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

Valley of Heart’s Delight

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

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

CAL OSHA report in 1981

Toxic Trouble in Silicon Valley Newsweek 1984

New York Times – November 10, 1984

AMRC Handbook - 1985

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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. )

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.

Toxic Agent Best OCC STDD

8 hr. TWA Best Env. STDD

NSRL or MCL

Env. STDD converted to 8

hr. TWA

Yield in improved worker

protection

Benzene 1 part per

million 7 ug/day 1 part per billion 1,000:1

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

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.

Early OSH publications

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

Lucy Kneebone

Died of stomach cancer age 35

IBM assembly worker. chronic

exposure to organic solvents,

uncured epoxy resins

Joanne Gomez

Died of breast cancer age 33

IBM assembly worker Exposed to

organic solvents, uncured epoxy

resins

From Silicon Glen to Silicon Valley:

Helen Clark & Jim McCourt

The wake up call !!

The Fairchild Case --Groundwater pollution in Silicon

Valley poisons families

Labor unions were central to SVTC

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

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

TRI Releases for 2007

for Selected Electronics Companies

Facility City State Total On-site Disposal or Other Releases

Total Off-site Disposal or Other Releases

Total On- and Off-site Disposal 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

The footprint of high-tech

development

Moore’s Law

Activists Chide Dell Computer

Recycling

Apple Campaign

Inside an iPhone

Inside your iPhone

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

Source: SEMI

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”

High Tech manufacturing is global

Electronics factory in China

The scale is staggering Over 500,00 workers at Foxconn in China

Electronics Supply Chain Research done by Sarah Boyd

Unraveling the High-Tech Supply Chain

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

RCA Workers in Taiwan

E-Waste Dumped in Guiyu, China

Women sorting wires to burn in China

Burning E-Waste in Guiyu, China

Woman breaking a CRT monitor in China

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.

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

The Digital Dump A new report on e-waste dumping in Africa

by the Basel Action Network

October 24, 2005

Global e-waste dumping

E-Waste and Clean Production

Conference in Bejing – April 2004

Eco-Waste activists in Manila

Waste Not Asia

in Kerala, 2007

Farmers and fishermen protest

high-tech pollution in Taiwan

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

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.

Summary of Occupational

Illness in Korean electronics (compiled by Dr. Kong of SHARPS)

Samsung Electronics Total

Semiconductor LCD Mobile

phone

etc. Subtotal

No.of Victims Total 79 16 3 9 107 149

Cancer 63 10 2 6 81 114

No.of Deaths

Total 27 7 2 5 41 59

Cancer 23 6 1 5 35 53

Environmental Challenges and

Transparency in China

For more info www.ipe.org.cn

Ma Jun 02/11/2011

与31家信息通信产业的互动

Interaction with 31 ICT Brands

KEY FINDINGS 5: BRANDS TURNED PROACTIVE

Company Name Replied to

NGO Letter

Checked the

Purpose of the Study

Checks on Supplier

Violation Cases

Use of Public I Information to Enhance

Supply Chain Management

Push for Suppliers to Make

Corrective Action & Disclose Information

Further Extension of Environmental

Management into the Supply Chain

Performed Initial

Checks

Performed In-depth Checks

Considered Establishing

a Search Mechanism

Decided to Establish a Search

Mechanism

Corrective Action

& Explanation

Regular Disclosure of

Discharge Data

Directly Extended to Main

Materials Suppliers

Pushing Tier 1 Suppliers to Manage Tier

2

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

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

Activists gather at First Symposium

on Global Strategies for a

Sustainable High-Tech Industry - 2002

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.

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

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

ICRT delegation visits

National Semiconductor

Book tour at Beijing University

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/

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.

Delegates to Vienna SAICM

Meeting – March 2011

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.

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.

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. ;

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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