Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 15:56:15 -0700 From: "Camp. for Responsible Technology" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: SCOTLAND: URGENT ACTION MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain apologies for multiple postings URGENT SIGN-ON FROM SCOTLAND TO CALL ATTENTION TO HEALTH HAZARDS AT NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR Greetings� Jim McCourt, a labor activist from �Silicon Glen� in Scotland, just visited Silicon Valley to help celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the founding of the Santa Clara Center for Occupational Safety and Health. He works with women workers at National Semiconductor in Greenock, Scotland who are suffering serious occupational health problems, including miscarriages, reproductive cancers, vision problems and respiratory ailments. Since the company allows no unions, the women workers have organized PHASE II, a group for injured workers and their supporters. There are 2 brief statements below: ***1) Jim�s statement calling on people around the world to form an effective International Campaign for Responsible Technology to challenge the high-tech industry to be accountable to its workers and communities as it continues its global expansion; ***2) Please take a couple of minutes to read and sign-on to the letter addressed to National Semiconductor Chief Executive Officer Brian Halla, which urges National Semiconductor to respect the rights of its workers and to agree to abide by the covenants of the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labor Organization in protecting the rights and the health of the workers. Please fill out the sign-on form below and provide your name, organization, city and country and return it to the International Campaign for Responsible Technology at [EMAIL PROTECTED] and we will forward it to Mr. Halla and the media. Thanks very much for your support. 3) (For more information about the International Campaign for Responsible Technology, check out http://www.svtc.org/icrt.htm (If you want to be part of the I-CRT list serve, see below and return the form) (apologies for multiple or cross postings) PLEASE SHARE THIS POSTING WITH OTHERS YOU BELIEVE WOULD BE INTERESTED. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I> THE NEED FOR AN EFFECTIVE INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR RESPONSIBLE TECHNOLOGY (I-CRT) The globalisation of the Electronics Industry requires a coordinated International response to combat the unique hazards that high-tech manufacturing brings to each country. The I-CRT is being formed to provide this service. Transnationalism is not the sole preserve of capital. Our movement has to adopt a worldwide, proactive strategy that will alert people in all countries to the inherent dangers that are involved in this industry. Dangers that are compounded by the ignorance, docility and/or complicity of governments in dealing with these companies. The massive cash incentives provided to lure new high-tech development�in combination with the lack of commitment to regulate and enforce minimal standards of community and worker health and safety�is a lethal combination when dealing with some of the world�s largest transnational corporations. Throughout the world there is growing evidence of the catastrophic impact electronics companies have had on workers and the environment in their locale. In almost every case, there is insufficient action taken by the host governments to protect workers and their communities. Efforts to seek legislative, regulatory or legal redress have been largely futile. Newly emerging evidence in Scotland�s Silicon Glen is showing that health effects on workers have had catastrophic repercussions. Clusters of miscarriages and birth defects have been highlighted in a recent BBC television production �Shadow Over Silicon Glen.� Illnesses such as breast, uterine and stomach cancer, leukemia, asthma , vision impairment, carpal tunnel syndrome and others, have led to creation of an injured electronics workers support group named PHASE TWO. Similar to the 20 year old Santa Clara Center on Occupational Safety and Health group in San Jose, it is a another indication that the hazards faced by workers know no boundaries or borders. They are deadly and utterly indiscriminate. It is vital to help potential new victims by adopting a proactive stance to inform local politicians, communities and prospective workers of the hazards that they will inevitably face�hazards they will not be informed of by the companies or their government bureaucracies. Electronics companies, like many others, are embracing the outsourcing method of management control, masked under the guise of the cyclical nature of their markets. It is the perfect control tool in suppressing workers. The consistent resistance to Trade Unions, in all countries, is indicative of the nature of their business: Dirty and Dangerous. For these multinational corporations, profits and productivity take priority over workplace safety and community health, so we must organize ourselves. It is the duty of the I-CRT to pursue these companies wherever they go so that we can anticipate and document their movements and share our existing information with the workers, communities and health specialists in the emerging markets that the electronics industry will exploit in the coming years. Please join with us now to support this struggle! Jim McCourt Inverclyde Advice and Employment Rights Centre Greenock, Scotland _______________________________________________________________ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ URGENT SIGN-ON LETTER TO NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR CEO Brian Halla, CEO National Semiconductor 2900 Semiconductor Way PO Box 58090 Santa Clara, CA 95052-8090 Dear Mr. Halla: I am deeply disturbed that National Semiconductor has ignored the health hazards for the workers at its plant in Scotland. Instead, your company has paid for a half-page ad in the local Greenock newspaper to deny that health hazards exist, following a recent BBC Frontline special which featured women working at National Semiconductor in Greenock who are suffering from illnesses such as breast, uterine and stomach cancer and leukemia. I endorse the campaign of the International Campaign for Responsible Technology and call on National Semiconductor to commit to abide by: *** the covenants of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, especially article 23 which addresses the rights of people to �favorable conditions of work� and *** the conventions of the International Labor Organizations, especially the convention on Occupational Safety and Health (1981) which requires that employers ensure that the chemical substances under their control are without risk to health and that workers have a need for, and right to, information about the chemicals they use at work; and the Chemicals Convention (1990) which requires employers to assess, monitor and record the exposure of workers to hazardous chemicals to safeguard their safety and health. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Name: Organization: Address: City, Country e-mail Fax (e-mail back to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or fax back to svtc at 408-287-6771 __________________________________________________ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Leslie Byster Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition 760 N. First Street San Jose, CA 95112 408-287-6707-phone 408-287-6771-fax [EMAIL PROTECTED] >NOW AVAILABLE AT OUR WEBSITE -- Maps showing groundwater pollution and democgraphic data in Santa Clara County. Visit our website at http://www.svtc.org/resource.htm New information about our new book, SACRED WATERS: LIFE-BLOOD OF MOTHER EARTH, Four Case Studies of High-Tech Water Exploitation and Corporate Welfare in the Southwest > http://www.svtc.org/ > >
