Activism Change

Maquiladoras in America: Factory in Berkeley poisons labor

Question:

Management has removed all warning labels from cans of adhesive, ink, and other solvents. They are obligated, under California law, to provide warning in English and Spanish regarding the toxic nature of the substances workers are exposed to. They have not done so.

If this is true, then calling CAL-OSHA would be appropriate, also. CAL-OSHA’s number is …         Occupational Safety & Health                (415) 572-9424         1900 S. Norfolk, San Mateo                      24 hours Workers have suffered health impairment directly due to exposure to these chemicals. Skin rashes are commonplace. Fainting spells are commonplace. Impaired respiratory function is commonplace.

Each of these individuals should file a complaint with CAL-OSHA, and Cc: the Ecology Center, or, better yet, the Ecology Center should try to act as a facilitator. Keep the Net appraised of your progress … some of us really care.                                 -=*=- When a worker (who has asked not to be publicly identified) took the initiative to distribute info from New Jersey Fact Sheets regarding the health effects of toluene exposure (provided by the Ecology Center and RTKNET), her employment was terminated, on the grounds that she was a "temporary worker" and that there was no work for her to do.   At a meeting subsequent to her termination, workers were told that most of them would be laid off due to the activism of this one worker. Call Rubberstampede at (510) 843-8910.  Tell them you will not buy any of their products until they provide adequate safety training and equipment to their workers.

Seems like a reasonable request to me. — richard — =====          oracle data center  –  unix systems & network administration                     Klein flask for rent. Inquire within.

Response:

Harel Barzilai posts:     Berkeley firm gets rich while poisoning workers. You can     help by calling the company (510) 843-8910, and filling up     their fax (510) 843-5906. I don’t know if this is harrassment, but I think it is.  I have faxed a copy of this post with instructions on how they can find the original post and how to track down Harel to the firm in question.  I am also sending this post to Harel directly and I urge other to do so. After all, if he thinks it is appropriate to fill up other people’s faxes how can he complain if we fill up his e-mail?

        I bet $50 that H*r*l has his friend mail some email from "root" that basically says "help, I’m being oppressed!" to your sysadmin . Sir or Madam, I don’t know if your fax is getting loads of junk, but if it is the message referenced above is the reason. Just so you can interpret it, John McCarthy is responding to a post by someone named Harel Barilzai.  Harel posted an article to a bulletin board read by on the order of 100,000 people urging them to "fill up" your fax.  I didn’t get Harel’s original article so I can’t give it to you.  John quoted it. If you want to get in touch with Harel the best place to start is with Cornell – his computer account is there.  They may also be interested themselves – most universities have policies prohibiting people from using computers to harrass others.

        Ooooo, you dirty imperialist running dog!         BTW-if you need proof that H*r*l thinks this kind of behaviour "is a bad thing to do", I’ve got some email I can send you. Brett                                                       Proconsul Computer Consulting                                        CHA-CHING! Better, Cheaper, Faster                                        (Pick any two Disclaimer:                                                                NOT!

Response:

Harel Barzilai posts:     Berkeley firm gets rich while poisoning workers. You can     help by calling the company (510) 843-8910, and filling up     their fax (510) 843-5906.

I don’t know if this is harrassment, but I think it is.  I have faxed a copy of this post with instructions on how they can find the original post and how to track down Harel to the firm in question.  I am also sending this post to Harel directly and I urge other to do so. After all, if he thinks it is appropriate to fill up other people’s faxes how can he complain if we fill up his e-mail?     548-2220 Yes, but what’s the ecology Center’s fax number? John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305 * He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.

Sir or Madam, I don’t know if your fax is getting loads of junk, but if it is the message referenced above is the reason. Just so you can interpret it, John McCarthy is responding to a post by someone named Harel Barilzai.  Harel posted an article to a bulletin board read by on the order of 100,000 people urging them to "fill up" your fax.  I didn’t get Harel’s original article so I can’t give it to you.  John quoted it. If you want to get in touch with Harel the best place to start is with Cornell – his computer account is there.  They may also be interested themselves – most universities have policies prohibiting people from using computers to harrass others. Mike Friedman — I am not an official Oracle spokesman.  I speak for myself and no one else.

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Harel Barzilai posts:     Berkeley firm gets rich while poisoning workers. You can     help by calling the company (510) 843-8910, and filling up     their fax (510) 843-5906. . . .     548-2220 Yes, but what’s the ecology Center’s fax number? — John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305 * He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.

– I am not an official Oracle spokesman.  I speak for myself and no one else.

Response:

[Via misc.activism.progressive from LaborNet's labor.toxics]  - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – Topic 93        Factory in Berkeley poisons labor ecologycntr     Resources for labor re:toxics   10:13 am  Sep  4, 1992  - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - –     M A Q U I L A D O R A S ?   I N   B E R K E L E Y ? Berkeley firm gets rich while poisoning workers. You can help by calling the company (510) 843-8910, and filling up their fax (510) 843-5906. Tell them you’ll buy no rubberstamps until you hear that they’ve spent some of their profits on worker safety.

        Hypocrite. Brett                                                       Proconsul Computer Consulting                                        CHA-CHING! Better, Cheaper, Faster                                        (Pick any two Disclaimer:                                                                NOT!

Response:

Harel Barzilai posts:      Berkeley firm gets rich while poisoning workers. You can      help by calling the company (510) 843-8910, and filling up      their fax (510) 843-5906. . . .      548-2220 Yes, but what’s the ecology Center’s fax number? — John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305 * He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.

Response:

[Via misc.activism.progressive from LaborNet's labor.toxics]  - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – Topic 93        Factory in Berkeley poisons labor ecologycntr     Resources for labor re:toxics   10:13 am  Sep  4, 1992  - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - –          M A Q U I L A D O R A S ?   I N   B E R K E L E Y ? Berkeley firm gets rich while poisoning workers. You can help by calling the company (510) 843-8910, and filling up their fax (510) 843-5906. Tell them you’ll buy no rubberstamps until you hear that they’ve spent some of their profits on worker safety. Rubberstampede, at 2542 Tenth Street, in Berkeley CA, is a rapidly- expanding rubber-stamp manufacturer in Berkeley’s industrial western area. A multi-million dollar enterprise, Rubberstampede produces novelty rubber stamps of characters such as the Simpsons and other similar popular designs. Rubberstampede has been so successful, in fact, that it plans a move to an expanded location, in Oakland. This success is due in no small measure to management’s refusal to spend any capital on worker protection. Rubber stamps are made of rubber and wood, joined by an adhesive. The adhesive that is used at Rubberstampede contains toluene, a potent carcinogen, teratogen, and nerve toxin. The workers are exposed to other solvents, contained in inks, cleaning fluid, etc. (The adhesive is the only substance the Ecology Center has been able to get a label for.) Workers at the plant are provided with no protective wear whatsoever.   Ventilation is wholly inadequate to the number of employees on site,   Management has removed all warning labels from cans of adhesive, ink, and other solvents. They are obligated, under California law, to provide warning in English and Spanish regarding the toxic nature of the substances workers are exposed to. They have not done so. Workers have suffered health impairment directly due to exposure to these chemicals. Skin rashes are commonplace. Fainting spells are commonplace. Impaired respiratory function is commonplace. When a worker (who has asked not to be publicly identified) took the initiative to distribute info from New Jersey Fact Sheets regarding the health effects of toluene exposure (provided by the Ecology Center and RTKNET), her employment was terminated, on the grounds that she was a "temporary worker" and that there was no work for her to do.   At a meeting subsequent to her termination, workers were told that most of them would be laid off due to the activism of this one worker. Call Rubberstampede at (510) 843-8910.  Tell them you will not buy any of their products until they provide adequate safety training and equipment to their workers. (510) 548-2220 For more info about PeaceNet (or EcoNet), use the GET command (see below) with the file name PEACENET BROCHURE (respectively, ECONET BROCHURE) PeaceNet and EcoNet are run by the Institute for Global Communications (IGC), a project of the nonprofit Tides Foundation.     To get a file named FILE NAME from the     archiver (files are two words  separa-     ted by a space), send the 1-line message     GET FILE NAME ACTIV-L     Use GET with the file ACTIV-L ARCHIVE for a listing of     files available with the GET command. emailed the index of archived files.

Response:

Filed under: Global Activism

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