Title: Update on International Work
Author:
Section/SPIG: Occupational Health and Safety
Issue Date:
APHA Occupational Health Section members Betty Szudy, from the Labor Occupational Health Program at UC Berkeley, and Garrett Brown, from the Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network, continue to do work to build health and safety capacity among unions and non-governmental organizations in various parts of the world.
Recent activities have included a four-day training in Antigua, Guatemala in September 2003 that involved four independent monitoring groups, three trade unions, and eight women's and human rights organizations. The participants came from four Central American countries: Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador. The Regional Initiative for Social Responsibility and Decent Work, a grouping of Central American independent monitoring and research organizations, was the sponsor of the training
funded by the International Labor Rights Fund in Washington, DC. Guatemala's COVERCO (Comision de Verificacion de Codigos de Conducta) was the host organization, and Abby Najera was the local coordinator.
The goal of the training was twofold: 1) to build the capacity of the independent monitoring organizations to conduct more rigorous evaluations of health and safety conditions in the maquiladora sector plants in Central America; and 2) to increase the understanding of health and safety issues among non-governmental organizations working closely with maquila workers in the region, especially in the garment and textile sector.
In Fall, 2003 Garrett Brown and Professor Dara O'Rourke of UC Berkeley were guest editors for a special issue of the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health (October-December 2003) focused entirely on occupational health and China. Articles written by academics, occupational health professionals, and NGO activists focus on: rules and regulations in Chinese factories; occupational safety and health legislation in China; developing an action-based health and safety training
for workers in southern China; and incentives and impediments to improving workplace conditions in China.
The project is currently seeking funding for a part-time staff member based in the States along with funding for local project partners based in southern China and Central America. For additional information about the project and/or to share funding possibilities, please go to <www.igc.org/mhssn> or contact <gdbrown@igc.org>.