“The ICEM (International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions) expresses, on behalf of its 20 million members throughout the world, deep concern over the increasing news of numerous cases of silicosis among jewellery migrant workers in China and India, who are slowly dying of an illness that they contracted through a poor working environment, compounded by a failure to provide adequate medical care.

We express our heartfelt condolences to the family of Deng Wenping, a chinese migrant worker at a Hong Kong-invested jewellery factory in Southern China who has recently died and is one of the latest victims of silicosis in the sector.

ICEM urges all employers in the jewellery industries, as well as the competent authorities in China, to pay immediate attention to the serious health and safety problems in the industry, to eliminate present dangerous conditions, and to urgently improve both medical care and the social security system.

ICEM believes that only effective and genuine trade union representation of jewellery workers in China can lead to an adequate improvement of working conditions as well as contribute to meaningful industrial relations and social dialogue.”

Click here for a China Labour Bulletin background document on silicosis in China, entitled 'Deadly dust'.