A deadly fire at a garment factory in New York City more than a century ago set the stage for widespread support a for labor movement in the U.S. that led to sweeping reforms of workplace-safety laws.
Now, some activists are hoping that a recent blast in eastern China that killed at least 75 workers and left 180 other injured can do the same here. Chinese labor-right activists are putting together a petition for the country’s legislators, which they say they hope might help to reshape the labor-rights landscape of the world’s largest manufacturing center.
The letter, circulating on Chinese social media, calls on unions to give workers the right to inspect work-safety conditions and to carry out collective bargaining with employers regarding labor-safety standards. It also calls for local governments to step up their supervision of work safety and for employers to respect workers’ rights.
The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire, which claimed the lives of 146 mostly female immigrant garment workers in New York—a garment-manufacturing hub at the time— inspired the U.S. workers to defend their rights. After decades of suffering, Chinese workers’ rights are still neglected, said the letter, signed by 15 labor-rights institutions and nearly 1,600 workers as of Thursday morning.
“China does have work-safety laws, but local governments don’t implement them strictly so some companies don’t take the codes seriously,” Beijing-based labor-rights researcher Wang Jiangsong said.
Mr. Wang, a professor at the China Institute of Industrial Relations, has been promoting the petition on his personal Weibo account.
“Under the current system, workers have no means to voice their concerns. That’s the root problem.” Mr. Wang said by phone.
China’s unions are controlled by the government, and recent efforts by workers to establish independent worker unions have been foiled by local governments, workers and activists have said.
An official investigation showed the most recent incident, which happened at a company that supplies parts for cars from General Motors Co. and other auto makers in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, was caused by an excess of dust that exploded after exposure to a heat.
The town’s local fire department said there was a fire alert from the factory two months before the explosion, which they said the workers extinguished before the fire engine arrived, the Beijing News reported on Monday.
Xinhua News Agency on Monday cited China’s official work-safety agency as saying inadequate supervision by local authorities was partly responsible for the blast.
The local government in Suzhou, which governs Kunshan, has suspended operations at 214 factories to evaluate safety risks, Xinhua said on Wednesday.
The explosion in Kunshan, which caught nationwide attention, is the most deadly among a series of similar accidents in China in recent years.
In April, a blast also caused by excessive dusk levels in the neighboring city of Nantong, led to eight deaths. Two years ago, aluminum dust caused a blast at a factory in the export hub of Wenzhou, in Zhejiang province, claiming 13 workers’ lives and injuring 15, Xinhua reported.
“Excess levels of dusk is very common in Zhejiang, and it’s very dangerous for workers,” said Huang Caigen, founder of Zhejiang-based nonprofit Xiaoxiaoyu Labour Services, which provides work-safety training and legal assistance.
Mr. Huang said inspectors from local governments normally have close relationships with their town’s employers, meaning factories can often easily pass local work-safety inspections via their “public relations” efforts.
Although Mr. Huang admits that the most recent petition might bring about immediate change, he remains optimistic that persistence will eventually pay off.
“Maybe this time won’t result in anything, but if we keep on trying… I think we could make some difference.”
via After China Factory Explosion, Workers Petition for More Rights – China Real Time Report – WSJ.
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 