:: rawblogXport ::

:: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 ::

Made in China, woman to woman By Jennifer Ehrlich, Boston Globe
''This was the first time we've ever met Chinese activists doing grass-roots organizing -- it struck me how dangerous the work is that they do,' said Jennifer Doe, a workers rights organizer for Massachusetts Jobs With Justice. ''It's a political issue anywhere women try to organize unions.'

If it seems ironic that two Chinese activists are seeking support from US labor movements committed to preventing job losses to places like China, Pun and Yang were determined to highlight the common goals.

Tolle Graham, a health and safety trainer with the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupatonal Safety and Health, felt Chinese labor activists deserve the support of US unions to slow overseas job flight.

''For a long time those of us in labor said only buy USA-made, but now we say we are in an international community. If their conditions don't get better in China we are lost, too,' says Graham. ''We recognize job movement to China is the way things are going, but we may be able to hang onto some jobs if there's a level playing field in terms of conditions.'

posted 6:52 AM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

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