Volume XI, Number 2
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Inside: ANROAV Conference Sets Asian OHS Agenda Letter from the The 150 delegates to the annual confer- Annual conferences are held to share Coordinator ence of the Asia Network for the Rights of experiences, resources and expertise among page 2 Occupational Accident Victims (ANROAV) in ANROAV member groups, and to coordinate Bandung, Indonesia, adopted a comprehensive joint campaigns. Immediately preceding the Bandung Declaration declaration (see box) on October 20th calling ANROAV conference, an Indonesian “Ban on Occupational for improved working conditions in job sites all Asbestos” organization was launched as part of Safety and Health in Asia ANROAV Annual across Asia. a global network of groups working to elimi- Conference Bandung, ANROAV is a network of more than 20 nate the use of cancer-causing asbestos. Indonesia October 17 injured workers’ groups, trade unions, com- In addition to plenary sessions, three “skills to 20, 2010 munity and labor rights groups in 14 Asian share” workshops were conducted during the page 3 countries, as well as affiliate members in three-day event, including courses on lung dis- Europe and the United States. The network eases, victims organizing, and health hazards Photos: was formed in 1997 following the catastrophic in the global electronics industry. ANROAV Conference Kader and Zhili factory fires in Thailand and The electronics hazards workshop was led in Banduug, Indonesia, China that killed and injured hundreds of by Robin Dewey and Laura Stock of the Labor October 18–20, 2010 workers. page 4 (See ANROAV Conference, page 3) Fruitful Partnership with AIHA’s DWOI page 6 Dr. Kong, SHARPS Win Award, Tour California Selected New Articles and Reports The largest awards luncheon ever of the women, workers at Samsung’s many electronics on Website Occupational Health and Safety Section of the facilities in Korea. At least 80 Samsung workers page 6 American Public Health Association gave Dr. have contracted cancer over the last five years, Jeong-ok Kong a standing ovation when she and 30 have already died of leukemia, lung, MHSSN Participates received the organization’s International Health brain and other cancers. Many of the stricken in Mexico City Labor & Safety Award on November 9th at its annual workers were in their early 20s and the oldest Conference convention in Denver. known cancer fatality was 43 at the time of his page 7 Dr. Kong, an occupational physician in death. Korea, is a leader of SHARPS – Supporters The Samsung cancers are very reminiscent Networking Notes for the Health and Rights of People in the of cancer clusters among electronics work- page 7 Semiconductor Industry – a network of unions, ers in California’s Silicon Valley (such as the human rights organizations, progressive politi- famous IBM “corporate mortality file”), and Our Network in Print cal activists, and occupational health profes- cancers among semiconductor workers in and on the Web sionals. Dr. Kong is also an executive commit- Scotland. page 8 tee member of the Korean Institute for Labor Dr. Kong and her organization have orga- Safety and Health (KILSH). Quotes of the Month nized the ill workers and the families of the page 8 SHARPS, formed in November 2007, has deceased to bring these workplace illnesses to been waging a valiant campaign to publicize public attention, to demand that the Korean a cluster of cancers among young, mostly (See Dr. Kong, page 5) Volume XI, Number 3 December 2010 Letter from the Coordinator Rarely do workplace health and safety ■ the “crew boss” (equivalent to a “lead communities where miners and their stories get the kind of attention that the man” in the US) who was widely cred- families live is also often invisible. ited for organizing his crew to survive October rescue of the 33 Chilean miners The United States is also a player in is a socialist and his father was killed after more than two months underground this shameful parade with the death of by the US-supported dictatorship of received, and it was a stirring story: 29 miners in Massey Energy coal mine General Augusto Pinochet; ■ The 33 miners who organized them- in Upper Big Branch, WV, this year as selves to survive for 17 days before they ■ the brother of the current president well as the deaths of 21 miners in the were discovered alive, and then another (billionaire Sebastian Piñera) was Crandall Canyon, UT, and Sago, WV, 52 days underground, through their Pinochet’s labor minister and respon- major mine disasters in 2007 and 2006. own determination, ingenuity, collec- sible for privatizing the San José mine At least three other Massey Energy min- tive effort and solidarity; and effectively eliminating both unions ers have been killed on the job this year and health and safety regulations ■ The non-stop rescue efforts of the since the Upper Big Branch disaster. throughout Chilean mining and other government, backed by international What connects all these deaths is a industries; cooperation, which showed what multi-strand thread of corporate greed governments can do when they have ■ the San José mine was closed for major and recklessness, government corruption the political will and resources to put safety violations in 2007 but quickly and failure to enforce, and the lack of human needs first and foremost. reopened without verification of hazard unions and the inability of miners to pro- corrections. The mine had received at The 69 days underground was a life- tect themselves on the job. least 42 notices of safety violations and altering experience for the miners, and Mining companies, especially trans- three miners were killed in the last six an example for the rest of us that working national corporations, have tremendous years; people can organize themselves for col- economic power, and therefore politi- lective benefit, and the power of the old ■ on July 30th, a Labor Department cal influence and power. They set the slogan “one for all and all for one.” report warned again of “serious safety terms and conditions of employment deficiencies” at the mine, but no action But, as always, the “back story” to which individual, impoverished min- was taken. Six days later a roof collapse this happy narrative was at least as impor- ers have no choice but to accept. They trapped the miners in a tunnel with no tant and hardly reported. Just now we ignore, corrupt or intimidate government exit deep underground. are learning a few things that put into inspectors. They buy, or simply lease, context the “Chilean miracle” and its Alas, it is not only Chile that has politicians at all levels to prevent work- meaning: allowed miners to work in unsafe mines. place and environmental regulation and In 2010, 70 Ugandan gold miners were protections. killed in a roof collapse and more than It’s only when a global spotlight Border/Line Health & Safety 60 Colombian coal miners died in a is held on events like those in Chile gas explosion. At least 66 miners died in that the outlines of the background is published three times a year by the: underground blasts at the Raspadskaya stories begin to emerge. It is moments Maquiladora Health and Safety Network, mine in Russia earlier this year. Twenty- like these when those of us concerned P.O. Box 124, nine miners have just died in a New about workers’ health and safety have Berkeley CA 94701-0124 Zealand mine. a chance to push for real, long-lasting phone: 510-558-1014 Just days after the rescue in Chile, changes in the way the world’s mines e-mail: [email protected] 37 coal miners in China were killed in actually operate. the same mine were 23 miners died in a When the last miner reached the sur- Editor: Garrett Brown similar explosion two years ago. Last year face in Chile, President Piñera declared: Design/layout: Heather Block 2,600 miners in China were officially “Never again in our country will we To subscribe to the Support Network’s recognized as dying on the job – a sta- permit people to work in conditions so electronic newsletter sent by email, tistic widely believed to undercount the unsafe and inhuman as they worked in please send a subscription request to death toll by at least 50%. the San José mine, and in many other Coordinator Garrett Brown at The fatalities in mine accidents also places in our country.” [email protected] do not even address the thousands of We’ll have to see if his actions match miners around the world who die agoniz- his words, but let’s also demand that the The Support Network has an extensive ing deaths suffocating from Black Lung, presidents of all other mining countries Reading and Resource List posted on silicosis and other occupational diseases. in the world (including ours) make, and the web site: www.igc.org/mhssn The environmental destruction of the implement, the same pledge. ■ Volume XI, Number 3 • 2 • December 2010 (ANROAV Conference, from page 1) Work Hazards Network and Dr. Ramin onstrate ongoing hazards in US work- Occupational Health Program (LOHP) Mehrdad of Iran also spoke about OSH places, and the efforts of the revitalized at UC Berkeley, with an assist from Ted issues and activities in their countries. Federal OSHA agency to address long- Smith of the International Campaign Twelve people from the United neglected issues. for Responsible Technology (ICRT) and States attended the conference, rep- At the Bandung meeting, the network MHSSN coordinator Garrett Brown. The resenting the American Center for also decided to change the organization’s 25-plus participants in the two-day work- International Labor Solidarity (ACILS), name to reflect the increasing overlap shop represented organizations in China, the Hesperian Foundation, the between occupational and environ- Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, the Developing World Outreach Initiative mental health risks.