Saturday, March 05, 2011

Hey, I finally found a place where Dick Trumka and the other union bosses are truly, desperately needed

Someone alert the Otrumka administration that organized labor's services are desperately needed in Red China.

The Yuwei Plastics and Hardware Product Company Ltd in Dongguan, China produces auto parts for export to Ford which, according to workers, accounts for 80 percent of total production.  The Yuwei factory has a U.S. office and warehouse in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
  • Workers earn a base wage of just 80 cents an hour, while working 14-hour shifts, seven days a week. During the peak season, workers will toil 30 days a month, often drenched in their own sweat. Prospective hires are told they must "work hard and endure hardship."
  • On March 13, 2009, twenty-one year old Worker "A" had three fingers and several knuckles torn from his left hand when it was trapped in a powerful punch press, or stamping machine. He was making "RT Tubes" for export to Ford at the time of his accident. Management deliberately instructed the worker to turn off the infrared safety monitor device so he could work faster. "We had to turn it off. My boss did not let me turn it on," said Worker A. He had to stamp out 3,600 "RT Tubes" a day, one every 12 seconds.
  • We are aware of at least four serious injuries-maimed hands and fingers-over the last several years. "Minor" injuries occur every one or two months. Seriously injured workers are fired after a year or two.
  • New workers receive no training or safety instructions before being assigned to operate dangerous machinery.
  • Worker A received a total compensation payment of just $7,430 for the loss of three fingers, leaving his hand basically inoperative. In the U.S., Workers Compensation for a similar injury would result in a $144,292 payment. Worker A was also shortchanged of his severance pay before he was fired.
  • If a worker misses one day's work, as punishment he will be docked three days' wages.
  • While millions of democracy advocates are launching protests across the Middle East and North Africa, workers at the Yuwei factory have never heard the word "union" and have no idea what a union is or how it could help them.
  • Ford must immediately conduct a thorough inspection of the Yuwei factory. The infrared safety monitoring system must never again be shut off, especially on the dangerous punch press machines.
  • Factory management and Ford must provide additional compensation to Worker A of $72,126, which is just one half what workers compensation in the U.S. would be.

Conversely, public sector unions are a relatively recent phenomenon in the United States and not related in any way to protecting workers' rights when civil service, OSHA and a variety of other regulations already guard against abuse. Public sector unions and their political arm -- also known as the Democrat Party -- exist for one reason and one reason only: to bleed the American taxpayer.

Dick Trumka and Andy Stern should head to China where their efforts are truly needed and where they would be more gratefully received.


2 comments:

FZ said...

Interesting, but considering the source of this info I don't trust it. Also, even if true, it's a very extreme example, this would not be the norm even without our supposedly precious and wonderful unions.

Also, interesting they single out Ford. I guess it's to show how evil Ford supposedly is compared to Government Motors and Government Chrysler.

directorblue said...

@FZ - yep, I thought much the same thing, but this particular group doesn't appear to be aligned with any American labor organizations, so far as I can tell.

That said, it's always worth being suspicious.