A Letter to CIBJO World Jewellery Confederation and the Jewellery Industry
Published Date: 2005-03-05
A Letter to CIBJO World Jewellery Confederation and the Jewellery Industry
5th March 2005
We are jewellery factory workers from mainland China. We are here to seek justice and our well deserved compensations from our employers. We have worked for these employers under extremely poor working conditions for a few years. Polluted by the large amount of dust, we have contracted the horrible occupational disease of pneumoconiosis. Pneumoconiosis is incurable, and can be fatal in a few short years. A number of workers have already left this world, leaving behind huge debts, old age parents, young children and devastated wives. Not only do these unscrupulous employers shift their responsibilities for their workers, who have brought their employers enormous wealth, they have also found different excuses to refuse compensations.
We used to have happy families until we were diagnosed of pneumoconiosis. The disease has brought us pains and sufferings. Our old age parents, small children and our wives rush around borrowing money everywhere in order to keep our disease under control and thereby keep us alive. We are now handicapped and no longer able to bring in any income. We have difficulties in walking and talking; we are always out of breath and suffer from chest pains. All we can do now is to sob quietly and wait for our death to arrive.
We are now totally helpless. We have used up all our savings and do not have any more money to treat our disease. We are also heavily in debt. Our families are facing the loss of their loved ones while worrying about their future. Being either too old or too young, our family members are not able to make a living by themselves. How are they going to survive? Who is going to bring in an income for them? And we are still young…
We appeal to our friends here to help us to seek justice, to condemn our unscrupulous employers!
Li Wei-zhong, age 42, second stage pneumoconiosis
Feng Xing-zhong, age 35, second stage pneumoconiosis
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