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The ongoing labour dispute between Danish electronics company Ole Wolff and six former employees at the company's factory in Yantai in China has now reached international levels. In letters to both the Ole Wolff management and Chinese labour authorities the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) accuses the Danish company of underpaying its Chinese staff, withholding work documents from employees, discriminating against union members and several other violations of both Chinese law and international workers' rights.
Representing over 155 million wage-earners across the globe, ITUC is the largest trade union federation in the world and often carries a lot of clout in international labour disputes. Ole Wolff's summary sacking of six trade union members has turned into somewhat of a crusade for the strengthening of Chinese trade unions, and ITUC strongly encourages the Danish electronics company to agree to a deal with the local trade union, as well as a no-questions-asked compliance to two recent Chinese labour court verdicts citing the illegality of the layoffs demanding the immediate reinstatement of the fired workers.
"It is the opinion of the international labour movement that your company has a strong interest in relating to these serious cases, which could end up destroying your company's image if not resolved", the ITUC secretary-general Guy Ryder notes in his organization's letter to Ole Wolff. "
Direct communications to Chinese authorities and global companies are fairly rare for ITUC, a fact that labour experts regard as further evidence of Big Labour's determination to use the Ole Wolff case as a way of further strengthening workers' rights in both China and the rest of the developing world.
Full story in Danish
News category: Denmark
Published on this site: Sep. 4, 2008
Source:nyheder.3f.dk
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