The Nightmare Ends, for Now… (pages 55-56) (Elizabeth Martinez)
Chun Yu and her friends decided to no longer tolerate Mirage Factory’s negligence towards health, sanitation, and the law, but stand up for their rights. Rather than keeping their silence, they tried fighting for justice by filing a labor claim against the company. They sought rightful compensation for the long arduous hours they worked but were not paid for. Although labor officials were corrupt, Chun Yu and other workers remained united, were persistent, and eager to resist the many inequalities factory workers confronted.
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Tiger Hong (Pages 147-148) (Ashley Marston)
A woman named Yu Wei Hong told Chun Yu Wang of her experiences of transferring from Michigan factory to Sam Kwang factory. She stated that she was given the option to live either in the barracks or outside for a fee to the big monitor and the director. Hong wanted to live outside, did not wish to pay the fee, so she wrote a letter to the office. They did not care and to punish her for rising up, they deducted a sufficient amount from her pay check. In response, she began to gather evidence to take them to court. Another girl in the same situation filed a complaint with the Federal Ombudsman's Office. Sam Kwang found this out and became scared of an uprising, so they met her demands. The woman spread the word of her victory against the factories wishes and confrontation broke out between her and the big monitor. The woman stated, "At Sam Kwang, you are Big Monitor, but when you walk outside the door, you are nothing". Hong and this woman stood up to the factories and demanded their rights in a proper and legal way. These two, strong women stood up to the man and told them that they had just the same legal rights that factory heads did. In my opinion, they set an example for the quieter ones who just did as they were told, like Chun Yu Wang, and opened the doors for the masses to have a say in the system. The bottom up strategy is something I feel is very important to keep the system fair and just.
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Atu. (Like an Egg Hitting a Rock) pg.33- Lina Norena
I would like to identify an example of an ineffective bottom-up strategy which can be found in many chapters of the book as Chun Yu moved from factory to factory. In this particular passage, she tells the story of a heated argument she fell into with one of her "big monitors" named Atu. She describes how many of the big monitors would get paid off by the workers to make their lives "easier" in the factories. Chun Yu was one of the few that would not succumb to this. She describes an altercation between her and Atu where Atu was asking her to do the work of one of the other factory workers who had paid her off. "...$500 to make her life easy. That meant someone else's life would get harder. That someone was me." (Wang 33) Chun Yu refused to do as she was told and this made Atu angry, resulting in a fight between the two. We see these type of injustices in all industries today where there is favoritism among the supervisors and other workers or platonic friendships that create a gap between them other workers of the same ranking. Although Chun Yu was standing up for herself and what she thought was right, this argument was not the most effective way to deal with this situation. Unfortunately, her situation might have been a lost cause even if she approached someone in upper management because of the nature of the factory. The above blog post I think exemplifies a better way of dealing with injustices in a work place although it can be dangerous. Throughout history we've learned about the fear of an uprising in minorities and this in turn causes adjustments to be made within the system to prevent that feared uprising. Real changes have been made throughout history in fear of slave uprisings and minority uprisings and although it may not be the best solution or the definite solution to the issue, it's definitely better than singling yourself out to someone who has power over your job.
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Looking for bones in an Egg - Pages 133 - 135 (Jill Shah)
One of the bottom-up strategy that Chun Yu used, in order to escape the insults and scolding of her line monitor Ying, was by fighting back to her and not accepting the things the way they were and living life along. When Ying accused Chun Yu of lying about the number of pieces she had worked on, she could not take it. Instead of putting up with whatever false accusation the monitor blamed her for, she decided to prove herself and fight back. She told her that if she wanted to she could go back and count them herself and then add them up to see it was right. Further more she said, "If I do something wrong, I will accept criticism. If I am right, you have to give me respect". This shows how much courage Chun Yu had in herself and how she wasn't afraid of the "powers" of the monitor. For her, what was wrong - was wrong. After Ying realized that she had made a mistake by getting into a fight with Chun Yu and that Chun Yu was not one of the weak women, she denied the fact that she was addressing her in the first place. When Chun Yu heard her say this, she got even more furious and asked her who was she talking to if not her as she was looking right at her. Instead of thinking of letting the argument go since Ying denied her talking to Chun Yu, Chun Yu decided to challenge her and not let her get away with it. At first, the other girls were asking her to stop fighting with the monitor but in the end they all realized how righteous it was for Chun Yu to fight for what was right. She set a very heroic example for others to follow.
Another time, Chun Yu had to work on two machines at the same time and hence the pile of her clothes was very high. When Ying saw this, she asked her why she wasn't doing her work properly and why was she so slow. Chun Yu got very angry as she felt like Ying was accusing her of playing around and not working. She started screaming at Ying and Ying started crying. When the Big monitor interpreted, Chun Yu told her off too. The big monitor got very angry and told her to keep quiet or she would be sent home. To this, Chun Yu said, "No work? No problem!" and their argument continued. This shows us how Chun Yu did not get threatened by the threat the big monitor gave her and continued to fight back for what was right. She had realized that her work was very important for them and so she should be given respect as well. Here, Chun Yu illustrates that one should always fight for what is right and never put up with what is wrong.
