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CampaignsGold Peak Battery Case: Poisoning in the Pearl River Delta“Big bags of cadmium arrived at the factory from Hong Kong…We had to bag them down into smaller quantities. We had no adequate protection. Most of all, we didn’t know it was dangerous. No one told us so how could we have known?”
GP Batteries International Limited is part of Gold Peak Industries (holdings) ltd, established in Hong Kong and is one of the world's major suppliers of primary and rechargeable batteries - GP Batteries Group is the largest consumer battery manufacturer in China. Some 400 workers from at least two GP factories - Xianjin and Chaoba - have been found to have excessive cadmium levels while 10 workers have already been diagnosed as having cadmium poisoning. Cadmium is a hazardous chemical and is used by GP as electrode material for nickel-cadmium batteries. The health effects of cadmium depend, as with any other chemical, on the concentration, route of exposure (inhalation or ingestion) and duration of exposure. Workers at the factories argue that very little safety equipment – such as ventilation – was installed to limit the impact of working with cadmium until the factories began to attract negative publicity in early 2004. There are branches of the state-controlled All China Federation of Trade Unions at both GP Chaoba and GP Xianjin, but they are staffed by management and are little more than ornaments.
Read More…. Worker Demands When Gold Peak Industries opened its Huizhou factories in 1994, its workers were not warned of the dangers of handling highly dangerous cadmium and were initially refused masks or given inadequate protection. Many of these workers now suffer from cadmium poisoning and excessive cadmium levels and many have huge medical bills and are unable to find new employment as potential employers are afraid of being made to pay for future cadmium related medical expenses or compensation, indeed several dozen GP workers have already been hospitalised due to exposure to cadmium.
Protests and Solidarity Workers at the Huizhou GP factories began to fall seriously ill in November 2003. Some of the 3,000 workers in the two factories have been at the factory for up to eight years. Testing for cadmium is complex and the levels found can vary at different times but many of the workers categorised as having ‘high’ levels of cadmium state that they have been given contradictory information and even forced to leave hospital. In November 2005, workers whose health had been adversely affected by cadmium while working at GP’s Xianjin and Chaoba factories handed over a letter to the GP Fund board managers. The contents of the letter were chiefly concerned with compensation and medical costs and included a number of clear and reasonable demands. These included: medical checks for the children of female workers who had come into contact with cadmium, past, current and future medical costs of the workers, the issue of future employment and the difficult financial circumstances that most of the affected workers now find themselves Following an earlier protest at GP’s office, Hong Kong labour groups held a second protest at Gold Peak’s 2004 shareholder meeting on September 10 which attracted considerable media attention. After the meeting, which was interrupted by two protestors who had previously bought GP shares, GP Chairman Victor Lo told reporters that the two workers diagnosed with ‘cadmium poisoning’ would be offered 18,000 Yuan (1,777 Euros) each in compensation and that another 70 workers under ‘observation’ due to high levels of cadmium would be duly compensated. This is a reference to a non-negotiated compensation offer of 3,000 Yuan and 8,000 Yuan depending on the levels of cadmium discovered. The offer was presented as a ‘take it or leave it’ deal. Workers were also instructed by management to clarify within 15 days whether they intended to continue working at the factory. Little real Progress The establishment of a compensation fund in August 2005 gave the workers considerable cause for optimism. But the actual administration of this fund has shown serious limitations on the timely provision of compensation and assistance to the affected workers. According to GP’s own statements, only four percent of the 400 workers affected by cadmium have so far received funds - the Oxfam Hong Kong representative on the fund board has resigned in frustration at the administration of the find and humiliating procedures the workers have been subjected to. GP itself has not denied that there have been problems concerning occupational health and safety and has promised to resolve them - there have been improvements made to working conditions in several areas and GP has now stopped production of cadmium batteries at these plants. However there have been new reports that GP has sub-contracted cadmium-nickel battery production to another location in Hunan, and there are reports that occupational health and safety measures in this factory is significantly substandard. Donald Tsang, Hong Kong's new Chief Executive, appointed Victor Lo Chung Wing, the Chair of Gold Peak to his expanded Executive Council at the same time as workers from the Shenzhen Jieba Factory which owned by the Hong Kong based Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) launched a legal case for compensation. The appointment, on 15 October, was criticized by Hong Kong unions and labour rights groups. Lee Chuek Yan, General Secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Union (HKCTU) was among several who questioned Victor Lo's eligibility to join the cabinet given his companies record in labour rights across the border. In response Victor Lo was reported as saying that it was “normal” to be involved in lawsuits considering the extent of his business. Media Attention and Backlash There has been considerable media coverage of this case on the mainland and in Hong Kong. The state-owned station CCTV has broadcast a documentary which was broadly sympathetic to the workers’ case. However, the workers’ attempts to get justice has led to some repercussions for the workers and the Hon Kong groups supporting them – including the ICFTU affiliate, the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions. Background on Gold Peak [Taken from Gold Peak websites] Gold Peak Group is an Asian multinational group which owns a diversified portfolio of high-quality industrial investments via GP Industries Limited, its major industrial investment vehicle publicly listed in Singapore. It’s Technology and Strategic Division is engaged in the development of new product technologies and strategic investments. In the industrial sector, the Group has successfully built renowned brand names for its major product categories, such as GP Batteries, KEF loudspeakers and Lighthouse LED super screens. The parent company, Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Limited, was established in 1964 and has been listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong since 1984. Currently, Gold Peak holds an 87.1%* interest in GP Industries while GP Industries holds a 67.9%* interest in CIH Limited ("CIHL") and a 49.1%* interest in GP Batteries International Limited. GP Industries, CIHL and GP Batteries are publicly listed in Singapore.
GP Batteries has been listed on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited since 1991 and is currently a component stock of the Business Times ¨C Singapore Regional Index and FTSE Asia Pacific ex-Japan Regional (AP) Index.
IHLO July 2006 |
