alfreda89: 3 foot concrete Medieval style gargoyle with author's hand resting on its head. (Default)
alfreda89 ([personal profile] alfreda89) wrote2005-05-13 09:35 am

For those who question the need for unions...

It's another world without unions.

http://my.ev1.net/english/news/newsarticle.asp?articleID=49768807&subject=business



Vietnamese Workers Return After Strike
View Stock Quote: McDonald's Corp: MCD


Nearly 10,000 workers who make toys for McDonald's Happy Meals returned to work Friday after staging a two-day strike at a factory in central Vietnam to protest alleged unfair and abusive labor practices, officials said.

The strike, which ended after a settlement was reached Thursday, involved about 9,300 laborers, mostly young women, said Phan Viet Thong, chairman of the Danang City Federation of Labor. The workers walked off the job Wednesday and gathered outside the Hong Kong-owned factory, Keyhinge Toys Vietnam Co. Ltd., Thong said.

The employees claimed they had been treated badly. They alleged supervisors routinely humiliated and cursed at them, and that factory bosses refused to pass on their complaints to company leaders, said a man from Danang City Industrial Zone Management Board who gave his name only as Dong.

The strike was widely reported in Vietnam's state-controlled media, which said the workers alleged that they were forced to work 12-hour days with no overtime and were allowed only 45 minutes for lunch. They also complained that their wages were cut if they visited the restroom more than twice a day or if a visit to the doctor took longer than two hours.

"In the company, there is no water for workers to drink, let alone water to wash after the shift ends," a worker identified as Dang Thi Nhan T., told Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper. "Many workers have fainted during working hours."

The company has agreed to give the workers a 10 percent pay rise, limit their working hours to 10 hours daily, pay overtime, and give them Sunday off, said Thong, chairman of the city labor federation.

In a statement Thursday, Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald's Corp. said the company "takes these issues very seriously. We have a strict code of conduct for suppliers based on our belief that employees deserve to be treated with dignity and respect."

McDonald's spokeswoman Anna Rozenich would not comment on specific worker allegations but said "all the issues have been resolved, whatever they are." The Danang facility produces only a portion of McDonald's Happy Meal toys, she said.

Y.P. Cheng, the owner of Keyhinge Toys, said in a statement that the dispute had been resolved, but he did not comment on the workers' allegations.

The workers received a pay increase from 2,500 dong (16 cents) to 2,750 dong (17.5 cents) an hour, labor leader Thong said. The company also agreed to issue more bathroom passes and to order supervisors to improve the overall factory atmosphere, he said.

The strike wasn't the first labor dispute involving the toy company, the largest employer in Danang once the site of a large U.S. military base and a popular holiday spot for American soldiers during the Vietnam War.

In 1998, Keyhinge Toys was accused of paying workers less than the government-mandated minimum wage and failing to set up a labor union despite multiple requests from the Danang City Federation of Labor.

At the time, McDonald's said there had been inspections at the plant, which opened in 1996, and that an audit by SGS Switzerland found the factory met Vietnamese safety regulations.

Onions?

[identity profile] madspark.livejournal.com 2005-05-13 02:55 pm (UTC)(link)

Hah! I read that as "onions" at first. Yeah, life without onions would be lacking, but I had a hard time seeing how McDonald's toys related to this fine seasoning and garnish...

Re: Onions?

[identity profile] alfreda89.livejournal.com 2005-05-14 07:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Then you'll like this quote from a fantasy writer I know....

"If it doesn't have onions, it had better be dessert. If it doesn't have garlic, it had better be chocolate!"

--Stephen Brust

[identity profile] janni.livejournal.com 2005-05-13 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
My Mom's a union organizer, which means I appreciate the good unions do more and more all the time.

[identity profile] alfreda89.livejournal.com 2005-05-14 07:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Like most things in life, there's good and bad to unions--unfortunately, that blasted "liberal press" only talks about the bad union stuff.

(I wonder when the religious right will have to admit that they control the press, too? Since they're now attacking other Christians for not being "the right kind of Christian" that day may be soon.)

[identity profile] oliana0.livejournal.com 2005-05-13 06:28 pm (UTC)(link)
The real question is, how many days must they work to be able to afford a happy meal?

[identity profile] alfreda89.livejournal.com 2005-05-14 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
So what does one cost right now? If it's $1.75, they will have to work a full day at the new hours and pay scale for one happy meal.

Doesn't that put life into perspective.

[identity profile] noiseinmyhead.livejournal.com 2005-05-14 10:17 pm (UTC)(link)
more like two or three bucks depending on what food you get



yes, i stil buy mcdonadls sometimes......of course my kids call them angry meals or sad meals and start screaming when I order happy meals for them

[identity profile] alfreda89.livejournal.com 2005-05-15 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
of course my kids call them angry meals or sad meals and start screaming when I order happy meals for them

So does this mean they like them or don't like them?

[identity profile] noiseinmyhead.livejournal.com 2005-05-15 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
they like them, they like the fries and griff like the nuggets and jess likes cheese burgers and the both like the toys....they just don't like calling them happy meals

the toddler toys are fisher price little people so they are very familer.......

[identity profile] alfreda89.livejournal.com 2005-05-15 02:54 pm (UTC)(link)
the toddler toys are fisher price little people so they are very familer.......

You mean they're identical to the F-P stuff, so they feel comfortable?

[identity profile] noiseinmyhead.livejournal.com 2005-05-15 03:06 pm (UTC)(link)
no they are fisher price branded Little People toys so the boys like them when they accidently get th ebig kid toys there is sometimes confusion since there is so much tie in stuff to movies or cartoons they have never seen....

[identity profile] alfreda89.livejournal.com 2005-05-15 03:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah. Clear.