A total of 146 workers from two Hong Kong-invested battery factories in Huizhou who were found with excessive cadmium in their body had their case heard in court on 3 November.

The workers, more than 95 percent women and aged between 20 and 30, previously worked at Huizhou Xianjin battery factory and Huizhou Chaoba battery factory, both owned by Hong Kong-listed Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Ltd.

When the workers discovered they had excessive cadmium in their body in May 2004, major mainland media, including Xinhua News Agency, reported about their grievances.

In August 2004, the Huizhou city government held a press conference on the matters, saying that 177 workers were found to have cadmium in their body exceeding 5µmol/mol creatinine in two consecutive urine tests, which meant that they were qualified to receive further medical observation. At that time, two workers were found to be chronic cadmium-poisoned. During the press conference, local government officials and Hui Wing-sun, an executive director of GP Batteries International Ltd (a subsidiary of Gold Peak), promised that they would "protect the rights of the two chronic cadmium poisoned workers and the 177 workers under medical observation strictly in accordance with the PRC Labour Law."

According to Southern Metropolis News, the 146 workers, 86 from the Xianjin factory and 60 from the Chaoba factory, received free legal assistance from the Women and Gender Study Center of the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.

In their writ, the workers said that their labour relations with the factories were terminated after they were given little compensation for being found to have high levels of cadmium in their body. It breached the relevant requirements in the PRC Prevention of Occupational Disease Law. The factories promised to arrange health checks for them and promised to pay the relevant fees for them, including living expenses, but that pledge has never come into being.

Since the workers did not receive necessary medical treatment, their health had been deteriorating, the writ said. Some workers have got various symptoms and they could not find a new job because of their illnesses. The workers demanded that the company should provide them with another cadmium test. They also demanded for the compensation for the loss of working time, medical fee of the new cadmium test and re-employment.

The company said the workers' demands for the compensation for the loss of working time and re-employment had no legal basis.

The court hearing ended without reaching any decisions.

Sources: Southern Metropolis News (4 November 2006)

6 November 2006
CLB translation