ALU 82 Workers Struggle in Electronics Industry

8/10/2019 ALU 82 Workers Struggle in Electronics Industry

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ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 82

Electronics is one of the fastest growing industries today. It has been generating a

rapidly growing range of products and services that are increasingly used in almost

every human activity. It has completely changed the way people live and interact.

Deeply entwined in our social fabric, electronics products and systems support critical

aspects of communication, education, finance, government among others. Thousands

of companies from many countries contribute to the industry on a daily basis. Even a

single product can contain components and software manufactured by variouscompanies in many different countries.

Due to relative ease of capital mobility, the industry has many ways to engage in

strategies of outsourcing and off-sourcing. lobal sourcing is therefore very common

where factories can be relocated easily and produces a wide variety of end products.

lobal value chains in the electronics industry are more geographically e!tensive and

dynamic than in any other manufacturing sector.

"owever, behind the glossy sheen of the electronics products and the industrial

development behind it is the dar# side that often remains invisible due to an

aggressive $disinformation$ campaign by the industry. %ore than a &uarter of a trillion

chips are manufactured annually re&uiring the use of staggering amounts of to!ic

In this issue:

In the Belly of the Beast:

Samsung Elet!on"s Domest"

Su##ly $ha"n an% &o!'fo!e "n

South (o!ea

By Jiwon Han,

Wol-san Liem and Yoomi Lee

)

&o!'e!s* St!uggle "n Samsung

Elet!on"s In%ones"a

By Abu Mufakhir

+2

Des#ath f!om the othe! en% ofthe su##ly ha"n: Aust!al"anla,ou! !es#on%s to hangesause% ,y elet!on"s

By Michael Walker

22

en%e! $olumn:

The en%e!e% ."olene "nRea%y /a%e a!ment 0ato!"es"n Bangalo!e

By Apoorva aiwar

21

OS $olumn:

The "!ls &ho ot on the BusBoun% fo! Samsung

By !HA"#!

23

OS $olumn:

The !an% T!age%y of the 4h"l"

Toy 0ato!y 0"!e: uman L"fe IsI!!ele5ant

By Bruce $an $oorhis

6+

Reg"onal Roun%-u# 66

&o!'e!s "n Elet!on"s In%ust!y

"n In%"a: The ase of Samsung

By !urendra #ra%ap

+3

Resou!e7Re5"e

The $hallenge of La,ou!:St!"'es an% the $hang"ngLa,ou! Reg"me "n lo,al0ato!"es9 ,y $h!"s ("ng-$h"$han

By a&%on !iu

6

PUBLISHED BY ASIA MONITOR RESOURCE CENTRE, HONG KONG Issue 82 January 2!" # Ju$y 2!"

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE

Workers Struggles inWorkers Struggles inWorkers Struggles inWorkers Struggles in

Electronic IndustryElectronic IndustryElectronic IndustryElectronic Industry

Continue to page 3


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2 ASIA /ONITOR RESOUR$E $ENTRE

ISSN 1815-9389

Issue 'umber ()*anuary +*uly )

/ 0opyright ) 1sian 2abour 3pdate4 all rights reserved

EDITORIAL TEAM

5an6iv 7andita, 8ahmi 7animbang9mana eorge, 1poorva :aiwar

2i 5hing "ong 5amuel

15I1' 21;93< 37D1TE =123> is a &uarterly newsbulletin on labour issues in southern and eastern 1sia. Itis prepared and published by the 1sia %onitor ))-G

8a! =(F)> )(F-FCEmail amrcHamrc.org.h#

3


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ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 82 6

Editorial

chemicals, metal and gases. To!ic chemicals are essential

raw materials for electronics, and thousands of chemicals

are being used in its production process with devastating

effects on the health of wor#ers, communities and the

environment as whole. The $to!ic trouble$ from

electronics industry emerged in many parts of the worldranging from the 35 to 5cotland and to Taiwan and 5outh

:orea in 1sia, and has alarmingly spread to many parts of

the region. That the alarm bells are not being heard by

national governments can be e!plained by the

importance of industrial development in general, and the

electronics industry in particular. Industrial development

of electronics has attracted many developing countries

since it has been perceived as better than te!tile and

garment sector that absorbs more s#illful wor#force. In

fact, the electronics industry in many 1siaMs developing

countries predominantly employs low-s#ill wor#forcewith low added value to their economy, while the highest

value of the industry such as semiconductor have been

primarily designed and produced in developed countries

including 5outh :orea, Taiwan, and 5ingapore. This does

not mean that wor#ers in these countries are better off4

they are even more prone to chemical ha?ards.

8urthermore, capital Aows from electronics industries

have been massive which involve active intervention of

both global corporations and national government by

imposing a range of new legal mechanisms andregulations serving their interests. 1s a conse&uence, anti

-labour regime and policies become the order of the day.

The industry, therefore, has two ma6or characteristics

first is highly polluting, and second is e!tremely

repressive towards labour.

5amsung, a 5outh :orean corporation, has become one

of #ey players in the electronics global value chain. In

), sales of 5amsung Electronics 0orporation 2td.

surpassed G billion 35D, a B per cent increase over ).

The company employed C,GG employees directly andthrough subcontractors, an estimated (, globally in

). 5amsung Electronics has become the leader in

production of Dynamic . 5amsung and other corporations

would benefit in the future from a robust in6ection of

capital that would allow mega-scale manufacturing and

thus lower costs, which means e!ploiting labour. Even

now, it has been argued that a large part of 5amsungMs

profits comes from short-changing labour. 5amsungMs

anti-union policy is almost a byword in the industry.

The statement of 5amsung group chairman, 2ee :un-hee,

shows how powerful 5amsung is + where 5outh :orea

has been cynically called as a


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) ASIA /ONITOR RESOUR$E $ENTRE

Feature

$amsun+ Electronics An Introduction

5amsung Electronics. 0onsumers #now it well, yearning to

purchase its products, which they e!perience as a single

brand. In fact, 5amsung Electronics is not that simple and

it is incorrect to see it as a single company@brand.

5amsung Electronics is the Aagship company of 5amsungroup, which is composed of F companies world-

wide. 9f these companies CF are full-Aedged 5am-

sung Electronics subsidiaries, meaning they are incor-

porated entities of which 5amsung Electronics owns

more than a F percent share. In addition, 5amsung

Electronics controls a further companies which

ma#e components for the subsidiaries, although it

does not own a ma6ority share in them. The mobile

phones, televisions and all )G products under the

5amsung Electronics brand are produced and sold

through 5amsung roupMs networ#.

"wnership Structure

The ownership structure of these F plus companies

is formed through a comple! web of circular invest-

ments. This structure, which ma#es it possible for an

investor to control an entire company without directly

owning as much as a percent share, characteri?es :ore-

an chaebols =conglomerates>, including 5amsung. The

group is in fact a representative case, in which the owner

is able to control the entire group, despite not having ama6ority share in many of the companies.

2ee :un-hee, chairman of 5amsung roup, and his family

own only a ) percent share in 5amsung Electronics di-

rectly. They are nonetheless able to control 5amsung

Electronics because of the circular e&uity structure of

5amsung Everland, 5amsung 2ife, 5amsung 0R T and

5amsung 0ard. The total shares in these companies held

by 2ee and his family are worth roughly : and as such amounted to only )

percent of 5amsung roupMs total mar#et value : at the end of )). 'onetheless,

2ee and his family e!ercise absolute management authori-

ty over the 5amsung roup. This circular investment struc-

ture found in 5outh :orean chaebols, which allows this

sort of control, is currently a hotly debated economic is-

sue.

Dia+ram $amsun+ .rou& Ownershi& $tructure

#eenue, pro$t, main products

In )), 5amsung Electronics and its CF direct subsidiaries

recorded revenue of :


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of :


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; ASIA /ONITOR RESOUR$E $ENTRE

composed of 5amsung roup subsidiaries and ac-

counts for roughly percent of the value of com-

ponents purchased by 5amsung Electronics. The

second layer is made up of transnational electronics

component suppliers who have independent tech-

nical capability. The 1merican companies Xual-comm, which has a 0D%1 patent, and 0om, which

has a wireless patent, are e!amples of companies in

this layer.

The third layer comprises suppliers to which 5am-

sung Electronics outsources production of parts

that it could produce itself, but chooses not to for

cost or production capacity reasons. These compa-

nies principally supply small-scale 20D panels. 5amsung

Electronics gets these low-price 20D panels from compa-

nies such as the Taiwan-owned 13 9ptronics 0orp =139>and 0hunghwa 7icture Tubes 2td =07T>. The fourth layer is

composed of domestic subcontractors that supply parts

that 5amsung Electronics could not produce itself. The

main companies in this layer include Intops 2ED 0ompany

2td, which handles both the production of mobile phone

cases and the assembly of mobile phones, and InterAe!

0ompany 2td, which produces printed circuit boards

=70;s>.

The final layer in the supply chain is composed of small

and medium-si?e parts suppliers located in industrialpar#s. 1s these companies supply low-cost parts, 5am-

sung Electronics fre&uently switches among them, e!acer-

bating price competition. It also imports some parts from

0hina. These are the companies most e!ploited by 5am-

sung Electronics.

$amsun+ Electronics4 Wor#ers

o 4nion Polic2

5amsung Electronics is #nown in 5outh :orea for its faith-

ful adherence to a no union policy. 8rom the time of 5am-

sungMs founder, 2ee ;yung-chull, to the current leadership

of 2ee :un-hee, 5amsung has used any and all means to

stop employees from forming unions. This policy has

affected not only 5amsung Electronics, but the entire elec-

tronics industry. This is because 5amsung Electronics inter-

venes actively to prevent the formation of unions at its

suppliers.

The effectiveness of 5amsung ElectronicsM no union policy

is evident in the fact that union participation in the 5outh

:orean electronics industry is only about W. This figure

includes the members of the 2 Electronics union, which is

aKliated with the 8ederation of :orean Trade 3nions

=:8T3> and is a true-blooded company union. E!cluding

the 2 union, less than one percent of all wor#ers in the

electronics industry are union members4 there are only

union members in all the electronics companies that

ma#e up 5amsung ElectronicsM supply chain.

1t the center of 5amsung ElectronicsM no union strategy

are careful wor#place control and a thorough system of

selective inclusion and e!clusion. 1t 5amsung Electronics,

the labour management department monitors each indi-

vidual wor#er closely. 8or e!ample, when a few 5amsung

5DI wor#ers started to form a union in ), the manage-

ment issued orders for all of them to be dispatched over-

seas. Those who refused the order were dismissed for

disciplinary reasons. 1t the same time, 5amsung 5DI

tapped wor#ersM phones, followed them, approached

their families with threats and appeasements, and even

put location trac#ing devices in the mobile phones that

the wor#ers themselves made. 5imilar cases have oc-

curred several times over the last ten years, for e!ample,

at 5amsung 1ceone and 5amsung ElectronicsM 5uwon fac-

tory in )G, at 5amsung 5DI in )F and at 5amsung Ever-land in ).

The strength of 5amsung ElectronicsM labour management

system ma#es it possible to prevent the formation of un-

ions almost from the word go. 5amsung Electronics uses a

point person system to monitor movements towards un-

ion formation on a day-to-day basis. 5taff in the labour

management department appoint and communicate with

point people stationed in each company department. 5imi-

larly, the labor management department supervisor com-

municates with a point person in each company division.The head of the department appoints and communicates

Ta!le 6 7nion &resence in the $outh )orean electronics industr0

Cate+or0 8um!er9Content

Total wor#ers in electronics industry G,

3nion membership

F, =:0T3 ,)>

3nion presence .FW =Total Density CW>

3nion membership at 5amsung Elec-tronicsM suppliers

Source% 5iwon 6an, 7Production, Suppl2'chain, and 0or1ing Condi'tions in the 8orean &lectronics Industr29, #esearch Institute for *lter'natie 0or1ers: ;oements, +--!


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with one point person for every two divisions. These point

people continuously monitor employeesM attitudes and

actions, ta#ing stoc# of informal gatherings on a regular

basis =Don-mun *o, O5amsung roupMs 2abor 0ontrol and

7anpticon,P )B>.

0ages

If this form of control is one side of union repression, the

other side is the use of appeasement and rewards for loy-

alty. In e!change for not forming unions, 5amsung Elec-

tronics provides its wor#ers with the highest wages in the

industry. The average monthly wage of wor#ers directly

employed by 5amsung Electronics was F.BB million won

=35D F)> as of 1pril )). This was ( percent more than

the average wage of the entire electronics industry during

the same period. Even when compared to the average forall wor#ers at companies with or more wor#ers, the

5amsung Electronics average wage was considerably high-

er. If the yearend bonus, based on the yearMs results -

which is more than million won =35D (,(BF> -- is includ-

ed, the difference is even greater.

5amsung Electronics is able to provide its employeessuch high wages because of its ruthless e!ploitation of

its subcontractors, a practice enabled by its no unionpolicy. ;y applying its no union policy to the entireelectronics industry, which it effectively controls, 5am-sung Electronics is able to #eep the wages of the ma-6ority of electronics wor#ers down to the legal mini-mum. 1t :, the industryaverage appears fairly high. =5ee Table F above.> Theaverage is high, however, because large companies,li#e 5amsung Electronics and 2 Electronics, are in-cluded in the calculation. 1t :, the average monthly wage at small and medium-si?ed companies, which ma#e up C percent of all

:orean electronics companies, does not even e&ualhalf of the 5amsung Electronics average. It should also

be noted that managersM salaries are included in the calcu-lation of the average wage for these companies. If manag-ers are e!cluded, it can be seen that the ma6ority of pro-duction wor#ers ma#e less than :per month. 5amsung production wor#ers, who haveroughly the same s#ill level as other electronics wor#ers,ma#e an average monthly wage of :

receive the minimum wage.

or#ers employed at first tier vendors in the

automobile industry, who supply "yundai %o-

tor, ma#e about ( percent of what "yundai

employees earn. In the case of 5amsung Elec-

tronics, employees of st tier vendors ma#e

only about F percent as much as 5amsung

ElectronicsM employees. The lac# of unions

among st tier vendors #eeps wages down in

these companies and throughout the industry.

1s such, 5amsung Electronics is able to offer its

direct employees wages that are well above

the industry average, dissipating inclinations

towards union organi?ing. 9f course, while 5amsung Elec-

tronics employees gain materially from this strategy, the

Ta!le : Wa+es in electronics industr0 1million )orean won3

ElectronicsIndustry

5mall@medium-si?e companies

2argecompa-nies

5amsungElectronics

1verage

%onthlyage

.GG

=35D G)>

).B =35D )>

.C

=35DGGC>

F.BB =35D

F)>

Sources% Samsung &lectronics, uarterl2 #eport, +-+'3, ;inistr2 of &m'plo2ment and Labor, 7Industrial Labor Power Sure29, *pril +-+!

Ta!le ; Com&arison o" monthl0 wa+es in the electronics and autoindustries

Electronics=estimate>

1utomobiles =estimate>

Top of 5upply 0hain=5amsung Electronics@"yundai %otor>

:

:

stTier Nendors:

:

)ndTier Nendors:

:

Source% ;inistr2 of &mplo2ment and Labor, 7Industrial Labor PowerSure29, +-+!.


8/40


ma6ority of wor#ers in the industry are e!cluded from

these benefits.

In addition to controlling wages, 5amsung Electronics is

also able to maintain a high level of production Ae!ibility

due to its no union policy. 5amsung Electronics freely in-creases and decreases the volume of orders placed with

suppliers, depending on its business needs. In the case of

the auto industries, wor#ers have been able to secure a

certain wage level irrespective of production volume

through collective bargaining agreements. In the electron-

ics industry, however, where the basic wage is at the legal

minimum, if 5amsung Electronics does not place orders,

wor#ersM very livelihoods are put at ris#.

1t st tier 5amsung Electronics vendor that manufactures

mobile phone cases, during months when orders weredown and wor#ers wor#ed only F hours they made a

minimum wage of :


9/40

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 82

found, moreover, that in-house subcontractors are often

actually no more than employment agencies, dispatching

temporary wor#ers who are managed directly by the par-

ent companyMs supervisors. Despite several court rulings

confirming the illegality of these practices, "yundai %otor

and other manufacturing chaebols continue to employ in-house subcontracted wor#ers. The same is true for 5am-

sung Electronics. 1ccording to a %inistry of Employment

and 2abor survey conducted in ), roughly ) percent of

the wor#ers at 5amsung Electronics factories, some (,

wor#ers, were employed through in-house subcontrac-

tors.

Conclusion The $tru++le "or wor#ers4 health ri+hts and

"reedom o" association

1ctivism by 5amsung Electronics wor#ers has ta#en twotrac#s in 5outh :orea firstly, the struggle for wor#ersM

health rights and secondly, the struggle for the right to

freedom of association.

"ccupational health and safet2

In the last several years, do?ens of cases of occupational

illnesses have been discovered among wor#ers employed

by 5amsung Electronics and its subsidiaries. 5everal civil

society organi?ations have ta#en up these wor#ersM cause,

advocating industrial accident insurance coverage and

supporting the families of victims. The wor# of these

groups has made the health rights of 5amsung Electronics

wor#ers a national issue.

In recent months, GF cases of serious occupational illness

have been reported at 5amsung Electronics and its subsid-

iaries. In F cases, the individuals involved =mostly young

wor#ers in their )s and s> have died. "owever, the

number of 5amsung Electronics wor#ers who have passed

away or are currently suffering from such illnesses is

thought to be much higher. ;ecause of the system of la-

bor control discussed above, even reporting illness is diK-

cult.

9f all the illnesses reported, cancers involving the lym-

phatic system =e.g. leu#emia, lymphoma> are the most

common. There are many cases, as well, of brain tumors

and breast, s#in and lung cancer. Illnesses related to the

nervous and immune systems, such as multiple sclerosis,

multiple neuritis and 2ou ehrigMs disease, have also been

discovered, as have been psychological disorders such as

depression, panic disorder and schi?ophrenia. These and

other mental illnesses result from the fast-paced rigidly

controlled wor#ing environment at 5amsung Electronics

wor#sites =5"1.

In 'ovember )B, a coalition called M5upport for "ealth

and


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+< ASIA /ONITOR RESOUR$E $ENTRE

aKliation to the :%3 mar#s the first time in history that

wor#ers employed by 5amsung roup have 6oined a :ore-

an 0onfederation of Trade 3nions-aKliated union in sig-

nificant numbers.

Everland wor#ers first established a union on *uly ), ).1t the time, however, they did not aKliate to a industry

level union.


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ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 82 ++

1#aibeu, 5eoul =)>.

International %etal or#ers 8ederation, O9rgani?ing Elec-tronics or#ers,P http@@www.imfmetal.org@inde!.cfmZc[)FG =)>

International %onetary 8und =I%8>, OIndustrial develop-ments and trade union action, I%8 0onference onthe I0T, Electrical and Electronics Industries,P http@@www.imfmetal.org@files@GFGGF@;ac#groundJ


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+2 ASIA /ONITOR RESOUR$E $ENTRE

Feature

Workers( Struggle in Samsung Electronics Indonesia

)bu *ufakhir

5amsung started its operations in Indonesia in CC as part

of its business e!pansion into developing countries in 1sia,

an investment campaign that started 6ust a year earlier.

Indonesia is the second country which was targeted after

5amsung established a plant in Thailand in C(C. 5am-

sungMs entry into Indonesia was through a business license

from IndonesiaMs investment body =;:7%>, under the

name of 7T 5amsung %etrodata Electronics.

In CC), 5amsung set up its plant in the industrial area of

*ababe#a, 0i#arang =in the ;e#asi municipality, est *ava

province> and in CC established its refrigerator factory in

5urabaya, East *ava. The two factories were set up as F-

F 6oint ventures with a domestic electronics company, 7T.

%aspion. The 6oint venture arrangement was a necessity

as there was a government regulation that every foreign

investor should collaborate with a domestic company for a

certain period. In CCB, when the re&uisite period of the

6oint venture e!pired, the 5amsung factory in 0i#arangbecame wholly owned by 5amsung, while the plant in 5u-

rabaya became percent owned by 7T. %aspion. This

change of ownership structure also resulted in changing

the name of 7T. 5amsung %etrodata Electronics to 7T.

5amsung Electronics Indonesia.]^

7T. 5amsung Electronics Indonesia =hereafter referred to

as 5amsung> produces a variety of finished electronic

products such as TN plasma @ 2EDs, 20D TNs, DND, home

theatres, TN satellites, 0


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+) ASIA /ONITOR RESOUR$E $ENTRE

ry. The students would be recruit-

ed as outsourced and contract

labour after their graduation. The

apprentices recruited from the

school are between B and C

years of age, and in practice wor#as much as the regular wor#ers.

They wor# eight hours a day and

are often forced to wor# over-

time, but they only receive the

apprentice wage of 35 per

month

This practice of 7T 571 has en-

sured that 5amsung has a steady

stream of trained outsourced and

contract wor#ers from the ap-prenticesM level itself. This even

can be seen as a strategy of 5am-

sung of using some employees at

the management level to ensure

the availability of labour, without

being bothered with the recruit-

ment process of outsourced and

contract wor#ers.

5amsung has also introduced a

YtargetM system and increases the

target number every year. 1 divi-

sion has been established to eval-

uate the achievement of their

annual targets, by using a special

machine that can assess the eK-

ciency =productivity> of each wor#er in the production divi-

sion in completing one unit of wor#. In this way the target

rate can be increased continually. In )), for the blue ray

production, a wor#ing group consisting of ) people along

with a robot was supposed to produce G, units in each

eight hour shift including the pac#ing process. This means

that one set must be completed in no more than B.F sec-

onds. "owever, in practice, this target is never fi!ed and

only applies to normal conditions. The target can be raised

or lowered depending on the number of the orders re-

ceived.

7nionisation in $amsun+ and Its $u&&liers4 Com&anies

In the supply chain of 5amsung that we were able to trace

out, trade unions were successfully formed in B out of )(

supplier companies of 5amsung. 9ut of these B labour

unions, of them or B percent

are aKliated with the 8ederation

of Indonesian %etal or#ersM 3n-

ion =857%I>, two unions are aKli-

ated with the 0ommunication 8o-

rum of 1ll-Indonesian or#ers3nion =8:I-575I>, one to the 8ed-

eration of %etal, Electronics and

%achinery or#ersM 3nion of

:575I =857 2E% :575I>, and an-

other one in a supplier company

of 5amsung =7T 2ongvin, produc-

ing for e!port only> to the 1ssoci-

ation of Independent 2abour 3n-

ions =5;I>. 8ive unions at the sup-

plier companies of 5amsung that

are located in 0i#arang occupied

the factories, demanding the abo-

lition of employment of out-

sourced labour. Three of them are

aKliated to the 857%I, one to the

8:I-575I, and the other one to the

575I ;e#asi.

8rom this, it can be seen that la-

bour unions have established a

presence in the supply chain of

5amsung and of those unions B

percent are aKliated to the

857%I. In addition, since 5am-

sungMs supply chain is concentrat-

ed in 0i#arang, it has been the

most affected by the widespread rallies of labour unions in

the region, which has affected the production of 5amsung.

In addition to the establishment of labour unions in 5am-

sungMs factories, the growing number of labour rallies in

the industrial areas of 0i#arang has enraged 5amsung and

driven it to suppress unions in some supplier companies aswell as in 5amsungMs own plant.

9ne of the methods of companies to unleash the repres-

sion on labour unions is to hire local thugs to intimidate,

terrorise and inAict violence on members and the boards

of the labour unions. In addition, 5amsung has also prac-

tised the strategy of divide and rule with the wor#ers and

the communities around the factory. 1ll of these are seen

as attempts of 5amsung to secure their supply chain in

order to operate steadily and at low cost.

Hea$%& an' Sa(e%y C)*+r)*se',

-)ur .)r/ers 'e' sn0e 2!2

Workers in the PCB plaque washing section, who work

at least an eight-hour shift every day, are in contact

with liquid alcohol, and are equipped only with rubbergloves and a fabric-mask. hey are not provided with

the use of special equipment through which e!posure

to liquid alcohol can be avoided. "any workers in that

section complain of di##iness and nausea and have

sore eyes. $uring the period %&'& - %&'%, three work-

ers in this section died from pneumonia. (p to now,

there has been no investigation to determine whether

the cause of that lung disease was e!posure to '&&

percent alcohol. hese three workers were outsourced

workers who had worked for an average of '& years in

the PCB plaque washing section.

Workers in the soldering section inhale fumes generat-

ed from the solder every day, and are equipped only

with a thin cloth mask which does not block the fumes.

)*ead is still a ma+or component of solder and solders

paste and even a small amount can be detrimental to

ones health. "any workers in this section often have

a bad cough, and some have contracted pneumonia,

though again investigations have never been done to

determine whether it was the result of inhaling solder-

ing fumes.

n the in-house warehouse, workers inhale dust from

the cardboard and styrofoam packaging materials

every day, equipped only with a mask and gloves.

"any workers in this section often get coughs/ two

workers in this section who went to the doctor were

found to have spots on their lungs on being !-rayed.

he most common accidents in the warehouse are

fingers being cut off when they slip into the packing

machines. n %&'', in an incident at the warehouse,

one worker was crushed between two containers and

died.


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ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 82 +1

7nion 'ustin+ in $amsun+ and its $u&&l0 chain

9n 9ctober ), )), around ) wor#ers of 5amsung Elec-

tronics =5EI'>, mostly outsourced and contract wor#ers,

boldly set up a trade union. The union then formally regis-

tered under 3nion 1ct in the 2abour %inistry in ;e#asi dis-trict a month later. 1Kliated with 8ederation of Indonesian

%etal or#ers, the union didnMt last long all leaders and

members were soon dismissed and many of them were

threatened with dismissal.

1lmost all of the eight labour unions of 857%I that were

established in 5amsung supplier companies e!perienced

union-busting tactics, including intimidation, wor# place

rotation, lay-offs, in addition to various subtle ways such as

providing a certain $pac#age$ as compensation for the

boards of the unions to resign. 3ntil today, it was stronglysuspected that 5amsung was behind these union-busting

efforts, by urging the supplier companies to suppress un-

ions coupled with threats of reduction or even discontinu-

ation of orders. "owever, the effect of 5amsungMs pres-

sure on each supplier company has not been the same.

This is inAuenced by the level of dependency of each sup-

plier company on orders from 5amsung and at the same

time by the strength of the unions.

8or e!ample, 5amsungMs pressure on the management of

5amion to suppress the labour union loo#ed ineffective.The management of 5amoin was more receptive to the

unionMs pressure than to 5amsungMs threats. This is sig-

nalled by the labour unionMs demand and the manage-

mentMs willingness to discuss a collective bargaining agree-

ment =0;1>.]^ 1side from the unionMs strength, this is

also inAuenced by the level of dependency of 5amoin on

only small orders from 5amsung, since most of the produc-

tion of 5amoin is being e!ported directly to their parent

company in :orea. 3nli#e 5amoin, the management of

5amindo, because of their greater dependency on 5am-

sungMs orders, has been pressurised to suppress the labour

unions. It can be seen in 5amindoMs agreement to give a

special pac#age to union members to resign. This strategy

proved successful.])^

9f the B supplier companies of 5amsung that have labour

unions, there are reports of violations of wor#ersM rights,

including the practice of employing outsourced and con-

tract wor#ers illegally and paying these wor#ers below the

minimum wage. It can therefore be assumed that in the

other supplier companies of 5amsung, where there is no

labour union, similar offences have occurred. 8urther, this

shows that in every supply chain system, there are various

forms of e!ploitation of labour. hen 5amsung demands

their supplier companies reduce their prices, the supplier

companies will reduce their production costs, including

reducing wages and violating wor#ersM basic rights.

Challen+in+ the Cor&orate-$tate Collusion Wor#ersMarched to Occu&0 $amsun+

9n 'ovember C, )), the 857%I union decided to mobi-

li?e wor#ers to occupy 5amsungMs factory in protest

against union busting. That morning, the atmosphere

around the industrial area of *ababe#a and E*I7 was very

tense. "undreds of thugs were deployed on the site and

instructed by the management, wandering around raiding

cars and motorcycles, and carrying a variety of weapons

and armoury. 1t the same time, , union members

who had intended to go to the factory to occupy it, couldnot move, due to police pressure and were concentrated

in the surrounding areas of the union secretariat called

$


16/40

+; ASIA /ONITOR RESOUR$E $ENTRE

used local bandits as their shield in dealing with the un-

ionMs struggle for their rights. In the case of 5amsung, it

was seen clearly how the state-actors, particularly the na-

tional police, in fact got involved in protecting the inter-

ests of capital, even after seeing with their own eyes how

5amsung had used violent practices in its efforts at union

busting. ;ut no action was ta#en but to guard and build a

shield to protect 5amsung.

8ollowing this, on F December )), wor#ers from the

same union went on stri#e in front of the 5outh :orean

Embassy along with the alliance unions of the 0ouncil of

Indonesian 2abour =%7;I>. They demanded that the :ore-

an Embassy ta#e necessary action to punish :orean com-

panies that violate national law. The wor#ers also demand-

ed the embassy urge 5amsung to immediately reinstate

union members who had been terminated from their em-

ployment and to stop hiring thugs. The union also warned

that they would call for national stri#e again if no immedi-

ate action was ta#en against 5amsung.

The representatives of the 5outh :orean Embassy prom-

ised to ta#e action against the management of 5amsung.

"owever, none of the members of 5amsung union were

reinstated and the 5amsung independent union was com-

pletely destroyed and not allowed to enter the premises

thereafter. There has been a long struggle against the bru-

tal attitude, and anti-union philosophy and history of 5am-

sung in this country, and the state has never sided with the

wor#ers. The state seems to be totally helpless when

faced with the many forms of e!ploitation of their own

citi?ens by capital.

Endnotes

> 1part from setting up its plants in Indonesia, 5amsung

also has two other businesses, namely 7T 5amsung

5ales and 7T. 1suransi 5amsung Tugu =insurance com-

pany> which is 6ointly held with IndonesiaMs state-owned oil company 7T. 7ertamina.

)> The data ac&uired through a phone interview with

e!port-import staff at 5amsung.

> 5amsung 1nnual http@@#br(h.com@saga@BB-saga@GB)-seri#at-buruh-

samsung-dipasung

F> 5ee http@@megapolitan.#ompas.com@

read@))@@@))F))@:awasan.Industri.Dilumpuh#an

> http@@disperindag.be#asi#ab.go.id@data@#awasan

B> 5ome of them are %%) estern 0i#arang, *ababe-

#a 0ity, ;e#asi International Industrial Estate =;IIE> or

the "yundai Industrial 7ar#, East *a#arta Industrial

7ar# =E*I7> and Delta 5ilicon Industrial 7ar#. http@@disperindag.be#asi#ab.go.id@data@#awasan. %any for-

eign companies from 5ingapore, 351, ermany, :o-

rea, *apan, 0hina, %alaysia, Taiwan and the %iddle

East are located in 0i#arang industrial estate.

(> http@@www.6ababe#a.com@company@@history

C> %ost of the information gathered in this section is

based on interviews with 5amsungMs independent un-

ion leaders who were laid-off soon after setting up an

independent wor#ers union.

> In Indonesia, an outsourced wor#er is a production

line wor#er hired through an employment agency. The

hiring company, in this case 5amsung, does not direct-

ly hire the wor#er. The wor#er remains the employee

of the employment agency and is temporarily con-

tracted to wor# at a 5amsung plant. Thus 5amsung is

not responsible for the social security payments of the

wor#er or providing the wor#er with medical insur-

ance, paid holidays, paid sic# leave or any other bene-

fits provided to regular wor#ers as re&uired by law.

1nd importantly, in practice the employment agency

which contracted out this wor#er does not provide

him or her with any of those benefits either. %ean-

while, contract wor#er, one level YbetterM than out-

sourced one, is a production line wor#er hired by the

company but unli#e the permanent@regular wor#ers

they do not get any benefit + more or less li#e out-

sourced wor#er, but they 6ust get little more wages

and are directly hired by the company. Therefore, an

outsourced wor#er is paid less than a contract directly

recruited by the company, and the contract wor#ersare paid less than the regular ones. The practice of

using a large number of outsourced wor#ers, contract

wor#ers, and recent graduates =e.g. apprentices and

trainees> as full time wor#ers who are usually paid less

than the minimum wage puts tremendous downward

pressure on the wages of all wor#ers.

> Interview with a union leader at 7T 5amoin

)> Email interview with 857%I national leader, F *anuary

)


17/40

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 82 +3

Feature

D0namics o" Electronics Industr0 in India

The Indian state is currently focusing all its efforts to at-

tract 8DI in the manufacturing sector and to promote

technological development re&uired to upgrade manufac-

turing and increase the level of value added particularly in

electronics manufacturing. The electronics industryMs

share in IndiaMs D7 is only about ) W. 9n the other hand,

the demand in the Indian mar#et was 35GF billion in )(-C and is e!pected to reach 35 G billion by )). The

gross manufacturing value added in the Indian electronics

industry has been very low, anecdotally between F to W.

This means that out of the demand of 35 GF billion, be-

tween 35 -) billion was value added in the country and

the remainder was the cost of imported components. In

value terms, the sectorMs imports are second only to the

countryMs oil imports. If this situation continues, by )),

electronics imports may e!ceed oil imports.]^

It is worth mentioning that globali?ation and liberali?ationin India gave a boost to the IT and ITE5 sectors rather than

to electronics manufacturing. During the period CC-)(,

the electronics industry e!perienced an overall annual

growth of ).CW. "owever, ma6or contribution in this

growth was by the software and services industry that

grew at the annual rate of G.W during this period, while

electronics hardware e!perienced a growth of only G.GW.

1ctually, production of electronics hardware as a propor-

tion of total production in electronics industry has been

continuously declining. It declined from GFW in ) to )W

in )(. If we loo# at the contribution of electronics manu-

facturing by sector, consumer electronics, and communi-

cations and broadcast e&uipments are the ma6or contribu-

tors. The data clearly indicates that labour productivity

and capital productivity in this sector has risen significantly

from CCF-C to )G-F.])^

hatever few studies have been conducted on electronics

manufacturing in India clearly e!pose the fact that wor#-

ing conditions in electronics manufacturing are one of the

worse.]^ The e!pansion of the electronics industry in In-

dia is relatively new and the ma6ority of wor#force is repre-

sented by first generation wor#ers. Therefore the unioni-

?ation of electronics wor#ers in private sector is almost

completely a new beginning. 9ne of the ma6or diKculties

of organi?ing private sector electronics wor#ers has been

the small si?e of enterprises and scattered presence of

electronics manufacturing units. ith the opening of the

Indian economy and with a declared focus on promoting

electronics manufacturing, now many larger electronics

manufacturing units with comparatively larger wor#forces

are being established by ma6or global players in electronics

industry. %oreover, in order to provide better infrastruc-

ture facilities to investors, a strategy of clustered develop-

ment of the electronics industries is being promoted, and

therefore a number of electronics manufacturing clusters

are emerging, li#e '0< Delhi, %umbai =%aharashtra>, ;an-

galore =:arnata#a>, 5riperumbudur =Tamilnadu>. In near

future, "yderabad and Nisa#hapatnam in 1ndhra 7radesh,


18/40

+8 ASIA /ONITOR RESOUR$E $ENTRE

5ide


19/40

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 82 +

ous health problems, such as headaches, e!haustion and

an!iety.

1dditional problems are created by the continuous e!po-

sure to ioni?ing radiations, organic solvents, heavy metals

li#e cadmium and lead, and to chemicals that damage re-productive organs, such as arsine and phosphate. or#ers

interviewed for this report were not aware of all the chem-

icals used and their impact on health, but they were gener-

ally aware that they were continuously e!posed to ioni?ing

radiations that may have a negative impact on their health.

1ccording to the wor#ers, the company has one dispensa-

ry within the company premises and the company has a

contract with the :ailash "ospital in 'oida, about #ms

from the factory. or#ers normally visit the company dis-

pensary and only if they develop a serious condition theyare admitted to :ailash "ospital. 9ne of the apprentice

wor#ers interviewed was suffering from intermittent

bouts of fever for days and was receiving medicines

regularly from dispensary. 1ccording to him the doctor in

dispensary told him that he was suffering from typhoid.

"owever, he was regularly attending his duties. "e said

that whenever he visited the dispensary he found that

there were about wor#ers waiting for a chec#-up or

medicine, mainly with complaints of headache, fever, body

pain etc.

There has been at least one incident which shows that

wor#ersM health is being seriously compromised. During

the night shift on 'ovember B, )C, a mysterious gas

lea# or pesticide poisoning occurred at the 'oida manufac-

turing facility =said to have happened in washing machine

assembly section> of 5amsung India Electronics, and more

than C wor#ers were hospitali?ed in :ailash "ospital.

%ost of them were stable by the end of the day and dis-

charged from the hospital ne!t morning. "owever, around

F wor#ers were said to be in a serious condition. 8ive of

them were in the intensive care unit. 1ll of them were dis-charged from the hospital ne!t day evening. 1ccording to

the doctors at the hospital, _The victims may have been

e!posed to carbon mono!ide because of which they re-

ported headaches and nausea while some also fell uncon-

scious.P]^

9n the other hand, the 5uperintendent of 7olice =0ity>

said _8rom the initial inspection, it seems that the gas was

probably 27 that got lea#ed from a pipeline in the lift in-

stalled in plant.P]G^ It is interesting to note that no en-

&uiry too# place and no action was ta#en by the labourdepartment. It is also interesting to note that this incident

was very similar to the incident at 8o!conn in 5riperumba-

dur on )rd *uly ). In both the cases, what actually hap-

pened, whether it was pesticide poisoning or gas poison-

ing or something else, still remains a mystery.

The basic wages in the company are for regular@s#illed wor#ers and for apprentice wor#ers per month. This is after

statutory contributory deductions for Employees 5tate

Insurance =E5I> and 7rovident 8und =78>. ith increments,

the wages of senior regular wor#ers have increased to

about . In addition, apprentice wor#ers are

provided with free accommodation for one-two months.

or#ers reported that when one 6oins 5amsung, initially

he feels so happy because for few days he receives very

good behavior and treatment from supervisors and man-

agement. "owever, after only a few days, he starts feeling

bad and would never recommend anyone to 6oin 5amsung

because once he starts wor#ing with a specified tas# andtarget, he is only treated as a servant, and actually worse


20/40

2< ASIA /ONITOR RESOUR$E $ENTRE

than the machines. "arsh and abusive language is a gen-

eral practice in case of any type of small problem.

The wor#ers told that they are legally eligible to ta#e pre-

scribed leave days. "owever, in practice it is diKcult.

%oreover, since the apprentices are engaged for only oneyear, they try by all means to not ta#e any leave and to be

always in the good boo#s of management, so that there

are chances of being absorbed into the regular wor#force

of 5amsung.

Challen+es "or Or+aniin+ the Wor#ers

There is no trade union and no system of formal represen-

tation of wor#ers in 5amsung Electronics in India in any of

its manufacturing facilities either in north or in south India.

The ma6or problems in organi?ing the wor#ers in 5amsung

and electronics industry in general are a> %a6ority of wor#-

ers are first generation wor#ers, not aware of their rights

and very s#eptical about trade union activities4 b> ma6ority

of wor#ers are informal and the sword of unemployment

is always hanging over their heads4 c> a significant propor-

tion of wor#ers are ITI apprentices who are not considered

as wor#ers under the law, so they have no interest in union

activities and also have fear of being dismissed without

completing the apprentice period4 d> 5ince e!pansion of

electronics industry is comparatively new, there are no

bigger trade unions in this sector to a initiate large scaleunioni?ation drive or at least support such initiatives.

"owever, with all limitations, the unioni?ation process in

electronics industry has already started. The organi?ing

dynamics is difference in various regions of India. In north

India the electronics manufacturing wor#force is dominat-

ed by males =mostly migrants>, while in 5outh and west

India women wor#ers =mostly from the surrounding rural

areas> constitute F-W of the wor#force. %oreover, in

south and west, particularly around 0hennai, ;angalore

and %umbai there are special economic ?ones or electron-ics par#s where large number of electronics manufacturing

units are located, li#e 'o#ia 5EQ in 5riperumbudur, Elec-

tronic 0ity in ;angalore and 5antacru? Electronics E!port

7rocessing Qone-5EE7Q =also hosts ems-*ewellery units>

in 1ndheri, %umbai. In the north there are some IT par#s

in 'oida and urgaon, but most of the electronics manu-

facturing units are scattered in '0< region and not located

in any par#s or Qones. 1lso, there are differences in politics

of labour and labour law enforcement machineries in 5EQs

in various states. 7robably these factors bring some crucial

difference in dynamics of organi?ing in these two regions.In south India, particularly in 5riperumbudur, there are

more dynamic and successful efforts for organi?ing the

electronic wor#ers. In 8o!conn and 'o#ia the wor#ers

have already won the right to collective bargaining and

they have recogni?ed trade unions. 'ow the struggle is to

e!pose the yellow trade unions and transform or replace

them with democratic trade union. 5tri#es in 'o#ia and8o!conn can actually be said to have started a new phase

of electronic wor#ers struggle in India. In many more com-

panies in the region, unioni?ation efforts are so forceful

that managements are trying hard to avoid union by form-

ing wor#ers committees.

In the north, particularly in the national capital region of

Delhi, there is very little success if any in organi?ing in elec-

tronics wor#ers. , a

national T3 0entre tried to organi?e the wor#ers in I2-*I'

Electronics India 7vt. 2td in its plant at 'oida phase II. Thecompany engaged about F contract wor#ers and (

permanent wor#ers along with few apprentices. 1ccording

to "%5 activists, they successfully formed a trade union in

the company and started raising demands of the wor#ers

in *uly-1ugust )). 5ignificant number of contract wor#-

ers also 6oined the trade union and regulari?ation of con-

tract wor#ers emerged as one of ma6or demands. 1nother

demand was for recognition of trade union for collective

bargaining. The management was not ready to accept

these demands and started victimi?ation of wor#ers. %an-

agement stopped the bus services to harass the wor#ers

after union began discussion with I*E on converting con-

tract for wor#ers to regular status. 9n - 1ugust, )(

wor#ers including )) permanent wor#ers, and all "%5 un-

ion oKcials were dismissed. 2ater the case of termination

of wor#ers was referred to the Industrial Tribunal and it is

still pending there. The management is not ready to nego-

tiate with the wor#ers. It is to be noted that the wor#ers

were terminated without any notice and without any en-

&uiry to provide any space of being heard. This case is also

reported in 1nnual 5urvey of Niolations of Trade 3nion


21/40

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 82 2+

in electronics units in 5EE7Q.

In almost all recent struggles and organi?ing attempts dis-

cussed above, it came out very clearly that the degree of

success depends on the degree of unity between informal

=contract> wor#ers and formal =regular> wor#ers. There-fore, integrating the issues of formal and informal wor#ers

and the ways and means to protect informal wor#ers

emerges as the main concern for unioni?ation strategies

and struggles of electronics wor#ers. %oreover, this study

brings out one more dimension in these concerns.

have forcefully challenged the strategy of using contract

wor#ers as source of cheap and vulnerable labour, by suc-

cessfully uniting informal and formal wor#ers together and

putting forward the demands of e&ual pay for e&ual wor#

and regulari?ation of informal wor#ers. It is in this light,that employers are now increasingly wor#ing on other al-

ternatives for e!ploiting cheap and vulnerable labour

force, i.e. e!ploiting the ITI apprentices in a big way, as is

very clearly seen in case of 5amsung. In other electronics

factories also apprentice wor#ers are emerging as signifi-

cant section of wor#force. Therefore, the issue of organi?-

ing apprentice wor#ers may emerge as an important factor

determining the successes and failures in electronic wor#-

ers struggles. The most important issue in this regard is

the issue of recogni?ing the apprentices as wor#ers under

the law. This issue can not be ignored any more in strate-

gies of organi?ing electronics wor#ers.

)his article is abridged ersion of author:s research paper ?0or1ers

in the Suppl2 Chain of &lectronics Industr2 in India% )he Case of Sam'

sung:, published b2 *;#C and aailable at http%//

www!amrc!org!h1/node/-33

Endnotes

> 4 %inistry

of 0ommunications R Information Technology, ov-

ernment of India )).

)> 7roductivity R 0ompetitiveness of Indian %anufactur-

ing + IT "ardware R Electronics 5ector, 8inal


22/40


Electronics are a boom industry and electronics manufac-turing continues to grow through 0hina and 5outh-East1sia, although the wor#ers have a long path ahead to wintheir fair share of the profits. 9ther articles in this issueprofile some of these challenges.

In nearby 1ustralia, the electronics boom has impactedthe labour movement in three ways

. lobalised production has caused

the countryMs economy to shiftfrom being a production basedeconomy to a service based econ-omy. 2ittle or no electronics man-ufacturing ta#es place locally. 1metaphor for this shift is the 1us-

tralian Technology 7ar# near 0entral 5ydney=www.atp.com.au>4 it was previously a railway manu-facturing and maintenance shed and one of 5ydneyMslargest unionised wor#places. Today the building isused to house a film studio, conference centre andoKces for a number of start-up tech companies. 3su-ally when this sort of transition ta#es place, the wor#-ersM union tries to fight it, fails, then shrin#s numerical-

ly when the wor#force is finally laidoff. This lac# of adaptation is a ma6orreason 1ustraliaMs overall union mem-bership has been in long-term decline.

). The way people use electronicshas had an impact on wor#ers in everysector of the economy. IMll e!plore this

in more detail below.

. 2astly electronics have in many ways assisted wor#ersto organise, for e!ample mobile phones allow union9rganisers to cover more ground, des#top publishingma#es newsletters more cost eKcient, etc. The Inter-

net also allows wor#er organisations to create virtualcommunities around issues of concern, includinget3p` =www.getup.org.au> and Destroy the *oint=www.faceboo#.com@DestroyThe*oint>. These do notseem to have lasting impact on their own but havebeen very successful at adding fuel to the fire in con-6unction with oine social change campaigning.

Amaon #ills 'orders

Technology has unleashed change outside anyoneMs con-trol, creating a need to adapt. IMm going to loo# at thisnarrowly in relation to 1ustraliaMs retail and transportationwor#force.

The change began a decade ago when 1ustralian shoppersstarted spending more time on their computers and real-ised they could purchase boo#s from 1ma?on.com at pric-es substantially lower than what they would pay in a store.e;ay also had an impact with small purchases that couldbe made online.

Even though only a relatively small amount of purchasesstarted being made online =even today itMs only W>, themere presence of online stores ma#es it possible for peo-

ple to compare the price in a store to the online price, put-ting pressure on traditional retailersM business models.

Despatch from the other end of the supply chain:

)ustralian labour responds to changes caused by electronics

*ichael Walker

)he abilit2 of technolog2 to be used toadance as well as impinge human rights

is demonstrated dail2

1le! ;atesmith, %icrosoft, ))

)he *ustralian )echnolog2 Par1 @ once it was a large locomotiewor1shopA toda2 it houses start'up software companies

Feature


23/40


Nictims of this trend have included the;orders, 1ngus R and David *ones =established ((>,have also struggled, with %yer being spun off from one ofthe countryMs two ma6or retail companies into the hands ofprivate investors in )B.

The growth of online sales has not displaced retail shopsoverall, in fact the retail industry has grown in overall si?ein the last decade. hile there have been categorieswhere online rivals have caused a decline in sales =e.g.boo#s, printed newspapers, DNDs>, in many cases it ap-pears to have been a coincidence and customers weresimply switching to other retailers. 2arge purchases li#e

i7ads, 70s, Televisions and ;lu-ray players are still mostlybought in stores because they are too costly to import andcross-border sales create problems with warranties, re-

turns for defects, etc. The YitM product,smartphones, are also mostly sold inretail outlets of the ma6or telcos.

3nions have had to move fast to catchup in this ever-changing environment,

but are showing that they can do it.5ome e!amples

. There are now onshore internet fulfilment centres,which benefit from being able to deliver orderedgoods within -) days, something 1ma?on can nevermatch. 1n e!ample is The Iconic=www.theiconic.com.au>, currently the target of anorganising drive.

). The increase in parcel deliveries has created a hugerise in business for 1ustralia 7ost as well as its compet-

itors, Toll and D"2. , one in three of alltruc#s on the nationMs roads are carrying goods for thetwo big retailers. The T3 have been organising thesewor#ers over the issues of suitable pay, driver safetyand fatigue. In *anuary, their 'ational 5ecretary statedthat GW of drivers wor#ing for esfarmersM 0oles su-permar#ets are paid so little that they cannot afford tota#e their truc#s off the road for maintenance.

G. arehousing employment is also growing. ool-worths recently constructed a vast new distribution

centre in 5outhwestern 5ydney for two of its subsidi-aries, ;ig and %asters. ;oth warehouses have beenorganised over the past ( months and are now ma6or-ity union sites. Incidentally the great ma6ority of goodspassing through this centre + not 6ust electronics buttools, clothes and toys as well + are no longer manu-factured in 1ustralia but imported from 1sia.

3nions are still the best-positioned organisations to assistwor#ers and have a moral responsibility to organise thesenew companies and ensure their wor#ers have a voice. Insome cases they are doing so, but the pace of change is so

rapid that they are struggling to find new members at arate that replaces those whose 6obs have been lost. The

70e beliee that if men hae the tal'

ent to inent new machines that put

men out of wor1, the2 hae the talent

to put those men bac1 to wor19

*ohn. 8. :ennedy

;ostl2 unionised wor1ers at the Bic1 Smith &lectronics Bistribu'

tion Centre in Chullora, S2dne2! "er D of the items on thesheles are manufactured in *sia!


24/40

2) ASIA /ONITOR RESOUR$E $ENTRE

nationMs unionisation rate will continue to decline unlessthey allocate more resources to growth.

* 4nion "rganiser and Belegate chat inside the ational Bistribution Centre for Eig 0, a chain of discount department

stores owned b2 0oolworths Limited! Foods are despatched from this warehouse to -G+ Eig 0 stores nationwide and

directl2 to homes!


25/40


There are about F, wor#ers employed in garmentmanufacturing units in and around ;angalore. This num-ber is an estimate from Trade unions, '9s and other or-gani?ations wor#ing with garment wor#ers as well as in-dustry sources. There is no oKcial information available onthe number. 1 remar#able feature is that almost (W ofthe wor#force is female. This is much higher than the aver-age in other industries including agriculture and service,which is estimated between W to GW. 7erhaps the only

other employments that employ more women than menare domestic wor# and se! wor#.

ho are these womenZ here are they coming fromZhat are the bac#groundsZ These are &uestions that inter-est most of us wor#ing on issues of wor#ing women, espe-cially as the industrial wor#force in India in any sector hasnever been women dominated. That women wor#ers haveentered newer employments is of course a matter ofpride, in that it indicates an active participation asYproductive membersM of this society, but what does thatmean to the women wor#ers themselves.

8rom various studies and interviews with the womenwor#ers, a very mi!ed picture develops. These youngwomen, most of them between the ages of ( and )F, are&uite e!cited to leave their villages and come into the YbigcityM. "owever, their dreams of a big city life do not lastlong4 nor do they retain their bright colour.

The dreams start to get duller, as they have to live either indormitories, to which they are directed to by their employ-er, or in crowded slums with very little access to drin#ingwater or proper sanitation. In fact, groups wor#ing withthese young women find it hard to meet them, even out-

side of their wor#ing hours, as they then become busy incollecting water for their daily needs + water from a com-munal tap which comes only for a couple of hours everyday.

5ome of them also commute long hours + from villagesand small towns around ;angalore, a commute that ta#esthem an hour to ) hours every day, each way. 5ome of thelarger factories provide transport. If not, they rely on vehi-cles meant for transporting goods, which are e!tremelyunsafe, crowded and unreliable.

9nce inside the factory, it is even more diKcult for them.Their wor#ing conditions are e!tremely bad. There is no

6ob security, and illegal dismissals are common, even forminor infractions. They are paid very low wages of aboutF Indian rupees a month =about C 35D>, and this isfor s#illed tailors. The helpers are paid even less, aboutG + GF Indian rupees =about B) + ( 35D>. They havecompulsory overtime. Though it is mandated by law allovertime hours be paid at a rate which is double the regu-lar rate, most wor#ers do not get any payment for theovertime that they wor#. 5ometimes, they are paid at the

regular rate. They are not YallowedM to refuse overtime.Even if they can refuse, the wor#ers are not able to refuseas they need the money that they ma#e with the paidovertime. The wor#ers are routinely denied leave, andoverstaying of leave granted is treated as an offence mer-iting termination of services.

In addition to all these, the wor#ers face e!treme levels ofharassment + verbal, physical and se!ual. The former twoare mostly, if not always, related to wor# pressures andthe demand that the wor#ers produce more and more inless and less time. This also means that the wor#ers arepressuri?ed not to drin# water or ta#e toilet brea#s.

The harassment that these women face has not met withade&uate notice. It ta#es physical forms + such as hittingwith a piece of cloth, slapping and of course corporal pun-ishment, such as ma#ing them stand on the shop-Aoorwithout assigning them wor#, as a means of punishmentfor late-coming. hat is spo#en about is low wages andovertime, not harassment. To understand this, as well asthe so-called YdocilityM of the wor#ers in not being able tovoice this issue as much, we have to loo# into the bac#-ground of these wor#ers.

Narious studies have shown that most garment wor#ersare young women. hat is also important to note is thatthe women are mostly first generation migrants to a city,as well as being first generation industrial wor#ers. Theyare usually from rural areas from families involved in agri-culture + either as marginal landholders or as waged la-bour. They belong to traditional set-ups, and had it notbeen for the fact that it has become increasingly diKcultto sustain lives through agriculture, and the debts of fami-lies, these young women would not have been YallowedMto leave their homes and wor# for a living in the city.

In these traditional set-ups, women, especially unmarriedyoung women, are sub6ect to enormous amounts of con-

-endered .iolence in /eady *ade -arment Factories in

Bangalore

)poor0a ai"ar

-ender Column


26/40

2; ASIA /ONITOR RESOUR$E $ENTRE

trol, from their families as well as the larger community.Their movement is restricted4 their manner of dressing iscontrolled, and of course, their se!uality. They are usuallymarried off by the time they reach (, though the legal ageis (. "owever, it is only when their earning power be-comes important that these controls are loosened.

;ut, years of such control over their minds and bodieshave obviously had an impact on these young women.They are able to be physically abused + hit with a piece ofcloth or slapped + again for production errors or not ful-filling their Y&uotaM, precisely because the supervisors andmanagers thin# that it is legitimate to do so, and the wom-en, used to years of control, do not protest as much asthey should. 9f course, there is an underlying fear of 6oblosses, but it is more than 6ust that.

It is the conAuence of patriarchy and capitalism + a conAu-

ence that leads managers to believe that women wor#erscan be hit.

5ince traditionally, the role and place of a women is withinthe family and home, once they move out and access otherspaces, these spaces themselves become an e!tension ofYwhere they ought to have beenM. The factory becomes ane!tension of the home for these women, and not in agood way. Domestic violence against women at home getstransported to the wor#place as physical violence at thefactory.

The reactions of the women wor#ers themselves to thisviolence are thus

7Buring the season, the manager shouts and screamsand sometimes he slaps


27/40


1S# Column

The ma6ority of the F victims of the blood disorder cluster

at 5amsung Electronics 0o., 2td. were vocational high

school graduates from poor families in small cities. They

went to wor# at 5amsung in the late CCs when 5outh

:orea boasted one of the worldMs highest college enrol-

ment rates, per cent. ;efore the victims fell to a variety

of blood disorders, 5amsung, which was on its way to be-

come the worldMs largest chipma#er, was their source of

pride and opportunity. 9n *uly C, "an#yoreh ), one thecountyMs few independent wee#lies, profiled four victims

from the small city of :unsan in a cover story. The follow-

ing is a translation of the report ]1ll brac#ets are added^

5itting &uietly on the edge of :um


28/40


29/40


In %arch ), she too# medical leave. "er condition

worsening, :im eventually resigned from the company.

O%other wanted me to see# wor#ersM compensation. I

opposed it.P 5he said. OI believed I could get bac# to wor#.

The company said my wor#ers compensation re&uest

would not li#ely be accepted because the illness wascaused for personal reasons.P

5he went in and out of hospital as the condition of sclero-

sis Auctuated. 5he lost vision in the right eye. ith her left

eye, she can barely read large fonts on the computer

screen. 2ast year, :im filed a re&uest for wor#ers compen-

sation with the help of 5"1


30/40

6< ASIA /ONITOR RESOUR$E $ENTRE

sung, Li *ong-ran, labour attorney with 5"1


31/40

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE - 82 6+

1S# Column

'ovember C, CC, was a day of infamy for the wor#ers of

the Qhili "andicraft 8actory in 5hen?hen. They had gone to

wor# that day in 0hina, li#e any other, to earn a better liv-

ing for themselves and their families by ma#ing stuffed

toys. "owever, (B wor#ers never left their wor#place alive

that day, and G others were in6ured in a factory fire that

was spar#ed by an electrical short. If three of the four e!-

its had not been bolted shut, if the windows had not been

covered with bars, if goods had not bloc#ed the stairwaysand corridors, if bribes had not been paid to certify that

the wor#ing environment was safe, if fire safety regula-

tions had been enforced, perhaps the outcome would

have been much different, and there would not be a need

to be writing about this day of infamy for the wor#ers )

years later.

This tragedy though did not happen in a vacuum. 1 similar

tragedy had occurred () years earlier at the Triangle 5hirt-

waist 8actory on %arch )F, C, in 'ew Lor#. 2oc#ed e!its

in this fire also contributed to the death of G garmentwor#ers. The lessons of this deadly event and the fire safe-

ty laws it spawned in the 3nited 5tates though had not

made it to 0hina more than eight decades later when the

Qhili factory fire too# the lives of more wor#ers in their

wor#place.

%oreover, the tragedy in 0hina was proceeded si! months

earlier by the deadliest factory fire in history at the :ader

Toy 8actory in Thailand on %ay of the same year with

(( wor#ers losing their lives and more than F others

being seriously in6ured with loc#ed e!its again playing arole in the disaster. The lessons of this more recent fire

though did not alter the management and operations of

the Qhili toy factory. In addition to the loc#ed e!its, several

other common denominators are shared by the two facto-

ry fires in 1sia both factories made stuffed toys, both fac-

tories employed primarily migrant women wor#ers from

rural areas of the country and both factories were 6oint

ventures with companies based in "ong :ong.

5adly, factory fires have not ended with the :ader and

Qhili infernos of CC. In the past two decades, countlessnumbers of factory fires have consumed the lives of thou-

sands of wor#ers with the latest accidents in )) includ-

ing fires in 7a#istan on the same dayV5eptember Vin

:arachi and 2ahore that together claimed the lives of F

wor#ers and in6ured more than )F other employees and

in ;angladesh at Ta?reen 8ashions on 'ovember )G in

Dha#a that added the names of another ) wor#ers to the

global list of factory fire fatal ities. This litany of tragedies

in the wor#place must also incorporate the more than

, wor#ers who perished when the


32/40


The year before the Qhili factory fire the paramount leader

of 0hina at the time, Deng iaoping, made his famous

southern tour to 5hen?hen and other cities to promote his

plans for economic reform that included encouraging e!-

port-oriented industriali?ation. 1mong the dictums that

reAected his economic thin#ing was that Oit is glorious toget richP and Owe should let some people get rich first.P

The owners of the Qhili toy factory and other factory own-

ers and managers in 0hina, as well as cadre of the 0hinese

0ommunist 7arty, too# DengMs words to heart. hat they

sought to ensure was that they were among the first to

get rich.

%eanwhile, the wor#ers also sought to Oget rich,P but

their definition of getting rich was much more modest

they simply wanted to improve the austere living condi-tions of themselves and their families. They were not inter-

ested in owning villas, buying lu!ury cars and watches,

drin#ing e!pensive wines and li&uors, having mistresses

and en6oying other symbols of wealth and status.


33/40


/egional /ound%up

South Asia

The last &uarter of )) and the first &uarter of ) was

mar#ed by death of hundreds of wor#ers in a chain of fire

accidents in garment factories in 7a#istan and ;angladesh,and during this time a representative case which draws

attention to the consistent and brutal repression un-

leashed by corporate and the state against the 5u?u#i

wor#ers in India.

=actor0 =ires in %a#istan and 'an+ladesh

In 7a#istan, on th 5eptember )) a ma6or fire accident

bro#e out in a te!tile factory named 1li Enterprises locat-

ed in western part of :arachi, when a boiler e!ploded and

the Aames ignited chemicals that were stored in the facto-

ry. %ore than G wor#ers were inside the factory when

the bla?e erupted and about )(C wor#ers died in this fire

accident. 5oon, same day, another fire accident was re-

ported in probably an illegal shoema#ing factory located

on ;and , and therefore in government records, the factoryemployed only C wor#ers while the death toll itself

stands at more than )(C.]^

e come across the similar situations in India too. 8or e!-

ample, in case of a ma6or fire accident in 2a#hani 5hoes in

8aridabad, "aryana on st %ay )C, the management and

the labour department claimed that there were only F

deaths and )G others were in6ured. "owever, according to

wor#ers about wor#ers were #illed in the incident and

this claim was strengthened with the fact that no one


34/40

6) ASIA /ONITOR RESOUR$E $ENTRE

came bac# to claim about bicycles of wor#ers par#ed

in premises of the factory. In this case too, ma6ority of

wor#ers were not listed on the company rolls and not reg-

istered under Employees 5tate Insurance =E5I>. 9ut of (

wor#ers who were brought to various hospitals, only one

wor#er had an oKcial E5I health insurance number. 5ignifi-

cant numbers of wor#ers engaged in the factory were

from 'epal and single, and therefore they were not imme-

diately reported missing by their families. There were also

rumors of bodies disappearing after being whis#ed away in

truc#s in the night.

The above accounts very clearly e!pose the monstrous

nature of informali?ation of labour, that enables the capi-

tal to s&uee?e the labour power of wor#ers to the ma!i-

mum capacity and at cheapest rate possible, and that too-

without any responsibility for their life and death.

The =actors !ehind the Bre tra+edies

8ollowing issues emerge as common factors responsible

for aggravating the problems of health and safety in gen-

eral and increasing the death toll in fire accidents in gar-

ment factories in both 7a#istan and ;angladesh

The centre of gravity of the garment industry is mov-

ing towards south precisely to e!ploit the cheap la-

bour and benefit from low cost manufacturing. 2abourcosts in 0hina, once the preferred location for clothes

production, are rising and therefore the garment

brands are now directing their orders to countries In-

dia, 7a#istan, 0ambodia, Nietnam and especially ;ang-

ladesh where the profit margins are huge. Te!tile and

garments e!ports are ma6or employers and ma6or con-

tributors in e!port earnings in most of the south 1sian

countries. Te!tile industry in 7a#istan employs (W of

the manufacturing wor# force and contributes about

B.GW of D7.]B^ In ;angladesh, garments account for

about ( percent of ;angladeshMs e!port economy. Ithas about F, garment factories employing about

. million wor#ers.](^ ith the advent of liberali?a-

tion, to attract foreign investments and to boost e!-

ports the south 1sian states are discouraging, disal-

lowing or even banning the inspections of factories

under various labour laws and those related to health

and safety. 8or e!ample, in 7a#istan, the Electrical In-

spectors were disallowed by the government to con-

duct the inspectionof factories, and the labour depart-

ment was re&uired to obtain an authority letter from

the department concerned before carrying out inspec-

tions. %oreover, the number of factory inspectors is

so low =F for more than factories> that it is im-

possible for the department to carry out inspections.

]C^ 1n e!ecutive order issued under the 7un6ab Indus-

trial 7olicy ) actually abolished labour inspections,

with the aim of developing an industry and business-

friendly environment to attract foreign investments.

]^ 5imilar is the situation in ;angladesh and India.

There are no comprehensive 9ccupational "ealth and

5afety laws in south 1sian countries. %oreover, as we

already discussed, with the advent of liberali?ation,

there is no emphasis on ensuring health and safety

and so state machinery consciously ignores the viola-

tions of whatever health and safety laws and policies

are there. In 7a#istan, a 'ational 8ire and 5afety policy

was drafted in ), but it is not yet approved.]^ In

;angladesh, International 2abor


35/40


desh had permission for only three Aoors, but it e!-

tended and operated in C Aoors.]G^ %a6or reasons for

the mass deaths in fire accidents in both ;angladesh

and 7a#istan were loc#ed doors and crammed space,

no proper and clear fire e!its or emergency e!its.

The devastating fire accidents in 7a#istan and ;angla-

desh effectively e!posed the business of international

certifications. %ost of the enterprises where fire

bro#e out were having all relevant certifications. It is

interesting to note that a few wee#s prior to the fire

1li Enterprises in 7a#istan factory passed an interna-

tionally recogni?ed safety test.]F^ It clearly e!poses

the fact that these so called non profit monitoring

groups are profited by the corporations for providing

certifications and they do not care much for ensuring

the compliance of labour laws and health and safety

standards, otherwise, how such incidents may happen

if factories are up to the mar# in all safety standardsZ

The current nature of world garment industry is also

one of the important factors behind the intense

health and safety problems in this industry. The

amount of production orders from brands to the fac-

tories in south Auctuates drastically, and on the other

hand, there is a continuous pressure from brands to

reduce the production costs. This pressure is built by

creating an intense competition between factories to

win orders from the brands. 8ast fashion chains such

as Qara, the ap and "R% speciali?e in rushing new

styles from catwal#s to retail outlets at pace. This ne-

cessitates bursts of production at crucial moments in

the style cycle. 5o, factory owners engage e!tra wor#-

ers to deliver these orders in time. In these situations,

maintaining a huge informal labour force becomes

profitable for them, because informals can be easily

hired and fired as per the need. ith such Ae!ible in-

formal labour force it is not possible to ensure that

factories provide training to all wor#ers on safety is-

sues. 9n the other hand, precisely due to these fac-

tors, at times factories get overcrowded beyond lim-

its, violating all 5afety standards. 8or e!ample, in the

period when Ta?reen fire bro#e out, all factories were

Aooded with orders and probably engaged large num-

ber of e!tra wor#ers to meet the 0hristmas rush in the

est.]^

Trade 3nions are the only effective institutions of

wor#ers to ensure the compliance of labour laws and

health and safety standards at wor#place. ;ut the

corporate and the 5tate victimi?e the wor#ers when

they attempt to form the trade unions and whenever

wor#ers are able to organi?e themselves, repression is

unleashed against them. It is to be noted that there

were no trade unions in any of the factories where

fires bro#e out in ;angladesh and 7a#istan, even

when they engaged hundreds of wor#ers.

Cor&orate-$tate Collusion Den0in+ Justice and 7nleash-

in+ Re&ression on $uu#i Wor#ers

This is now third year, %aruti 5u?u#i wor#ers are strug-

gling for their rights guaranteed under the constitution

and labour laws of India. 0orporate-5tate collusion is not

only denying their rights but continuously unleashing re-

pression on them. This is probably one of the longest fac-

tory wor#ers struggles of the time. The conditions thatthey are facing are general conditions of the time for

wor#ing class, but the uni&ueness of their struggle is in its

uncompromising nature, innovative strategies to e!pand

its support base and sustaining it for such a long time. FG

permanent and ( contract wor#ers are thrown out of

6ob, GB wor#ers are in *ail, and non-bailable arrest war-

rants are issued against more wor#ers. During one of

their recent demonstrations for release of arrested wor#-

ers and reinstatement of thrown out wor#ers , around

more were arrested including wor#ers and social activists

supporting their cause, of them are still in 6ail.

It is to be noted that 5u?u#i wor#ers were facing serious

problems of wor# pressure and various forms of e!ploita-

tion for a long time. 1t %aruti 5u?u#i, the production ca-

pability and targets are set considerably higher than the

installed capacity, i.e., production capability of the compa-

ny is .FF million units per annum even though installed

capacity is .) units per annum. or#ers are made to

wor# non stop li#e robots for eight and a half hours, with a

brea# of only minutes for lunch and two tea brea#s of B

minutes each. 8or years, wor#ers have been made to bothreport for duty F minutes before shift-time and also wor#

for F minutes e!tra every day without any overtime pay-

ment. 8urther the policy on leave is very stringent and the

leave record is directly lin#ed to the wages. The wage de-

ductions on account of leave are made from the incentive-

lin#ed part of the wages and a single leave ta#en by a per-

manent wor#er may cost him a loss of incentives up to


36/40

6; ASIA /ONITOR RESOUR$E $ENTRE

nesar were permanent. 0ontract wor#ers are paid only for

the days they wor# =i.e., ) days a month> and considera-

bly less than the permanent wor#ers, for doing the same

wor#. The company$s announced after the ( *uly incident,

that it will regulari?e its wor#ers4 however, it is yet to ma-

teriali?e.]B^

The wor#ers struggle in 5u?u#i started in *une ), when

wor#ers applied for registration of their independent trade

union and after getting this information the management

started forcing the wor#ers to sign on a blan# paper. ;oth

regular and contract wor#ers started protesting against

this and occupied the factory from Gth *une ). There

were so many ups and downs, some times management

promised to accept the demands, then denied again, state

labour department also intervened but did not act beyond

false promises, suspensions, dismissals and arrests werealso done to brea# the struggle. 9n )(th 1ugust )

around G riot cops were posted at factory gate and

management demanded from each wor#er to sign a Ygood

conduct bondM =no go slows, no sabotage, no singing dur-

ing wor#, shave regularly etc.>. or#ers protested, so they

were not allowed to enter the factory, and in a way there

was a loc#out in the factory. 9n Gth 5eptember several

thousand wor#ers at 5u?u#i 7owertrain, 5u?u#i castings

and 5u?u#i %otorcycles in %anesar also went on stri#e

demanding wage hi#e and regulari?ation of casual@

contract wor#ers, along with solidarity demand for ending

Ygood conductM and loc#-out at %5I2 and withdrawal of the

suspensions of %5I2 wor#ers. ith these stri#es, main

plant of %aruti 5u?u#i at urgaon was compelled to close

the factory due to lac# of parts. The loc#-out at %5I2 end-

ed on th 5eptember when wor#ers finally signed the

bond. 1fter this management converted GG terminations

into suspensions, but refused to ta#e bac# about ,)

contract wor#ers who participated in protest. 5o, on Bth

9ctober wor#ers occupied the factory again. This time,

wor#ers at 5u?u#i 7owertrain, 0astings and 5u?u#i %otor-cycles too# the same step simultaneously. The demand

was to ta#e bac# all contract wor#ers and regulari?e them.

There were also short solidarity stri#es in eight more facto-

ries in the industrial area. 9n th 9ctober, with the help of

police force wor#ers were compelled to leave the occupa-

tion. 5oon the management was any how able to buy over

almost all co-ordination committee members of the union,

and all of them left the factory and union. "owever, by

'ovember ), wor#ers formed a new trade union and

filed the application for its registration. 1fter a long delay,

labour department finally registered the union at the endof 8ebruary )). Thereafter the union formally presented

a charter of demand before management. The main de-

mand was for regulari?ation of contract wor#ers, and end

of the practice of hiring contract labour. 9ther demands

included increase in salary, better medical facilities, reliev-

ers, leaves, F minutes of rest time from the companyMs (

hour

Documents

ALU 82 Workers Struggle in Electronics Industry