China's workers rising

December 2, 2010 from 4:30pm - 6pm
David Strong Building, Room C118
University of Victoria, Victoria, BC

Cathy Walker is the former National Health and Safety Director of the CAW (Canadian Auto Workers Union), which is the largest private sector union in Canada with 260,000 members. She was appointed to the position in 1992 and retired in 2006. Since then Cathy has visited China on numerous occasions, studying Chinese, visiting workplaces, and meeting with workers and union officials. She participated in the Vancouver and District Labour Council's delegation to China is 2006.

Since 2009, Cathy has been working with Anita Chan (Australia National University) on a three year project researching working conditions in the auto and auto parts industries in China. They have visited factories and met with union, management and workers in factories in Shandong, Guangdong, Hubei, Beijing and Shanghai and she was present during the workers' upsurge this spring.