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Action Alert: Workers at LG Electronics/Haeng Sung in Reynosa, Mexico, Request Urgent SupportHaeng Sung Fires Seven Workers for Protesting Wage/Benefit CutsAfter Ten Years of NAFTA Workers Still Have No Rights!March 15, 2004 Sample letter below In December LG Electronics, an $18 billion Korean company, transferred 350 components workers at their Reynosa, Mexico, TV plant to an abandoned warehouse. The workers first had to suffer with rats, snakes and other vermin to set up production. They are exposed to the fumes from soldering and numerous chemicals with little or no protective equipment. They gradually became aware that they were now working for Haeng Sung, not LGE, and that they had been stripped of their seniority and the higher pay that seniority brings -- some had 20 years at the plant--and that Haeng Sung had dropped them from the mandatory national health system. They went to their company-dominated CTM union and were told there was nothing to be done. They are now making only between $43 and $58 US per week. On Saturday, February 21st they met and decided to file charges at the labor board. They found the State Governor touring nearby and asked for his help. All he promised was to send a health inspector. On Monday they began refusing to work mandatory overtime. Then six workers, some from the workers' elected committee to negotiate with management, were fired. Meanwhile the company started hiring workers at a local mall. On Tuesday, at the start of the shift, the workers arrived to find
the plant surrounded by police and security guards. They went in and
offered to work overtime if management would reinstate the six fired
workers. Instead a supervisor called five workers to the office and
fired one of them saying that the ten minutes the workers had just taken
to voice demands was a strike. He fired Celina Chavez saying the company
didn't want any of the five anymore. Chavez told him, "We spend
our whole lives here, sometimes working 45 hours overtime per week,
and now you don't want us because you lost ten minutes of production?
Yesterday you let a guy impersonating a Governor's representative spend
over an hour stopping workers on the line and ordering them to work
overtime, and that wasn't a loss of production?" This week, Korean unions, acting in solidarity with the Reynosa workers, began sending protest letters to LGE and Haeng Sung headquarters. Workers are demanding the following: Here's what you can do to help:Send letters supporting these demands of the LG/Haeng Sung workers to both LG Electronics and Haeng Sung. A letter and addresses are below. Send copies of your letters/faxes to the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras by fax, 210-732-8324, or e-mail, cjm@igc.org, and to DODS, teresadods@hotmail.com DODS is a worker organization in Reynosa. Forward this alert to others who will send letters. The workers desperately need donations to support their mobilization and legal efforts to enforce their rights. Please send donations payable to The Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras with a note that it is for the LG workers Emergency Fund. Mail to CJM at 4207 Willow Brook St., San Antonio, TX 78228. The Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras is a US-Canada-Mexico coalition of organizations dedicated to supporting the rights of workers in the global economy and focused on workers in the multinational owned plants operating in Mexico. To reach us, call 210-732-8957 or email at cjm@igc.org Sample Letter:Sang Su Kim, CEO LG Electronics Huh Maeng, CEO Haeng Sung Send a copy to Haeng Sung USA: Dear Mr. Kim and Mr. Huh: We have just learned that Haeng Sung has begun to fire workers in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico simply because they are trying to exercise their right to organize to protest your companies' wage and benefit cuts and to have their collective bargaining agreement honored. We are writing to demand that Haeng Sung reinstate all workers to their jobs and respect the workers' right to organize. Workers are also being stripped of their seniority and health benefits -- another violation of their rights. This situation must be corrected. When LG Electronics transferred 350 workers from its operations in Reynosa to Haeng Sung Co., Haeng Sung promised the Reynosa Conciliation and Arbitration Board #4 to maintain the seniority, wages, and former jobs of the workers. These terms were agreed to in the collective bargaining agreement that the company signed with the CTM. Haeng Sung has not upheld that contract. We are shocked to learn that the CTM union has informed the workers they must start as new workers despite the fact that many have been with LG for twenty years. Moreover, Haeng Sung has cancelled the workers' registration with the IMSS that provides their medical care. These tactics are illegal. To make matters worse, conditions are unsafe in your plant. Workers who are soldering are exposed to lead and solvents without any protective equipment. One worker was even bitten by a snake, and other animals roam through the plant. These are gross violations of human and civil rights. If you are at all concerned about your companies' reputation among consumers in the United States, your illegal tactics of intimidation and firing workers for organizing must be stopped at once. We demand that Haeng Sung reinstate all fired workers and respect workers' rights to organize, recognize their seniority and their collective agreement, and improve safety conditions in the factory by providing adequate protective gear and ventilation OR that LG Electronics comply with Mexican Federal Labor Law and procedures for layoff by paying workers their mandated severance pay. We want you to know the world is watching your actions in Mexico. Name Background:LG Electronics' TV factory in Reynosa, Tamaulipas (across the border from McAllen, Texas) makes televisions under the brands Zenith, LG, and Electra. Late last year, LG transferred 350 workers -- all the employees of four departments - to a company called Haeng Sung (HS). Both companies are headquartered in Korea, and both sell and service in the United States. The workers at Zenith/LG in Reynosa have a valiant history of resistance to exploitation. Zenith was one of the first electronics manufacturers to come to the border in 1977. There was a significant strike in the 1980s against Zenith. In 1996, LG (formerly Goldstar) bought controlling interest in Zenith, and in 1999 it became a wholly owned subsidiary of LG. In 2000 when LG changed the plant's name there was another strike. Because of lack of safety equipment in the new plant, the workers suffer from constant headaches, dizziness, nausea and fatigue. There have been miscarriages, and they think all this is caused either by the solder fumes or the glue. Some think they may be addicted to glue. LG Electronics: LG Electronics Inc (South Korea) is one of the world's major manufacturers of electronics and telecommunications products. They had sales in 2002 of $18 billion and profits of $285 million. Overseas sales account for 75% of the company's sales, and they operate in 72 countries with between 52 and 64,000 employees. LGE owns Zenith Electronics and has a flat-panel display joint venture with Philips Electronics. LG was formerly named Goldstar. In the US they have distribution and service centers in Seattle, Miami, Huntsville AL, Rosemont IL (near Chicago) y Englewood Cliffs New Jersey. In México they have offices in Merida, Guadalajara and Tlalnepantla (México state) and a factory in Monterrey which produces refrigerators and employs 242 people. They have a technology sharing agreement with Thompson and recently forged an alliance with US Best Buy." Haeng Sung is also based in South Korea. Founded in 1964, Haengsung Co. Ltd. has produced core parts concerned with home appliance/display and chemical products. It describes itself as having developed in domestic and international business over 30 years with LG Electronics Co. Ltd. Its assets are listed as $22 million; its sales were $33 million; and profits were $2 million last year. Haeng Sung's Digital division partners with Phillips and has expanded its LCD business rapidly building six plants in China since 1996, a plant in Indonesia, and obviously in Mexico. It has recently entered the business of manufacturing televisions and is aggressively moving into the North American market. Its web site is http://www.haengsung.com/eng/main.htm |
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