EPZs are viewed as union-free zones where workers are exploited and their rights to organise are brutally trampled. But the situation for EPZ workers cannot be truly understood if analysed in isolation of family, society, and the global marketplace. Conditions in the EPZs are a reflection and magnification of universal class and gender problems. Even though women are undervalued in the labour force, their families, governments, and employers benefit from and depend on their low cost (and often free) labour inside and outside the home.
As expected, United States President Bill Clinton finally backed down on his pressure on China through the magical Most Favoured Nation diplomacy. China appears to be the victor of this international game. It seems that the Chinese government intended to deliberately embarrass President Clinton by arresting a number of alleged labour activists just prior to the deadline of the MFN renewal.
Privatisation and ‘‘structural adjustment’’ will be a common phenomenon in two of the largest economies in Asia, China, and India. Presently these two countries are undergoing ambitious economic reforms based on creating a dynamic market economy. Often there is insufficient or callous attention to workers’ interests when the planners of these policies implement the so-called “‘reforms’’.
As industrialisation spreads across Asia, waste and toxic hazards accumulate at a disturbing rate and pose a major threat. Many developed nations partially relieve themselves of the burden of toxic waste by exporting undesirable industries and processes to less-industrialised and less-regulated countries. The “grow now, clean up later” approach to development in Asia has established an environmental menace that may haunt the region for decades to come.
Is the ICFTU theory back-to-front? Is the so-called New World Order (NWO) in danger of being ‘killed off at birth by casino capitalism’, as the ICFTU maintains? Yes and no.
• May Day protests in the Philippines
• New confederation formed in Hong Kong
• General strike in South Korea
• Malaysian electronics workers organize
• Japanese company closes Korean operation
• Labour demands wage rises in the Philippines
• Hong Kong workers talk about 1997