WOMEN WORKING WORLDWIDE LAUNCH A NEW BOOK

Dear friends,
We are writing to tell you about our publication, Common
Interests:  Women Organising in Global Electronics published
on May 1.

Common Interests contains first-hand material from women
working in electronics and microelectronics production and
assembly in thirteen countries - Korea, US, Scotland,
Thailand, Malaysia, Italy, India, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan,
Pakistan, Japan and The Philippines - and country profiles on
the electronics industry, women's employment and the trade
union movement.

"The mobilising experiences of women, as remembered and
evaluated by the women themselves, make the book compelling
reading.  A fresh combination of academic analyses with
personal narratives assures the book an important place in the
new genre of writings on contemporary labour movements."

- Swasti Mitter, author of Common Fate, Common Bond
Workers describe how they organise to improve their working
conditions often in the face of the most violent opposition.
They are tackling not only their transnational bosses, but
also the trade unions, old and new, and their own 'second
class' status.  The high-tech industry has moved freely - to
areas of high unemployment like Scotland, or to countries with
very cheap labour such as Thailand.  Wherever they are
employers know they can rely on local social structures and
attitudes towards gender, race, ethnicity, class and religion
to assist them in oppressing and undermining women at work.
"It raises in a very concrete and practical way the challenges
facing the trade union movement worldwide in responding both
to the changing position of women in the paid workforce, and
the stratagems adopted by the transnational corporations
operating in the electronics industry."

- Bill Speirs, Scottish Trades Union Congress

The book focuses on the issues women workers face, such as,
job security, low wages, health and safety, nightwork,
childcare and sexual harassment.  Although women's working
circumstances, and the countries they live in, vary widely
common interests do exist.

Common Interests challenges the official trade union movements
to back women workers' organising efforts and change both the
ways in which they work and the issues they champion.

To order a copy of Common Interests by post please send a
cheque or postal order for UK 8.00 to Women Working Worldwide,
Box 92, 190 Upper Street, London N1 1RQ, England.  For every
additional copy ordered please deduct 50 pence.  Please make
cheques payable in pounds sterling.  For air mail orders
outside of the EC please add 2.50.

If you are a small underfunded women's or trade union
organisation we would accept a book in exchange in lieu of
payment.

If you would like to have information about Women Working
Worldwide please write 'report' on your order.




WOMEN WORKING WORLDWIDE

Women Working Worldwide is a small voluntary organisation in
Britain concerned with the employment, pay, and working
conditions of working women internationally, both in the North
and in the South.  At present, we focus on industries which
employ large numbers of women:  clothing, textiles and
electronics.  Our aim is to support women workers through
information exchange, international networking and public
education in Britain.

We look at the changing structure of women's employment in
manufacturing in Britain and the sharp rise in the number of
women workers in manufacturing in the South within the same
global context:  the aid and trade policies of Northern
governments, the investment and employment strategies of private
companies, especially transnational corporations, and the
all-pervasive processes of racism and sexism.

For latest news from the London group please see 'Global
Electronics' on this bulletin board.

Women Working Worldwide
Box 92
190 Upper
Street
London N1 1RQ
England
Electronic mail:  GEO2:G.REARDON ('message for Women Working
Worldwide')
Or:
Women Working Worldwide
c/o Department of Sociology
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL
England
Electronic mail: GEO2:W3.MANCHESTER