Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry

Contents

Contents Foreword: Technology Happens ix JIM HIGHTOWER Acknowledgments xiii 1 The Quest for Sustainability and Justice in a High-Tech World 1 TED SMITH, DAVID A. SONNENFELD, AND DAVID N. PELLOW PART I. GLOBAL ELECTRONICS Section Introduction 13 DAVID A. SONNENFELD 2 The Changing Map of Global Electronics: Networks of Mass Production in the New Economy 17 BOY LÜTHJE 3 Occupational Health in the Semiconductor Industry 31 JOSEPH LADOU 4 Double Jeopardy: Gender and Migration in Electronics Manufacturing 43 ANIBEL FERUS-COMELO 5 “Made in China”: Electronics Workers in the World’s Fastest Growing Economy 55 APO LEONG AND SANJIV PANDITA 6 Corporate Social Responsibility in Thailand’s Electronics Industry 70 TIRA FORAN AND DAVID A. SONNENFELD 7 Electronics Workers in India 83 SANJIV PANDITA 8 Out of the Shadows and into the Gloom? Worker and Community Health in and around Central and Eastern Europe’s Semiconductor Plants 96 ANDREW WATTERSON vi CONTENTS PART II. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND LABOR RIGHTS Section Introduction 107 ANDREW WATTERSON AND SHENGLIN CHANG 9 From Grassroots to Global: The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition’s Milestones in Building a Movement for Corporate Accountability and Sustainability in the High-Tech Industry 111 LESLIE A. BYSTER AND TED SMITH 10 The Struggle for Occupational Health in Silicon Valley: A Conversation with Amanda Hawes 120 AMANDA HAWES WITH DAVID N. PELLOW 11 Immigrant Workers in Two Eras: Struggles and Successes in Silicon Valley 129 DAVID N. PELLOW AND GLENNA MATTHEWS 12 Worker Health at National Semiconductor, Greenock (Scotland): Freedom to Kill? 139 JAMES MCCOURT 13 Community-Based Organizing for Labor Rights, Health, and the Environment: Television Manufacturing on the Mexico-U.S. Border 150 CONNIE GARCÍA AND AMELIA SIMPSON 14 Labor Rights and Occupational Health in Jalisco’s Electronics Industry (Mexico) 161 RAQUEL E. PARTIDA ROCHA 15 Breaking the Silicon Silence: Voicing Health and Environmental Impacts within Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park 170 SHENGLIN CHANG, HUA-MEI CHIU, AND WEN-LING TU 16 Human Lives Valued Less Than Dirt: Former RCA Workers Contaminated by Pollution Fighting Worldwide for Justice (Taiwan) 181 YU-LING KU 17 Unionizing Electronics: The Need for New Strategies 191 ROBERT STEIERT PART III. ELECTRONIC WASTE AND EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY Section Introduction 201 LESLIE A. BYSTER AND WEN-LING TU CONTENTS vii 18 The Electronics Production Life Cycle. From Toxics to Sustainability: Getting Off the Toxic Treadmill 205 LESLIE A. BYSTER AND TED SMITH 19 High-Tech Pollution in Japan: Growing Problems, Alternative Solutions 215 FUMIKAZU YOSHIDA 20 High-Tech’s Dirty Little Secret: The Economics and Ethics of the Electronic Waste Trade 225 JIM PUCKETT 21 Hi-Tech Heaps, Forsaken Lives: E-Waste in Delhi 234 RAVI AGARWAL AND KISHORE WANKHADE 22 Importing Extended Producer Responsibility for Electronic Equipment into the United States 247 CHAD RAPHAEL AND TED SMITH 23 International Environmental Agreements and the Information Technology Industry 260 KEN GEISER AND JOEL TICKNER 24 Design Change in Electrical and Electronic Equipment: Impacts of the Extended Producer Responsibility Legislation in Sweden and Japan 273 NAOKO TOJO 25 ToxicDude.com: The Dell Campaign 285 DAVID WOOD AND ROBIN SCHNEIDER Appendix A. Principles of Environmental Justice 299 Appendix B. The Silicon Principles of Socially and Environmentally Responsible Electronics Manufacturing 301 Appendix C. Sample Shareholder Resolutions 303 Appendix D. Computer TakeBack Campaign Statement of Principles 306 Appendix E. Electronics Recycler’s Pledge of True Stewardship 308 Acronyms Used 311 References 315 Resources 337 Contributors 339 Index 343 ...