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WOMAN DIES IN REEBOK'S FACTORY
In March 1996 a woman worker at a factory producing Reebok shoes in Tangerang Indonesia died after being forced to do overtime. Popon, 28 years old and mother of two children, had asked her unit leader for permission to go home after feeling sick. This was after two hours of compulsory overtime at the Spotec factory. Permission to go home was denied, apparently because the unit leader feared the reaction of the supervisor of the section. According to Popon's husband, she was often forced to work 11 hour shifts. Workers are not able to refuse overtime work and are even required to work on Sunday. In a reaction labour groups are issuing a declaration demanding an end to forced overtime in shoe factories.On March 25 sportshoe factory workers in Thailand staged protests outside Reebok Stones in Bangkok. This followed two weeks of protests outside the Government House by workers unfairly dismissed for being involved in trade union activities.
Over 2.000 workers at Piyavat Rubber Industry Co Ltd in Thailand which produces sport shoes under the brand names Adidas, Reebok and Converse have been victims of unfair dismissal and union-busting by their employer. Since January the Piyavat workers' trade union was becoming more and more active in expressing their grievances and insisting that the employer adhere to government regulations on labour standards. In response to the growing assertiveness of the trade union, the owner shifted equipment and machines from the Piyavat factory to its other factory at Wongpaitoon Footwear Co Ltd. Workers were then asked to 'volunteer' to go to the new factory. About 1.800 workers were eventually relocated. Although all of the members of the trade union committee volunteered to go, they were not accepted. As a result the workers who were targeted for their trade union activities remained at the Piyavat factory. On march 8, international women's day, the remaining 760 woman workers were dismissed and the factory was closed.
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