Those Were the Years, When I Was at Foxconn
March 1, 2013The video (see the link in youtube below) is an interview of a young female former Foxconn worker’s work and resistance at the mold production shop floor. She tells having entered Foxconn when she was 18 years old, at first earning just 1 Chinese yuan a day as trainee but actually working the same as other workers.
The dusty environment and corrosive chemicals used put the workers’ health at risk but when injured, workers had to apologize in work meetings instead of getting proper treatment and compensation. Workers who stood up for better protection would be pressured to keep silent.
Her testimony adds to the growing number of stories we hear, of young migrant workers being exploited. We are left to reflect: do we really understand the thousands of human faces behind the successful images and huge profits of those IT brands, including Apple?
Those Were the Years, When I Was at Foxconn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhf0tgtXd8c&feature=youtu.be
Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour
Email: sacom@sacom.hk Website: www.sacom.hk
Apple’s Chinese suppliers still exploiting workers, says report
February 28, 2013Apple has so far failed in its responsibility to monitor its Chinese suppliers for worker violations, claims a labor watchdog group.
In a report released yesterday, Student & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM)accused three of Apple’s Chinese suppliers of inhumane worker conditions. The three suppliers — Foxlink, Pegatron, and Wintek — fail to provide for basic human needs and continue to use student workers, according to SACOM.
An Overview of the Growth of Samsung Group Malaysia
February 14, 2013Abstract
The electronics and electrical (E&E) industry in Malaysia has grown to become a prime industry, accounting for 6 percent of the country’s gross national income and 41 per cent of its total exports. Key players in the electronics industry are multinational corporations (MNCs) which exercise great influence over the organization of production, labour practices, and development trends of the industry both locally and globally. Labour laws and regulations remain biased in favour of employers. Additionally, MNCs operating in the country have kept labour costs low by employing greater percentage migrant workers who are paid much less than Malaysian nationals. While the industry registers hundreds of billions of ringgit in terms of value of output, the workers are still being denied benefits in spite of the huge profits these companies have been making year after year. This report attempts to provide insights into these aspects of the E&E industry by taking the Samsung Group in Malaysia as a case study. It discusses the expansion of Samsung Malaysia, investigates the organising of production at one of its subsidiaries, and provides a glimpse into the working conditions of the workers.
Author - By Nganyin Lai
The Copper Age Returns (and Brings a Mess)
January 4, 2013Last Thursday, riot police used water cannons, tear gas, and incendiary devices to attack a peaceful encampment of protesters at the Letpadaung mine site — an assortment of Buddhist monks, peasants complaining of illegal land seizures, and activists taking advantage of the country’s recent democratic opening — who had been protesting for months against a proposed billion-dollar expansion. When the raid was over, dozens were injured; videos from a local hospital showed saffron-robed monks disfigured by burns.
via Read More.
KCOMWEL announced its recognition of the death of Ms. D.E. Kim from breast cancer as an occupational death from her work at Samsung Semiconductor plant.
This is the second recognition of occupational disease of Samsung Semiconductor workers by Korean governments. The first case was aplastic anemia.
The decision of KCOMWEL to compensate for her death was made based on its recognition of work-relatedness of her cancer with exposures to radiation, hazardous chemicals, and shiftwork with nightwork which is classified as a probable human carcinogen by IARC.
It is known that 70~80% of breast cancer is developed by environmental factors. It is very rare to get malignancy like breast cancer at age of early 30′s. Night shift known as a carcinogen to human and stress which can disturb immunity as well as chemicals and radiation can contribute to develop the breast cancer of Ms.Kim.
Ms.Kim was born in 1976. She entered Samsung Semiconductor plant at Giheung in May 1995 at age of 19. Her first duty was done at the line number 7, which had just been set up and unstable. She worked at the Ion Implantation, photo, and etching processes in the same factory until January 2000.
After leaving the factory, Ms.Kim married and became a mother of two children. In August 2009, when she was 33 years old, stage Ⅲ of breast cancer was found. Despite of mastectomy and treatment, cancer spread to the bone and liver.
