Post date: Feb 22, 2011 12:45:32 PM
Chinese workers suffering from chemical poisoning seek help from Apple to address their health and compensation issues with a Taiwan company.
SUZHOU, JIANGSU PROVINCE, CHINA REUTERS - Chinese workers at a factory making touch screens on contract for Apple have urged the U.S. company to step in and help address their grievances over a chemical poisoning they said could still harm their health.
Wintek, the Taiwanese company that owns the factory in east China's Suzhou industrial park, has said it used Hexyl hydride, also called n-hexane, from May 2008 to August 2009, in its production line to clean the touch screens, but stopped after discovering workers were poisoned by the chemical.Some of the workers have taken their complaint to Apple, sending the company a letter in English, signed by five workers claiming to represent aggrieved employees.
"This is a killer, a killer that strikes invisibly," a Chinese-language copy of the letter meant for Apple CEO Steve Jobs said, referring to Hexyl hydride.
Hexyl hydride contains benzene, which causes cancer, and when inhaled may cause headaches, vomiting and drowsiness, among other symptoms. Workers said they wore protective gear, including masks, goggles and gloves, but work in an enclosed, poorly ventilated space.
The workers who provided the Chinese-language letter said they had sent the letter to be translated into English by a Chinese environmental group and later forwarded the English version to Jobs.
"From when Hexyl hydride was used, monthly profits at Apple and Wintek have gone up by tens of millions every month, the accumulated outcome of workers' lives and health," said the letter, signed by five workers claiming to represent aggrieved employees.
The poisonings were mentioned in a recent report from Apple, which sources many of its strong-selling iPhones, iPads and other devices to contract manufacturers in China. That report said 137 workers had been hospitalised because of poisoning but had all recovered, a conclusion also offered by Wintek.
In the report, Apple said that Wintek had switched to the chemical from alcohol without changing the ventilation system.
But some of the workers at Wintek's sprawling plant in Suzhou said the Taiwanese factory-owner had not given enough compensation to sickened workers, had pressured those who took compensation to give up their jobs, and had not offered assurances that workers who may suffer fresh bouts of illness from the poisoning will have medical bills take care of.
"I told her (a Wintek official) about my physical condition, the mental pressures I face and the pain I feel. But she told me that if I do not leave my job, I would not get any compensation from the company. At that time, I told her I do not want any compensation from the company. I just want the company to help me in my treatment and lessen the pain and pressures I feel mentally. But in the end, she did not give me a specific reply on my requests," said Jia Jingchuan, a 27-year-old production technician for Wintek who said he had fell ill from prolonged exposure to Hexyl hydride.
Wintek's spokesman Jay Huang told Reuters that all staff who needed medical treatment because of the n-hexane poisoning had been treated, and that the company has reverted to using alcohol to clean the panels that it manufactures for Apple.
Apple declined comment on the issue, only referring queries on the matter to the comments in its published supplier responsibility report last week.
But poisoned workers are expressing their worries about their health condition, especially for those who say they are suffering from a relapse of the symptoms.
"We are worried that we will have a relapse of the symptoms (from chemical poisoning), We are all from the countryside and our families are poor. We are unable to cope with the medical costs of treatment in the future. We can only stay in the factory and see what happens. We just feel very helpless now," said Guo Ruiqiang, a worker at the Wintek plant. He said was suffering fresh symptoms he blamed on the poisoning.
He and other workers said the poisoning caused sweaty hands and feet, sudden numbness in hands, swelling and pain in the feet, tiredness and faint-headed bouts. Workers also said there was a strike about the illnesses in January 2010 by 3,000 to 4,000 workers at the Wintek plant.
Jia, the technician, said that after working for a year on the production for Apple touch screens, he felt there was something wrong, but ignored the problems, blaming them on work stress or moodiness.
Soon he heard other workers were hospitalised and suspected it has something to do with the chemical hexyl hydride, which managers had said could be safely used.
Jia went to a hospital in Suzhou in August 2009, doctors told him he has nerve damage.
Doctors soon found many of his workmates to have such problems and they were advised to be hospitalised.
He stayed for eight months the hospital. But when he went back to work in October 2010, the symptoms of poisoning returned, he said.
Labour rights activists are also urging Apple to stand up to help these workers.
"This is worrying, because we don't know what the long-term remifications of this poisoning are. Maybe in the future, they will be too weak to work or we have often seen cases in China where workers have medical costs that go on ten years down the road, but if the workers sign this agreement, they will not legally be able to claim those benefits. So I think that Apple and Wintek should come together and make sure and guarantee that the workers are able to have all their costs covered for this poisoning for as long as they live," said William Nee from China Labour Bulletin, a non-governmental labour rights organisation based in Hong Kong.
For now, workers said the factory has been constantly pressuring workers who were poisoned to resign as a precondition for receiving compensation.
Jia said he was told he could get 140,000 yuan for compensation and told to resign so that he can get it. He refused, but he estimates two thirds of those who had chemical poisoning had left the factory.
The company officials said this was in with Chinese law and labour regulations and workers can only receive compensation after they quit.
"In accordance with the insurance and compensation regulations of Jiangsu Province, the workers involved have to go through a prescribed procedure as required by the lump-sum compensation after they terminate the labour contract," said Zhang Lisheng, Vice President of Wintek, told Chinese state television, CCTV.
The dispute shows even a big-brand company like Apple, which goes to great lengths to protect its image as a responsible contractor, can become entangled in disputes over the increasingly vocal demands of China's 120 million migrant workers, who provide cheap labour for exports.