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Ted ppt presentation for global production workshop in guangzhou draft final dec 2011
1. Challenging the Chip:
Labor rights and environmental justice in the
global electronics industry
Organizing and Advocacy for Health and Environmental Justice
in the High-Tech Industry
Presented at Global Production, Economic Development, and labor
standards in the Information Technology Industry
Guangzhou, China
December, 2011
Ted Smith, Founder,
Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition;
Electronics TakeBack Coalition; and
International Campaign for Responsible Technology
www.icrt.co
3. Transition from Valley of Hearts
Delight to Silicon Valley
• In the 1970s, farming and the canning and
food packaging industries started to move
away
• A new industry started to grow up based
on new technologies – it became known
as the high tech electronics industry and
produced semiconductors, printed circuit
boards, disk drives and computers
4. Unions
Organizing Silicon Valley's High Tech Workers
by David Bacon
http://dbacon.igc.org/Unions/04hitec1.htm
• From the beginning, high tech workers had to face an
industry-wide anti-union policy. Robert Noyce, who
participated in the invention of the transistor, and later
became a co-founder of Intel Corp., declared that
"remaining non-union is an essential for survival for
most of our companies. If we had the work rules that
unionized companies have, we'd all go out of
business. This is a very high priority for
management here. We have to retain flexibility in
operating our companies. The great hope for our nation
is to avoid those deep, deep divisions between workers
and management which can paralyze action."
5. Unions
Organizing Silicon Valley's High Tech Workers
by David Bacon
http://dbacon.igc.org/Unions/04hitec1.htm
The First Effort - Organizing Semiconductor Workers
• The historic base for organizing activity among the high
tech workforce for many years were the workers in the
semiconductor plants. Starting in the early 1970s,
workers began to form organizing committees affiliated
to the UE in plants belonging to National Semiconductor,
Siltec, Fairchild, Siliconix, Semimetals, and others. Most
of these were semiconductor manufacturing plants, or
factories which supplied raw materials to those plants.
• By the early 1980's, the UE Electronics Organizing
Committee had grown to involve a signed-up core
membership of over 500 workers, who were participants
in a number of union campaigns.
6. Unions
Organizing Silicon Valley's High Tech Workers
by David Bacon
http://dbacon.igc.org/Unions/04hitec1.htm
• Eventually the semiconductor manufacturers,
especially National Semiconductor, fired many of
the leading union activists, and the committee
gradually dispersed as its members sought work
where they could find it. The main strategic
question which the committee sought to answer
remains unresolved.
7. History of organizing for better conditions
• In the mid 70's, a small group of people started
meeting to discuss concerns over the chemical-
handling aspects of the semiconductor industry
and what might be done to raise these issues
publicly. The group was called ECOSH,
Electronics Committee for Occupational Safety
and Health. ECOSH members included
electronics workers, occupational nurses,
attorneys, industrial hygienists, engineering and
medical students, labor, environmental and
religious leaders.
8. History of organizing for better conditions
• Organized an effort to ban the use of TCE
• Santa Clara Center for Occupational Safety and
Health (SCCOSH) was formally organized in
1978. ECOSH continued as a SCCOSH project
into the early 1980s, gaining recognition for a
vigorous and largely successful campaign to ban
TCE as well as energetic support and advocacy
for many workers trying to win better conditions
for themselves and co-workers.
9. History of organizing for better conditions
• Another early SCCOSH project was
Injured Workers United, a support group
for workers already affected by chemical
exposures, trying to secure fair
compensation, decent medical care and
retraining. The Silicon Valley Toxics
Coalition (SVTC) also started out as an
early project of SCCOSH in 1982.
14. The Reality of
High Tech Impact
• Semiconductor workers experience illness
rates 3 times greater than manufacturing
workers in other industries
• In 3 epidemiological studies, women who
worked in fabrication rooms were found to
have rates of miscarriage of 40% or more
above non-manufacturing workers
• Silicon Valley has more EPA Superfund sites
than any other area in the USA
15. Toxic Components in
electronic products
• Solvents, acids, photoresists, gases, etc used to
make chips, disk drives, etc
• Lead and cadmium in circuit boards
• Lead in CRT monitors
• Brominated flame retardants on printed circuit
boards, cables and plastic casing
• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cables
• Mercury switches, flat screens
16. Clean rooms and
miscarriages
“ new concerns … may prove a potential black eye
for a high technology industry that … sought to
portray itself as clean and with little impact on the
environment.
Women exposed to certain chemicals … in the nation’s
semiconductor factories face a significantly higher
risk of miscarriage, a broad industry-financed
study has found. The study is the 3rd in 4 years to
find that … glycol ethers have toxic effects. “
Oct 12 and Dec. 4, 1992
17. Chip plants not safe in Scotland
Wall Street Journal
October 5, 1998
• SEMICONDUCTOR PLANTS AREN'T SAFE AND
CLEAN By BILL RICHARDS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
• GREENOCK, Scotland -- At the Inverclyde Advice
and Employment Rights Center here, two dozen
women crowd around a table. In angry Scottish
burrs, they recite a litany of medical problems:
cancers, birth defects, multiple miscarriages.
18. IBM Corporate Mortality File
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1626450
• IBM maintained records of 30,000 workers that
identified cause of death over 30 years
• Records were analyzed by Dr. Richard Clapp,
epidemiologist at Boston Univ.
• Breast cancer deaths in women at IBM were
2.42 times the expected number
• Similar findings for brain cancer, kidney cancer,
non-Hodgikins lymphoma
19. IBM settles chemical suit
January 23, 2001 Case involved
microchip site workers' son
• By Craig Wolf
Poughkeepsie Journal
A lawsuit described as the first to test claims that chemicals in a microchip plant could
be harmful to people has been settled, the parties said Monday. IBM Corp. and
attorneys for Zachary Ruffing, a 15-year-old whose parents both had worked in the
1980s at IBM's East Fishkill plant, confirmed that an agreement had been reached.
• Settlements typically involve payment by the defendant. Neither side would disclose
what IBM or two chemical companies involved in the suit would pay.
• IBM said ''human factors'' played a role in the decision. It still denies guilt.
• ''I think it's an enormously important case, partly because of the really serious
damage suffered by Zach Ruffing and his family, and partly because this is the first
major test case of its kind involved the high-tech industry,'' said Ted Smith, executive
director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition in San Jose, Calif.
20. Clean rooms and dirty secrets
Major malformations typically occur in 1-2% of US
live births; 5-10% are CNS malformations.
Thus, in 1000 live births 1-2 CNS malformations
and under .5 hydrocephaly cases expected.
From 1980-89 <1000 children were born to clean
room workers at 2 IBM sites with high
miscarriage rates. At least three were born with
hydrocephaly. Other CNS defects found in the
group include spina bifida and microcephaly
21. Clouds in Silicon Valley
New York Times
September 8, 2003
By Bob Herbert
“The pristine environment is for the
sake of the products, which can be
ruined by even a speck of dust. At the
same time, the hazardous chemicals
used in the process are capable of
doing devastating physical damage to
the workers.”
http://www.computertakeback.com/news_and_resources/clouds_sv.cfm
22. Practice precaution: close the gap
between environmental and workplace
PELS
68 chemicals known to the State of California to
cause cancer or reproductive harm are totally
unregulated by Cal-OSHA or regulated only for non-
cancer effects
There is a huge disparity between workplace and
environmental protections against carcinogens and
developmental toxicants everywhere.
23. Workplace PELS (if any) for carcinogens and
developmental toxics are much weaker than
environmental standards
•If the air you breathe at work contains 1 ppm
benzene, you are getting over 500 times the
dosage set by EPA to protect the most
vulnerable level of benzene with every breath
you take (industrial health standards are not
set to prevent birth defects in workers kids)
•If you breathe1 ppm of benzene at work, it
takes only 166 hours to get a complete lifetime
dose (using the federal public health exposure
limit. )
24. Without health-protective PELS
as well, better hazard
communication, green
chemistry campaigns, and the
threat of after-the-fact liability
are just not enough to prevent
toxic harm to workers and their
offspring in the first place.
25. Env. STDD Yield in
Best OCC STDD Best Env. STDD
Toxic Agent converted to 8 improved worker
8 hr. TWA NSRL or MCL
hr. TWA protection
1 part per
Benzene 7 ug/day 1 part per billion 1,000:1
million
TCE 25 ppm 80 ug/day 7 ppb 3,571:1
Perc 25 ppm 14 ug/day .3 ppb 8,333:1
Methylene Chloride 25 ppm 0.005 mg/L 1 ppb 25,000:1
26. ALLIANCE @ IBM
DEMANDS
* Health surveillance of all IBM workers
* reduce exposures to toxic substances NOW as part of transition
to non-toxic substances in all processes
* States compile and publish cancer maps of areas around
computer manufacturing plants where employees are likely to
reside.
* fund to alleviate medical burden on affected IBM employees and
their families.
28. Suzanne Rubio
Died of breast cancer age 39
IBM semiconductor worker.
Exposed to organic solvents,
uncured epoxy resins, and
uncured photoresists containing
glycol ethers, xylene, n-butyl
acetate
29. Lucy Kneebone
Died of stomach cancer age 35
IBM assembly worker. chronic
exposure to organic solvents,
uncured epoxy resins
30. Joanne Gomez
Died of breast cancer age 33
IBM assembly worker Exposed to
organic solvents, uncured epoxy
resins
35. Right-to-Know Timeline
1976 - USA Worker Right-to-Know (RTK)
Law Enacted
– Guarantees worker access to workplace
chemical information
1983 - Santa Clara County adopts
Hazardous Materials Model Ordinance
& Local RTK Law
– Companies must report hazardous material
storage & plans to protect public health 1 of 4
36. Right-to-Know Timeline
1984 - CA adopts Leaking Underground
storage Tank Law
– Monitor industrial chemical leaks & clean-up
1986 - USA Community RTK Act
(CERCLA) Established Toxics Release
Inventory
– Industries must report annual chemical
releases & pollution prevention targets 2 of 4
37. TRI Releases for 2007
for Selected Electronics Companies
Total On-site Disposal or Total Off-site Disposal Total On- and Off-site Disposal
Facility City State Other Releases or Other Releases or Other Releases
IBM CORP HOPEWELL JUNCTION NY 1074661 22249.4 1096911
SILTRONIC CORP. PORTLAND OR 635958 3.3 635961
SANYO SOLAR (USA)
LLC CARSON CA 8069 234714 242783
IBM CORP ESSEX JUNCTION VT 185718 2645.1034 188363
SONY ELECTRONICS
INC. DOTHAN AL 74820 16891.52 91711
MICRON TECHNOLOGY
INC BOISE ID 88375 864.3 89239
PHILIPS LUMILEDS
LIGHTING CO SAN JOSE CA 73231 0 73231
TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
INC DALLAS TX 23652 44124.89 67776
DU PONT ELECTRONICS
MICROCIRCU ITS
INDUSTRIES LTD. MANATI PR 1428 34679.232 36107
INTEL CORP RIO RANCHO NM 18193 3589.9 21783
46. Our movement expands as
Industry moves out of S.V.
Global High-Tech Production is
Undergoing the Largest
Industrial Expansion in the
History of the World
47. We are undergoing the “Largest
industrial transition in history”
• 127 new fabs
– Total exceeds $115 billion
– $1- 3 billion each
– 300 mm fabs may double the cost
• 200 mm to 300 mm fabs: $14 billion
– “Largest industrial transition in history”
Source: SEMI
51. Taiwan: Workers Link Cancer to RCA Plant
by Matthew Yi, San Francisco Chronicle
May 24th, 2002
While many laud the globalization of technology as a positive force that
spreads the wealth and helps industry grow, a group of Taiwanese
workers came to Silicon Valley Thursday to tell a different story.
Their tale has to do with a former RCA facility in Taiwan's northern
county of Taoyuan. More than 1,000 former employees of that
facility are suffering from cancer and more than 200 have died,
according to the visiting workers, who used to make TVs and
semiconductors.
Most of those afflicted believe the company's plants polluted
groundwater with toxic chemicals, leading to the outbreak of illness,
according to the Taiwan Association for Victims of Occupational
Injuries and the Self-Help Association of Former RCA Employees.
Both are based in Taipei and were represented at a news
conference held in San Jose Thursday, seeking publicity for the
workers' claims.
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=2649
58. A Chinese child sits amongst a pile of wires and e-waste. Children can often be found dismantling e-
waste containing many hazardous chemicals known to be potentially very damaging to children's
health.
59. E-Waste problems continue
• Wired for gold - (China Daily)
• Updated: 2011-11-16 07:59
• By Cheng Anqi and Erik Nilsson
• http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/life/2011-11/16/content_14104157.htm
60. The Digital Dump
A new report on e-waste dumping in Africa
by the Basel Action Network
October 24, 2005
66. Recent studies from Taiwan
• Increased standardized incidence ratio
of breast cancer in female electronics
workers
• Tzu-I Sung1, Pau-Chung Chen1,2, Lukas Jyuhn-Hsiarn
Lee3, Yi-Ping Lin2,4,
• Gong-Yih Hsieh1 and Jung-Der Wang*1,2,5
67. Recent studies from Taiwan
Sung TI, Wang JD, Chen PC. Increased risks of infant
mortality and of deaths due to congenital malformation
in the offspring of male electronics workers. Birth
Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol 2008.
Chang YM, Tai CF, Yang SC, et al. Cancer incidence
among workers potentially exposed to chlorinated
solvents in an electronics factory. J Occup Health
2005;47:171-80.
68. Summary of Occupational
Illness in Korean electronics
(compiled by Dr. Kong of SHARPS)
Samsung Electronics Total
Semiconductor LCD Mobile etc. Subtotal
phone
No.of Victims Total 79 16 3 9 107 149
Cancer 63 10 2 6 81 114
Total 27 7 2 5 41 59
No.of Deaths
Cancer 23 6 1 5 35 53
72. KEY FINDINGS 5: BRANDS TURNED PROACTIVE
Checks on Use of Public I Push for Suppliers to Further Extension of
Supplier Information to Enhance Make Environmental
Violation Supply Chain Corrective Action Management into the
Checked
Replied to Cases Management & Disclose Information Supply Chain
the
Company Name NGO Directly
Purpose of Considered Decided to Corrective Regular Pushing Tier
Letter
the Study Performed Performed Establishing Establish Action Disclosure of
Extended
1 Suppliers to
Initial In-depth to Main
a Search a Search & Discharge Manage Tier
Checks Checks Materials
Mechanism Mechanism Explanation Data 2
Suppliers
Siemens √ √ √ √ √ √ √ X X X
Vodafone √ √ √ √ √ √ √ X X √
Philips √ √ √ √ √ √ √ X √ X
Nokia √ √ √ √ √ √ √ X X X
Alcatel-Lucent √ √ √ √ √ √ √ X X X
BT √ √ √ √ √ √ X X X √
HP √ √ √ √ √ X √ X X X
Samsung √ √ √ √ √ X √ X X X
Sanyo √ √ √ √ √ X √ X X X
Sony √ √ √ √ √ √ X X X X
Toshiba √ √ √ √ √ X X X X X
Panasonic √ √ √ v √ X X X X X
Sharp √ √ √ X √ X X X X X
Lenovo √ √ √ X √ X X X X X
Intel √ √ √ X √ X X X X X
Seiko Epson √ X √ √ √ X X X X X
Motorola √ √ √ √ √ X X X X X
Hitachi √ √ √ √ X X X X X X
Canon √ X √ √ X X X X X X
Cisco √ X √ √ X X X X X X
Dell √ √ √ √ X X X X X X
Apple √ √ √ √ √ X X X X X
Haier √ √ √ X X X X X X X
TCL √ √ √ X X X X X X X
Foxconn √ √ √ X X X X X X X
SingTel √ √ √ X X X X X X X
BYD √ √ √ X √ X X X X X
IBM √ X √ X X X X X X X
LG √ X √ X X X X X X X
Ericsson √ X √ X X X X X X X
BlackBerry- Rim √ X √ X X X X X X X
73. International Campaign for
Responsible Technology
(ICRT)
Global Symposium on Strategies for a
Sustainable High-Tech Industry
November 14-17, 2002
San Jose, CA
http://www.svtc.org/icrt/index.html
74. Activists gather at First Symposium
on Global Strategies for a
Sustainable High-Tech Industry - 2002
75. International Campaign for
Responsible Technology
(ICRT)
Mission Statement,
adopted November 16, 2002
• We are an international solidarity network that
promotes corporate and government
accountability in the global electronics industry.
We are united by our concern for the lifecycle
impacts of this industry on health, the
environment and workers' rights.
76. Soesterberg Principles
Electronic Sustainability Commitment
Each new generation of technical
improvements in electronic products
should include parallel and proportional
improvements in environmental, health
and safety as well as social justice
attributes.
Adopted by the Trans-Atlantic Network for
Clean Production, May 16, 1999
77.
78. Forward to
Challenging the Chip
• “We need a lot more “people’s histories” like those in this
book. The stories of brave and creative women and men
who fight back when their lives and their children’s lives
are threatened. These are the stories of people
challenging the corporate elite and speaking truth to
power – whether the power be the corporations or the
governments that allow these practices to continue.
Such stories teach us that when people come together
across traditional boundaries – geographic, political,
racial, etcetera – they can actually change the world.”
– Jim Hightower, former state elected official in Texas
81. Consumer Education:
The Story of Stuff & The Story of Electronics
• What is the Story of Stuff?
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects
communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of
Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production
and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a
huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a
more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it
just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
The Story of Electronics
This video explores the high-tech revolution's collateral damage—25 million tons of e-
waste and counting, poisoned workers and a public left holding the bill. Host Annie
Leonard takes viewers from the mines and factories where our gadgets begin to the
horrific backyard recycling shops in China where many end up. The film concludes
with a call for a green 'race to the top' where designers compete to make long-lasting,
toxic-free products that are fully and easily recyclable.
http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-electronics/
82. UN expert meeting charts the way forward on
hazardous chemicals in electronic products
Historic meeting addresses entire lifecycle of electronics
For the first time, more than 100 experts from
around the world gathered in Vienna, Austria to
make recommendations for a UN process on
reducing and eliminating hazardous chemicals in
the design, manufacturing, and end of life stages
of electronic products. Concerns over toxic
exposures during manufacturing, use, and
recycling of electronic products provoked
governments, the private sector, and public
interest NGOs from around the world to call for
the meeting at a global conference in 2009.
84. Key Recommendations from
SAICM in Vienna
Delegates developed key recommendations:
• eliminating chemical hazards during design;
• phasing-out hazardous substances;
• improving information transparency and flow;
• ensuring equal protection of workers,
communities, and consumers;
• preventing export of hazardous electronic
wastes from developed to developing countries;
• and controlling export and import of near-end-
of-life equipment.
85. Strategic Importance
Recognizing that many challenges need to
be resolved through improved design of
new products, recommendations were
made on eliminating chemicals of concern,
full ingredient disclosure, identifying and
implementing substitution strategies,
green procurement and extended
producer responsibility.
86. Priority – Reduce Exposure to
Hazardous Substances
The producers and manufacturers should prioritize
reduction of exposure to chemicals, primarily by
elimination or substitution of the most hazardous
substances and production processes, especially those
processes involving worker and community exposure to
substances of concern. In the present context,
substances of concern include those that are persistent,
bioaccumulative and toxic and/or those that are
carcinogens, mutagens, reproductive or developmental
toxins, neurotoxins, neurodevelopmental toxins,
respiratory toxins, immuno toxins, organ system toxins,
and/or endocrine disrupting compounds. ;
87. Early Warning Systems
• Producers and manufacturers should cooperate with
government, non-governmental organizations, trade
unions, health care providers, and others to provide
ongoing training to workers, community representatives
and first responders to provide early warning systems
about the inherent hazards of the materials being used,
detailed information about best practices for protection
from and reduction of exposure to those hazards, how to
recognize early signs of adverse health impacts, and
prevention of exposure to all hazards
88. Health Surveillance
• Producers and manufacturers, with oversight by the government and the full
participation of worker and community representatives should ensure (and
report the results to appropriate governmental authorities of):
– comprehensive, occupationally relevant health surveillance for all of its
workers;
– comprehensive ongoing industrial hygiene and environmental
monitoring to measure the release and exposure to all hazardous
materials used in manufacturing and production;
– access to these data (and adequate funding) to ensure comprehensive
and independent epidemiological assessments of worker health;
– Action plans to preserve and protect worker health based on these data.
– In situations where pollution from electronics production facilities has
been found in surrounding communities, the manufacturers and
producers should cooperate with health researchers and investigators to
assess and control adverse health impacts, especially with respect to
vulnerable populations.
89. Need for Fair Compensation
Governments are encouraged to develop and implement
effective liability and compensation legislation for the victims
of toxic exposures in the workplace and the community.
Given that the electronics industry is characterized by multiple
chemical exposures to vulnerable workers to chemicals of
concern, many of which are in addition inadequately tested
and regulated, and the frequent changes in process
chemicals, it is particularly important to develop compensation
systems funded by the employers that are designed to
address these inherent challenges to fair compensation by
developing mechanisms that assure that workers harmed by
such exposure qualify for adequate and timely compensation,
as well as treatment and rehabilitation.
90. What about EICC?
Key critique by Good Electronics:
– EICC code is not sufficiently aligned with international
labour standards/ILO conventions (This point was
supported by Verité)
– Very problematic that right to collective bargaining is not
included. (This point was supported by Verité)
– Code lacks specific details and enforcement
– Language of the EICC code is – in places – vague and
ambiguous
– As a result, code lacks credibility and effectiveness
91. Key Points from the ANROEV Electronics Workshop
Jaipur India Nov 17,2001
• Broadening our electronics network
• Improving communications (internal and
external)
• Mapping (supply chain and health)
• Continued research to link toxic exposure to
health in electronics
• Planning for ICRT’s 10th anniversary in 2012
92. Ted Smith Biography
• founder and former Executive Director of Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.
• co-founder and Chair of the steering committee of the Electronics TakeBack
Coalition, (which is working to promote life-cycle producer responsibility
within the high-tech electronics industry.)
• co-founder and Coordinator of the International Campaign for Responsible
Technology (ICRT), (an international network committed to working for the
development of sustainable, non-polluting technologies.)
• widely published author and respected speaker, and is co-editor of
“Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global
Electronics Industry” published by Temple University Press, 2006
• a graduate of Wesleyan University and Stanford Law School and was a
VISTA Volunteer in Washington, DC from 1967 - 1969.
93. For Further Information:
Ted Smith –
International Campaign for Responsible Technology &
Electronics TakeBack Coalition
tsmith@igc.org; +408-242-6707
www.icrt.co; www.electronicstakeback.com/home/
http://www.archive.org/details/pioneeractivistsil00smitrich
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt2b69r7hf;style=oac4;view=dsc