International Workers Memorial Day
Unlike those dying in war or major incidents, they are not publicly remembered; yet over 2.3 million people are killed by work worldwide each year – more than by war or AIDS. International Workers Memorial…
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Toxic Town: IBM, Pollution, and Industrial Risks
In 1924, IBM built its first plant in Endicott, New York. Now, Endicott is a contested toxic waste site. With its landscape thoroughly contaminated by carcinogens, Endicott is the subject of one of the nation’s…
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London Universities Purchasing Consortium joins Electronics Watch
London Universities Purchasing Consortium (LUPC) has become a member of Electronics Watch, the independent monitoring organization for socially responsible public procurement of IT. “We believe that procurement can be a very compelling instrument of social…
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Workers of Samsung supplier in China get pay increase after strike
A strike by more than a thousand workers at Samsung supplier Shanmukang Technology in Dongguan has come to an after the Korean-owned company agreed to increase overtime rates for weekdays and weekends and double the…
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ILO Report on safety and health in the use of chemicals at work
This report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) for the 2014 celebration of the World Day for Safety and Health at Work – on April 28th – reviews the current situation regarding the use of…
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‘Who pays the price’ screened at High Tech Campus Eindhoven
On Friday March 21, filmmaker Heather White presented her documentary ‘Who pays the price? The human costs of electronics’ in Eindhoven. The session at the High tech Campus was organised by Dutch trade union confederation…
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Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) revises wording of Base Code clause on working hours
On April 1, 2014, the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) has issued a revised edition of its Base Code. The Working Hours Clause – though the fundamental principles remain the same – has been rewritten, so…
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Grievance mechanisms in the electronics industry fail to give workers access to remedy
In a research into grievance mechanisms in the electronics industry in 5 different countries SOMO found that very few workers have trust in the grievance mechanisms in their company. Most workers do not know how…
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Worker of Hualu Panasonic AVC (CHPANC) suffers from aplastic anaemia after working in toxic environment
Hu Fengchao at first just felt tired. But the 28-year old spray-painter of DVD cases soon was diagnosed with anaemia. He had been working for around a year at Hualu Panasonic AVC Networks Co., Ltd….
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Assessing the reforms portrayed in Apple’s Supplier Responsibility Report
Isaac Shapiro and Scott Nova present an assessment of Apple’s latest supplier responsibility report (Apple 2014a), which was released in February and reports on conditions in its supply chain throughout 2013. From their assessment, that…