Chinese activist protests at Nokia headquarters

Company denies discriminating against hepatitis carriers

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The Chinese Beijing Yirenping Center organisation has accused the mobile phone manufacturer Nokia of discriminating against carriers of the hepatitis B virus.
     The organisation’s coordinator Lu Jun says that a man who was hired by the Nokia factory in Dongguan was not allowed to take the job because a health check-up found him to be carrying Hepatitis B.
     “We have a recorded phone call as evidence, in which Nokia’s personnel department says that he will not be hired because of hepatitis B”, Lu Jun says.
     
China has about 100 million carriers of hepatitis B. The virus can be contracted at birth, and it can lead to a serious liver infection.
     On Friday, Lu Jun held a one-man demonstration in front of Nokia headquarters on Friday, holding a sign reading “SHAME ON NOKIA’s discrimination in China”.
     Lu Jun says that he travelled to Finland from Sweden at his own expense in order to draw attention to his cause.
     
Nokia denies that it discriminates against carriers of the virus, insisting that a chronic disease is not an impediment to being hired by the company.
     “We no longer take blood tests of job applicants. For that reason, we do not even know if our new employees are carriers of the virus or not”, says Nokia spokesman Thomas Jönsson.
     In a trial over the matter, Nokia was acquitted of labour discrimination.
     “The trial was bribed. We are appealing the decision of the court. Why didn’t the court even ask a representative of the personnel department, who admitted discrimination, to testify?” Lu Jun asked.


Links:
  China Labour Bulletin . Nov. 6th 2008: “Dongguan court´s dubious ruling in Nokia HBV discrimination case”

Helsingin Sanomat