Training for Change:MHSSN’s Work In Asia

and the Americas

Garrett Brown

ANROAV Conference

Hong Kong - Aug 2007

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History and Goals

• Maquiladora Health & Safety Support Network founded in November 1993 by the OHS Section of the American Public Health Association

• All-volunteer network of 400+ OHS professionals in the US, Canada and Mexico, and now in Asia

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Strategic Goals

• Informed and active workers able to:– Speak and act in their own name– Recognize OHS hazards and controls– Know and exercise their rights under

national and international law– Organize to win improved conditions in

OHS and other labor rights

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Overall Methods

• North-South collaboration in the Americas and then Asia

• Build OHS capacity of local worker- and community-based groups

• Provide information, technical assistance and training

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Specific Tactics

• Plug into existing network of professionals for resources

• Plug into existing networks of grassroots organizations for partners and collaborators

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Specific Tactics

• Use TNCs’ claims about CSR to gain access to factories

• Use access to plants to increase effectiveness of trainings

• Use access to plants to give NGOs/unions opportunities to interact with workers

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Work in the Americas

• Partnership with CJM, SNEEJ, CFO and others on U.S.-Mexico border

• Partnership with FAT union in Mexico City

• Partnership with Regional Initiative in Central America and the Dominican Republic

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Funding Sources

• U.S. NGOs provide money for “sister organizations” in Mexico

• Grant proposals from U.S. foundations

• University resources for specific trainings

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Capacity-Building

• 1993-2001: more than a dozen trainings on border and in Mexico City

• Develop a core of “peer trainers” – women maquila workers themselves

• Economic crisis of 2001 undercuts plan

• Revival of activities from 2005 onwards

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Technical Assistance

• Two jointly written complaints filed under NAFTA labor side agreement

• Testimony by U.S. OHS professionals at NAFTA complaint hearings

• Specific hazard and control information for campaigns against particular employers

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Using TNC Connections

• Two trainings in Guatemala with 3 unions and 8 NGOs from all five Central American countries with field days in Korean-owned garment factories producing for the GAP

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Work in Asia

Same model:

• Build local OHS capacity

• Gain access for NGOs/unions to factories

• Provide technical assistance

• Funding from MacArthur Foundation and brands

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Indonesia: 2000-02

• Local partner: LIPS

• Participants: 6 unions and 8 NGOs

• Training materials: Indonesian manual turned into OHS booklet by union

• Use Nike contact to visit 8,000-worker sports shoe plant

• Follow-up training

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China Projects: 2001-06

• Yue Yuen in Dongguan, August 2001– Goal: train management and worker

members of plant H&S committees– Goal: build the OHS capacity of HK NGOs

and their China staff– Goal: provide NGOs with access to

factories and workers

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Yue Yuen - 2001

• Formal MOU between 4 Hong Kong NGOs, 3 brands and 3 factory operators

• Local coordinator: CWWN

• Funding from MacArthur Foundation and brands

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YY Training Activities

• Manual and materials in Chinese – later used by NGOs and factories

• 4-day training inside a 30,000-worker factory producing for adidas with participants from two other Nike and Reebok plants

• 3 plants establish H&S committees

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YY Training Follow-up

• NGOs conduct trainings with plant H&S committees

• H&S Committee at Kong Tai Shoes coincides with union election

• Special issue of IJOEH captures lessons of YY training for other plants

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China since 2002

• Over time management support for plant H&S committees declines

• U.S. government funding more harm than good:– 2003 ICO “migrant workers college”– 2004-05 attempts to do NGO trainings

inside China postponed, then cancelled

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China in 2006

• Research trip to Apache II plant– Study impact of “lean manufacturing” on

factory-level OHS– Field experience for CLSN staff

IJOEH article coming out in September

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Ongoing Challenges

• Funding for activities– Time and energy for constant fund-raising– “Strings” and agenda-warp from funders– Corrosive impact on relationships with

partners, volunteers and staff

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Ongoing Challenges

• Scale and impact of projects– Do the projects reach “enough” people?– Do the projects have any “lasting impact”?– Do the projects make any difference in

workers’ lives?– How best to measure the impact?

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Ongoing Challenges

• Ebb and flow of local partners– Political context and security risks in each

country or region– Natural turn-over in leadership and staff

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Key Lessons

• OHS as entry point for change– OHS important to workers and is an

effective organizing theme locally and “neutral” focus for international campaigns

– “Relatively easy” to build NGO/union capacity in OHS

– OHS campaign successes “bleed over” to other labor rights issues

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Key Lessons

• Keys for successful trainings:– Use of “popular education” techniques,

activities and materials– Access to actual workplaces – Repeat trainings 2-3 times to generate

knowledgeable and confident peer trainers

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Key Lessons

• Keys for successful trainings:– Post-training collaboration between

participants to share experiences and materials

– Post-training outreach to workers and allied organizations

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Key Lessons

• Partnerships must be genuine:– Relationship of equals – two-way

exchanges of information and leadership– Transparency and accountability– Northern resources for Southern projects

with the South setting the goals and priorities

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Contact Information

Garrett Brown

Maquiladora Health & Safety Support Network

P.O. Box 124

Berkeley, CA 94701 USA

gdbrown@igc.org

http://mhssn.igc.org