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Interview-Account of Injured Chinese Restaurant Worker
from Getting Together (circa 1972); Chinese-American Workers: Past & Present
Since capitalism places the accumulation of wealth as the highest goal in this society, it is no surprise that job safety and medical care for workers plays a distant second fiddle to business profits. Despite the technological achievements in the United States, workers' welfare in these fields is terribly deficient. Every year, industrial accidents take a toll of 15,000 lives, and many more are injured. Chinese workers are also victims of this carnage. The majority of Chinese workers do not belong to any unions. When they have injuries, they have no one to turn to. Even when they do belong to a union, it often doesn't do much since the union is not under the control of the rank-and-file. Thus, when Chinese and other workers are injured on the job, they are often sacrificed through legal maneuvers to the almighty dollar. The following interview with a Chinese woman worker is a good example.
Could you describe the accident you had at work?
It happened on March 16, 2 p.m., on the job. I Work at a restaurant in Manhattan. There was a sudden crash of a big pot of spaghetti water. The boiling water spitted all over the right side and front of my body. At that moment, my employer saw the accident, and he came over to tell me to just "go back home and change your dress." He rushed me home, not concerned with my injury at all. Actually I get off work at 2 p.m., and this was on my own time. But my boss wanted me to work until 3 p.m., an extra hour without pay. Even then at 2:00 after I had lost all feeling in the right side of my body, he wanted me to come back to work. Go I took the train home, and on the train my body was getting hotter and hotter. I almost fainted on that train, it was so hot. I stopped at a store and bought some burn ointment. When I got home, the skin on my body was already blistering. I fainted in bed at 8 p.m., and when I got up my body was full of blistering and skin was peeling off. The second day I went back to work, and my boss and another girl discussed whether they should call a union doctor. They called up and made an appointment with this union doctor, who was not a specialist in this field at all. The doctor only gave me some ointments, not any internal medicine. And then he went on vacation, leaving a small girl in his office to act as a doctor in his place. This girl was the one who actually treated me.
What did the boss do to help you?
From the beginning the boss tried to tell me that my injury was not serious, wouldn't agree to let me take days off work. He was trying to conceal the real facts in my case.
Why was he trying to conceal the facts?
To receive Workmen's Compensation from the union you have to prove you were disabled from work for at least seven days. The boss made me come to work even though I was in no condition to work, and could just stand around. The union doctor did not even make himself available to see or treat me during those first weeks, so he would not have to sign proof of serious injury and treatment over those seven days. So I think this was a whole legal trick. These people were just trying to save money for themselves. They bluff you, the boss says, "Just change your dress." They let you stand at work although you can't do any physical work because you are in pain: they think your life is just like an ant's, and to die is a small thing since this world is overpopulated anyway. They want to save money, not save your life.
Why did you decide to report this case now?
I recently filed a compensation claim. The union doctor discharged me as soon as he found out. I have seen other doctors since then, and found out that I need to have therapeutic treatment, and will have muscular pains for a year. I have had fevers, permanent internal injuries and permanent skin damage. When I was first injured and needed care I had to accept whatever care I could get, no matter how bad this union doctor treated me. How could I reject the union doctor's care when my life was at stake'? You have to take care of yourself first. But now I have recovered and am strong enough to question back, expose the legal tricks of my boss. I demand repayment for these injuries and injustices.
Section 2: Present Workers Conditions
A Life of Struggle, The Bitter Sadness
Things I Saw and Heard Working in A Restaurant
Restaurant Workers Unite
Working in a Packing House
Story of an "illegal" Immigrant Worker
Section 3: Women Workers
Women in Chinatown
New York Schools
Interview with a Garment Worker
A Credit to Your Race
Interview with an Ex-Secretary
Interview with a Garment Worker
Section 4: Chinese Youth
