Electronics Industry has Difficulty Enforcing Labor Laws

By Evelyn Holt, Intern, International Labor Rights Forum

Do you know where your computer came from? Most likely not. Parts are manufactured and assembled all over the world, and labor protections are hard to identify and track.  ILRF has also done research and campaigning on the substances such as coltan that is used in every cell phone and computer.



This year is the 5th anniversary of the formation of the electronics industry code of conduct. The Mexican Electronic Industry National Workers Coalition led by CEREAL is speaking out against corporations that still violate basic labor rights in their manufacturing plants.  Two other organizations that are leaders in the movement to hold the electronics industry accountable: makeITfair which is sponsored by the Dutch labor union SOMO has published many hard hitting reports on the lagging electronics industry and GoodElectronics Network that works to contribute to human rights and sustainability in the global electronics sector.

The Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) and its Code of Conduct was formed in 2004 as a voluntary industry attempt at self-cleansing. The goals of the Code are to improve conditions in the electronics supply chain. It focuses specifically on five areas – labor, health and safety, environmental, management system and ethics. As of 2009, 40 major electronics companies have become members of the EICC, including IBM, Dell, Intel and Logitec.

Labor rights are still being violated, however, as companies run into problems of implementing the Code in their subsidiary and subcontracted manufacturers. There is no single oversight that inspects everyone in the supply chain. Labor is subcontracted to agency companies in areas with lower wages and weak labor laws, transferring responsibility away from the big name companies.

 In a feature story by Newsweek, reporters detail how worker rights are subordinated in the Malaysian electronics manufacturing company Local Technic Industry. The company lures foreign workers into low wage, exploitative jobs that are little better than forced labor. Malaysian law requires foreign employees to sign multiple year contracts and to surrender their passports to their employer. If workers leave, they can be subject to arrest and imprisonment and are reported to the police as part of an immigration control policy. The Local Technic company threatens employees with promises that "if you work [for] someone else, the police will catch you," recalls one worker. After living expenses and taxes are deducted, this worker makes $14 a month, which amounts to only $504 for his whole three year contract.

Local Technic Industry manufactures hard-drive components, and its products are bought by EICC members such as Western Digital and distributed to US markets. Since the EICC Code is not enforced by an outside authority and reporting labor conditions is voluntary, labor rights violations  –  not to mention environmental standards – are difficult to discover or enforce.

It is the violation of the EICC Code and corporations disrespect of the Mexican labor law that the  Worker's Coalition came together to protest about. Section A-7 of the Code guarantees workers the right to freedom of association, to “communicate openly with management...without fear of reprisal, intimidation or harassment.” The Worker's Coalition sees the company Flextronics, which operates two industrial parks in Mexico, as violating this on two counts.  First, that it fired ten workers because they demanded transparency in regards to profit shares, and second, that three workers were dismissed after demanding their right to have their wage leveled.

The demonstration by CEREAL in Mexico was to raise awareness about Flextronics' unfair treatment of workers, and for those workers to be reinstated or paid full severance. Protestors wore blank white masks as a symbol of their oppression and of the threatening tactics companies took to quell unions and blacklist members.

The link between government and big business is painfully apparent in electronics manufacturing plants in Mexico and Malaysia. Scare tactics to suppress unions and disregard of rights to free association go unnoticed. Companies then sell their products to EICC certified members in the US, who can distribute them under the label of a socially responsible company. Closer inspection of supply chains in the electronics industry is needed to guarantee labor rights to all workers. 

Comments

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