BEHIND THE HEADLINES

 

Getting different perspectives on an issue is important to understanding the whole story. Read the following perspectives on issues of labour. Can you think of other perspectives that are not included in these articles?

1. Sharon Begley, et al. "The New Sweatshops" Newsweek, September 10, 1990 pg. 50

Adam 36, wasn't naive enough to think the streets of America would be paved with gold. But neither did he imagine that they'd be littered with cancer-causing absetos fibers. For the three years since he arrived from his native Poland, where he had taught hisgh school, Adam has been ripping asbestos from Chaicgo buildings. Working in protective suits and masks he and other reecent Polish immigrants tear the flaking insulation from ceilings and pipes for six and a half hours without rests. Federal rules require four breaks during an eight hour shift. Usually the labourers wear the same clothing all day; federal rules require three changes to minimise exposures to fibers. Still, it is better than Adam's previous job: removing asbestos for a small construction firm without proper clothing and not knowing what the fibers were. "Asbestos was dropping like snow," he says. "The fibers filled my lungs."

2. Daisy Francis, "When nimble fingers make a fist", New Internationalist, January 1995.

Ah Lai is 18 years old. She has worked in Hsin Kwong Textile Factory, Taiwain, for three years. She is the eldest child in a family of five. She left school and started to work in this factory when she had to shoulder responsibility for the family. From the very beginning she hated the work. She had to stand all day. The noise and the air pollution were unbearable. Then she lost a hand in an industrial accident. The insurance company paid her $5,800 as compensation.

3. Frances Williams, 'Don't Boycott', "Financial Times". London, November 2, 1995. World Press Review, January 1996.

Boycotts of goods made with child labour may harm rather than aid children, the United Nations International Labour Organization recently warned. While world attention is focussed mainly on children employed in the expert industries, these businesses employ "relatively few" child workers, the reprot says.

Of the more than 80 million child workers, most are unpaid domestics. Experience suggests that "one immediate consequence of boyscotts - the precipitous dismissal of children who are already working can also endanger rather than protect those children," the report says.

Further, measures that concentrate on child labour industries producing export might drive child labour underground into more unregulated sectors. The report argues for action to eliminate slavery and dangerous work and to get all children to attend school.

 

APEC / PECC related

http://www/washington.edu/apec/

http:www.mailstation.net/~apecphil/index.html

http://www.pecc.net/index.html

http://www.apecsec.org.sg

http://www.apecsun.apec.sec.org.sg

The above sites may not be the most interesting for young people but you should definitely try to check out the washington site.

PRESS

http://www.asia-inc.com/index.html

http://www.bkkpost.co.th

http://www.japantimes.co.jp

http://www.asahi.com/english/

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp

http://www.feer.com

POPULAR CULTURE

http://www.hkbridge.com

http://www.asiaonline.net.hk

http://www.hkpop.com

http://www.iastate.edu/~wksze/male.html

References:

Benda, Harry.1958. The Crescent and the Rising Sun. Indonesia Islam under the Japanese Occupation 1942-1945. The Hague: van Hoeve.