International Conference on Workers’ Rights in Vietnam

Warsaw, October 28-30, 2006

 

“Bread and Liberty”

 

 

For immediate release

October 22, 2006

 

Concerned over the lack of labor rights and its current disastrous impact on the life of millions of Vietnamese workers, a number of Vietnamese expatriates in Europe, Australia, and North America will hold an international conference in Warsaw, Poland, the birthplace of Solidarność (Solidarity), the labor movement which rose to challenge Polish Communist authorities and eventually contributed to the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe in the late 1980’s.

 

To be held on October 28-30, 2006 at the Polish Ministry of Economy in Warsaw instead of the Polish Parliament Building as announced earlier, this conference has the following main purposes: (1) to learn from the experience of Solidarność, the Committee to Protect Polish Workers, and other labor organizations in Europe and North America; (2) to analyze labor laws and the situation of workers’ rights in Vietnam; and (3) to identify practical and specific ways to fight for Vietnamese workers’ rights.

 

Speakers at the conference include:

 

• Senator Zbigniew Romaszewski, Chairman of the Polish Senate’s Human Rights Committee

• Mr. Janusz Sniadek, President of Solidarność

• Mr. Zbyszek Wojak, former President of Solidarność

• Mr. Miroslaw Chojecki, Former Chairman of the Committee to Protect Polish Workers

• Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung, representative of the Textile Clothing Footwear Union of Australia and the Transport Workers Union of Australia

• Mr. Khai Q. Nguyen, vice chairman of the Vietnam Human Rights Network, former senior researcher at the World Bank, and former professorial lecturer of the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. 

• And speakers from other countries around the world, including Vietnam.

 

The Conference comes at an opportune time since a Vietnam Independent Labor Union just announced its formation in Hanoi on October 20, 2006.  It is also co-sponsored by a number of Polish lawmakers, Solidarność, and the Committee to Protect Polish Workers. In addition, it has received financial and technical support from many human rights advocates and a wide range of organizations within the Vietnamese overseas community, including the Committee for Religious Freedom in Vietnam, the Swiss Federation for Human Rights in Vietnam, the Movement of the Vietnamese Laity in the Diaspora, the Vietnamese Canadian Federation, the Vietnamese Community in Australia, the Viet Nam Cong Hoa Foundation, the Vietnam Human Rights Network, the Vietnam Restoration Party, the Vietnam Reform Party, the VNQDĐ Overseas Coordinating Council, the East Coast U.S.A. Vietnamese Publishers Consortium, the Vietnam Democracy Forum, and Vietnam Review.

 

The Conference will feature the launching of a booklet entitled Vietnam: Labor Rights in a Democratic Revolution containing essays and documents on the rise of the labor rights movement and the struggle for freedom and democracy in Vietnam.

 

Contacts for further information:

Tran Ngoc Thanh, trantuananh@wp.pl, 48-606-831-600 (Poland)

Trang Thanh Nguyen, nttrangvnhr@hotmail.com, 1-858-837-2152 (USA)

Cuong Trong Bui, Drctbui@hotmail.com, 61-7-3349-6494 (Australia).

 

 

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