USA TODAY. « Your Cool New Samsung Smartphone Brought to You by Noise, Pain and Miscarriages ». https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/03/14/your-cool-new-samsung-smartphone-brought-you-noise-pain-miscarriages-pham-digangi-column/397173002/.
(extracts of the article)
Few consumers or reporters are aware, for example, that half of all Samsung phones are manufactured in Vietnam by a female-majority workforce in their twenties.
All the workers we interviewed reported that they experienced episodes of dizziness or fainting at work. High noise levels violated legal limits. After standing at work for 70 to 80 hours a week, they reported pain in their bones, joints, and legs. Not a single worker we interviewed received a copy of her work contract (a violation of Vietnamese labor law).
Among the most alarming information were reports that miscarriage “is very normal.” As one worker said, “It is very normal if they are young. If they are pregnant … for the first trimester it is very difficult, they miscarry a lot.”
The advocacy group Support for the Health and Rights of People in the Semiconductor Industry has documented over 300 cases of severe, and often fatal, occupational illnesses among electronics workers in South Korea, many in Samsung factories. Despite numerous South Korean court and government rulings that find factory conditions responsible for the leukemia, lymphomas, brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, infertility and other profound health problems in young former workers, manufacturers continue to deny their responsibility and refuse to identify the chemicals they use.
In Vietnam, Samsung launched a Goliath effort to undermine information provided by its own employees, including threatening workers with firing and lawsuits should they speak to “outsiders” and legal threats to our researchers.
For the future of women in Vietnam, South Korea, and Samsung workers around the world, it is time to clean up Samsung.
USA TODAY. « Your Cool New Samsung Smartphone Brought to You by Noise, Pain and Miscarriages ». https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/03/14/your-cool-new-samsung-smartphone-brought-you-noise-pain-miscarriages-pham-digangi-column/397173002/.
(extracts of the article)
Few consumers or reporters are aware, for example, that half of all Samsung phones are manufactured in Vietnam by a female-majority workforce in their twenties.
All the workers we interviewed reported that they experienced episodes of dizziness or fainting at work. High noise levels violated legal limits. After standing at work for 70 to 80 hours a week, they reported pain in their bones, joints, and legs. Not a single worker we interviewed received a copy of her work contract (a violation of Vietnamese labor law).
Among the most alarming information were reports that miscarriage “is very normal.” As one worker said, “It is very normal if they are young. If they are pregnant … for the first trimester it is very difficult, they miscarry a lot.”
The advocacy group Support for the Health and Rights of People in the Semiconductor Industry has documented over 300 cases of severe, and often fatal, occupational illnesses among electronics workers in South Korea, many in Samsung factories. Despite numerous South Korean court and government rulings that find factory conditions responsible for the leukemia, lymphomas, brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, infertility and other profound health problems in young former workers, manufacturers continue to deny their responsibility and refuse to identify the chemicals they use.
In Vietnam, Samsung launched a Goliath effort to undermine information provided by its own employees, including threatening workers with firing and lawsuits should they speak to “outsiders” and legal threats to our researchers.
For the future of women in Vietnam, South Korea, and Samsung workers around the world, it is time to clean up Samsung.