With new Apple business on the horizon,
Wintek keeps costs down by
suppressing strike in mainland China
June 8, 2009
Industry news suggests that APPLE chose the WINTEK GROUP to supply
components for its next netbook product in 2010. If true, Apple and
Wintek will no doubt profit nicely from the collaboration. Despite the
promise of new business, however, Wintek is ruthlessly cutting costs
even where it is against the law. Laying off more than 600 employees in
Taiwan in December 2008, Wintek then shifted attention in April 2009 to
suppress a strike by workers in mainland China at its subsidiary,
Dongguan Masstop, where 7000 workers went on strike for the simple right
to hygienic food and respect for Chinese laws on overtime. Wintek
supplies brands including APPLE, MOTOROLA, NOKIA, SAMSUNG, LENOVO and
HUAWEI, all of whom tell the public that they enforce supplier codes of
conduct. Yet protests in China suggest that behind the scenes, Wintek’s
customers turn a blind eye to conditions on the shop floor.
PROTEST AT THE WINTEK AGM ON JUNE 10, 2009
JOIN THE GLOBAL SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN NOW
http://campaign.tw-npo.org/campaign/sign.php?id=2009042210484600
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APPLE, MOTOROLA, NOKIA, SAMSUNG, LENOVO and HUAWEI—members of the
industry association Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) or
Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI)—respond promptly to problems
with the quality of Wintek products. But when the problem is with the
rights of Wintek workers, the response is silence. According to workers,
brands sometimes conduct on-site audits. But if audits were conducted at
all during the past 6 months, they did not respond to Dongguan Masstop’s
unlawful practices.
It is simple to draw the conclusion that despite telling the public that
they enforce codes of conduct, these brands were either ignorant of or
willfully ignored the problems at Wintek. Their codes of conduct utterly
fail to protect workers’ rights.
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THE CHINESE REPORT IS DOWNLOADABLE FROM www.sacom.hk
CONTACT PERSONS:
Jenny Chan
Chief Coordinator
Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), Hong Kong/China,
Email: wlchan@sacom.hk <mailto:wlchan@sacom.hk>
Telephone: +(852) 9859 7680 / +(86) 131 4391 7906
Weili Chu
Secretary General
National Federation of Independent Trade Unions (NAFITU), Taiwan,
Email: wei-li-1210@yahoo.com.tw <mailto:wei-li-1210@yahoo.com.tw>
Telephone: +(886) 981 238 732