A significant part of the minerals in our electronic devices, especially tin, tantalum and tungsten (3Ts), originate from the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of DR Congo (DRC). The new makeITfair report – ‘From…
The 18th edition of Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics evaluates leading consumer electronics companies based on their commitment and progress in three environmental criteria: Energy and Climate, Greener Products, and Sustainable Operations. The Guide scores…
The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights may form the common ground between electronics companies and civil society organisations in addressing labour issues such as the excessive use of temporary labour. This is…
Young Fast Optoelectronics (YFO), a Taiwanese touch-screen manufacturer producing for among others Samsung, LG and HTC, is under heavy criticism from the YFO Trade Union (YFOTU). In April 2010, the trade union reported about sweatshop-like…
Consumer electronics companies are increasingly using offshore partnerships to drive benefits beyond labor arbitrage. Such companies are leveraging offshoring to drive competitive advantage by tapping into specialized skills and expertise offered by developing economies in…
One of every two mobile phones is manufactured in China. In 2008, makeITfair published a report about poor working conditions at factories that mobile phone companies source from. One year later, two of the factories…
When centrally controlled economic systems collapsed and the markets of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) opened up to foreign capital, most of the world’s big electronics companies started to invest in the region. How did…
The mobile phone industry is often presented as a clean, unproblematic industry, but makeITfair’s new report ‘Silenced to Deliver’ shows that this is not the case. Workers’ rights in Asian mobile phone factories are severely…
In its November 2006 report ‘The High Cost of Calling: Critical Issues in the Mobile Phone Industry‘, SOMO reported on labour conditions in four countries where mobile phones are being produced and sent the report…