The following groups and organizations have been taken from the article "Integrating Women into Multinational Development" from the ISIS Women and Development Guide. Most of these groups and organizations are engaged in ongoing work dealing with multinational corporations, and especially with microelectronics, and will be producing further materials in the future.
Center for the Progress of Peoples 48 Princess Margaret Road 1/F, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Tel: 3 - 71451234
Among the activities of the Center for the Progress of Peoples is a study on women workers in electronics factories in Asia being carried out by Sr. Christina Tse. The first part of the study, already completed, focused on the mechanisms used by the electronics industry to control workers in factories in Hong Kong, particularly Fairchild. An important part of the study was conducted by involving the workers themselves in the research project. The aim was not merely to get a better and more reliable way to gather facts, but also to help the workers reflect on their work experience and environment and initiate a conscientization process. The report of the study entitled The Invisible Control is available from the Center. Price US$ 2.40. Discounts for third world and bulk orders.
The Center also helps to link up workers and organizers in multinational corporations, particularly in Asia, by passing on requests for assistance from workers in one factory to others working for the same corporation elsewhere. It prepares reports on working conditions in the factories which can be used by organizations of workers.
The Center's newsletter, Asia Link, published six times a year, contains short news items on workers' struggles and on the Center's activities. Subscription rates are: outside of Asia US$ 3, Asia $ 1.50, Hong Kong $ 1.
Christian Conference of Asia — Urban Rural Mission (CCAURM) 57 Peking Road 5/F Kowloon Hong Kong.
Actively Involved with workers and their organizations in Asia, the CCA-URM office in Hong Kong has a great deal of information available on women and multinationals in Asia. It has also produced some excellent books on the issue, including Minangkabaul Stories of People vs TNCs in Asia, a 154 page book which intersperses recent case studies of multinationals in Asia with a clear and concise overview of the issues. It covers areas such as the reasons why corporations are investing in Asia, the myths of benefits to the third world countries, the mechanisms for dominating the economy, and actions people are taking to combat the negative effects of multinationals. Price: US$ 2.
Struggling to Survive: Women Workers in Asia is another valuable and highly interesting book. This is a 162 page compilation of actual stories of the struggles of women workers in various countries of Asia. It gives details about their working conditions and treatment and recounts their attempts to organize for their rights. Besides description, the book gives background and statistical information as well as analysis and suggestions for organizing. Price: US$ 1.
Counter Information Services (CIS) 9 Poland Street London W1 England.
CIS publishes regular "anti-reports" with company profiles of trend descriptions in the various industries. Its issue on The New Technology is particularly interesting, dealing with the devastating social impact of the use of micro processing in the industrial and white collar sectors, affecting job opportunities especially for women. The report also discusses the corporations' profits and state promotion of this new technology.
East-West Center 1777 East-West Road , Honolulu Hawaii 96848 . USA.
The Culture Learning Institute of the East-West Center, a national educational institution established by the US Congress in 1960, sponsored a research project on the "Impact of Transnational Interactions" in 1979 and 1980. The research concentrated on the electronics industry and its impact on women workers and a number of useful working papers are available from the Center on this issue. These are: Silicon Valley's Women Workers by Susan S. Green; Electronics: The International Industry and The Electronics Industry in New Zealand by Mary Alison Hancock; and The New International Division of Labor and the U.S. Workforce by Robert T. Snow
In her paper, subtitled "A Theoretical Analysis of Sex-segregation in the Electronics Industry Labor Market", Susan Green attempts to examine in a more profound way than has been hitherto done, the international division of labor by linking it to the sexual division of labor. She also briefly reviews the contributions of socialist feminist labor market theory to the issue and questions the assumption that the employment of women breaks down their traditional roles and gives them power.
In her first article on the international electronics industry, Mary Alison Hancock gives an overview of the US firms operating in Southeast Asia. Her second paper examines the dependence of the electronics industry in New Zealand on the international industry and the sexual division of labor and exploitation of women within that industry.
Robert Snow's article deals with the effects of the new international division of labor on the US workforce and asserts that "the question must be posed much more specifically: who are the workers who have gained or lost jobs as a result of corporate decisions to move production overseas?" All of these papers are accompanied by bibliographies, tables and statistics.
In addition, the Institute has produced a 46 page bibliography compiled by Mary Alison Hancock on Women and Transnational Corporations. Unfortunately, it is not annotated, nor are addresses given.
I DOC — international Documentation and Communication Center Via Santa Maria deH'Anima 30 00186 Rome Italy.
I DOC is an important source of information and documentation on current international issues such as multinational corporations, human rights, liberation movements and people's struggles both in the third world and in industrialized countries. An independent organization founded in 1962, it specializes in alternative research and information. Its extensive collection of these materials is indexed in a manual system, using computer logic, OASIS. From this collection, it is able to answer information requests and compile bibliographies on request.
IDOC publishes'a monthly IDOC Bulletin in English and occasional books. On the issue of multinationals it has published 'The Microelectronic Wave" Bulletin no. 1-2, January-February 1981 with overview articles and an excellent annotated bibliography of materials in English, French, Italian and Spanish (28 pages), "Rural Conflicts" Bulletin no. 5-6, May-June 1979 with articles on agrarian reform, agribusiness and development, and an extensive, annotated bibliography on these issues (50 pages). An updated bibliography on agribusiness (April 1981) is available on request. The Corporate Village, 1977, a 236 page book, deals with transnational control of communication systems. Price: US$ 8. Bulletin subscriptions: $ 12 per year, airmail postage $ 4 extra.
Nationwide Women's Program
American Friends Service Committee ; J 1501 Cherry Street Philadelphia Pennsylvania 19102 USA.
The Nationwide Women's Program has as one of its major focuses the issue of women and global corporations, particularly agribusiness and the textile and electronics industries. In October 1978, the Program convened a conference on "Women and Global Corporations: Work, Roles and Resistance", out of which has come a wealth of resource material. This conference brought together over one hundred women workers, organizers and researchers from the United States and three other countries
to examine the role of global corporations, actions and organizing to challenge corporate power, and ways to build communication and support among women working on these issues. The Women and Global Corporations Network grew out of this conference.
In addition, the Program has several excellent and indispensable resources for organizers and researchers. These are:
Study Packet of 24 reprints and articles used as resources and background for the conference, focusing on basic information about global corporations, women's jobs and the textile, electronics and agribusiness industries. It is appropriate both as an introduction to the issue and for deepening understanding of the dimensions of multinationals' impact on women. It can be used for a wide range of women's groups, union groups and classes. Price: US$ 4.
Directory of Resources, both printed and audio-visual, with a listing of conference participants, networks and groups focusing on women and global corporations, particularly electronics, textiles and agribusiness. This 95 page directory is an extremely useful resource with its selected, annotated listings of books, periodicals, articles, films and slideshows. Information on price and how to obtain the resources is included. Price: US$ 4.50. For postage and handling for both of the above, add 25% of purchase price.
The quarterly AFSC Women's Newsletter contains a special section on "Women and Global Corporations" with information and news about resources, conferences, campaigns and actions. It is an excellent source of information on what women are doing on the issue of multinationals and highly useful for networking among women. In addition, the program has a wide variety of uptodate and useful informational materials, both written and audio-visual, including The Corporate Slide Show, a hardhitting look at the advertizing and employment practices of corporations, particularly in relation to women.
North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA) 151 West 19th Street, 9th Floor New York New York 10011 USA.
NACLA publishes bi-monthly a magazine of in-depth studies, the NACLA Report on the Americas. Each report analyzes a particular aspect of the effects that giant banking and corporate investors — with strategic support from the US government — have had on the direction of Latin American development. Recent reports have increasingly emphasized the links between issues of popular concern in the US and conditions in Latin America, dmonstrating the need for working class struggles in the US to incorporate demands that are international in scope.
Full issues have been devoted to the apparel, electronics, asbestos, and steel industries on a global scale, as well as multiple auto and steel industries on a global scale, as well as multiple issues on agribusiness. Corporate studies have included the Rockefeller empire, particularly Chase Manhattan Bank, Cargill, Del Monte, W.R. Grace, among others. In 1980 NACLA devoted many of its issues to understanding the roots of the struggle in Central America.
The September-October 1980 issue is devoted to "Latin American Women". Subtitled "One Myth — Many Realities", it explores the nature of women's work and the sexual division of labor in Latin America, the largely female labor force in the US-Mexico border industries and how the Latin American women's movement is dealing with issues of women's oppression. Price: US$ 2.50. Subscriptions: $ 13 per year for individuals and $ 24 for institutions; airmail postage extra.
Pacific Studies Center 867 W. Dana Street no. 204 Mountain View California 94041 - USA.
The Pacific Studies Center is a non-profit activist oriented information center, operating since 1969. It publishes a quarterly. Pacific Research, which focuses on US foreign and military policies, multinational corporations, and the political economy of Asia and the Pacific. It also maintains a library and information files on these subjects. This material is accessible through an Information for Hire service. The Center has recently created the Global Electronics Information Project.
Issues of Pacific Research which are particularly useful for reresearch on the electronics and textile industries include:
"Philippines: Workers in the Export Industry" by Enrico Paglaban, vol. IX, nos 3 and 4, March-June 1978. This 31 page study focuses on the garment and electronics industries in the Philippines, giving a profile of the industries, examining the conditions of the workers and the particular exploitation of women, and a history of the workers' movement in the Philippines. In addition to statistics, the article is documented by statements from workers and management of various textile and electronics firm.
"Changing Role of S.E. Asian Women", vol. IX, nos. 5 and 6, July—October 1978. Published together with Southeast Asia Chronicle, this 32 page issue is subtitled "The Global Assembly Line and the Social Manipulation of Women on the Job". Rachael Grossman's excellent article, "Women's Place in the Integrated Circuit", reports on the electronics industry and its impact on women in Southeast Asia and the United States, examining corporate policies and control. This issue also contains an article on the growth of tourism and prostitution in the Philippines and one entitled "Orchestrating Dependency" by Lenny Siegel, showing how export-oriented industrialization is being promoted as a development model by the US government, global corporations, and financial institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the
Asian Development Bank.