Samsung has finished construction of a US$600 million research and development center in Ho Chi Minh City. Yet, this comes as a report by Research Center for Gender Family and Environment in Development (CGFED) and IPEN sheds light on the exploitative and inhumane working conditions in Samsung’s Vietnamese factories.
The South Korean giant is Vietnam’s biggest investor, the company already has established a R&D facility in Hanoi as well as smartphone production plants which employ over 100,000 Vietnamese workers. The electronics sector is a significant area of growth for Vietnam, particularly Samsung smartphones which account for a fifth of Vietnam’s total exports in value terms. For this reason the Vietnamese government provides favorable investment deals to help Samsung cement its position in the manufacturing and exporting of electronics from Vietnam.
However, Samsung is also tied allegations of mistreatment of its workers in Vietnam. A report focusing on the experiences of women working at two Samsung factories in Vietnam was released in November 2017 by the CGFED and IPEN. As Samsung is notoriously secretive, the report offers a rare glimpse into life on the Samsung factory floor. It documents the workers’ experiences of frequent mistreatment and overworking resulting in fatigue, fainting, injury, pain, and even an increase in miscarriages.
Despite this, Samsung Electronics has refuted any claims of wrongdoing and said the report is different from the facts, while also threatening legal action against CGFED for this work.
Read the full article here
Read the report ‘Stories of Women Workers in Vietnam’s Electronics Industry‘ by CGFED and IPEN here.
This report is also summarised in the GoodElectronics Article below:
