning and operations in China and its related activities
in Hong Kong, Taiwan, The Netherlands and other countries:
[http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/ohsewpQ_9g.EN.pd].
8  [9] Some corporate buyers of GP batteries: Canon, Casia, Fuji, JVC, Kodak, Konica Minolta, Nikon,
Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Ricoh, Sony and Toshiba [http://www.microbattery.com/tech-gp-digicam.htm].

Other Sources of Information about the Gold Peak case:

8  [10] IHLO Hong Kong Office and campaign Page:
http://www.ihlo.org/C/GP%20Workers/GPWorkers_index.html
8  [11] International Metalworkers Federations:
http://www.imfmetal.org/main/china/index.cfm?n=544&l=2&c=14248
8  [12] International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine & General Workers Unions
http://www.icem.org/en/7-Asia-Pacific/2032-Gold-Peak-Battery-Workers-Have-Their-Day-in-Court-in-China