The Restart Project interviewed Omana George, the Monitoring Coordinator of Electronics Watch, on Covid-19, the impact on electronics workers, and current trends. She talked about the current situation of electronics workers under Covid-19. Omana said that under Covid-19 what was bad has become worse. There is a flexibilization of working conditions and employment. Recent unrest in Wistron, one of Apple’s suppliers, have exemplifies this exact situation.
In the second part of the interview, Omana talked about the hazards for electronic workers. One of the biggest risk is exposure to chemicals. Workers are working without any training on the type of chemicals they use, how to use them, their hazardous properties, and theie impacts. She quoted Amanda Hawes “If you’re pregnant, every day is bring your child to work day.”
Omana closed the interview with a remark on what we can do as consumers. We can be aware of the working condition of the people who made the products we use. We can also put more pressure on public purchasers to be more aware of the suppliers from whom they buy their products, and therefore they could in turn use their leverage on suppliers to demand improvement of working conditions.
Listen to the interview here.
