Silicon Valley Labor Advocates Connect San Jose Workers to South Korea

Protestors outside Samsung's headquarters in South Korea holding signs featuring the photo of 23-year-old Park Ji-yeong, a young woman who died in March of this year from leukemia contracted while working at Samsung's semiconductor plant.

San Jose, CA – On May 24th, workers and advocates in Silicon Valley did an informational leafleting in solidarity with high-tech production workers in South Korea. Samsung’s San Jose Semiconductor plant located on North First Street was the scene of the international act of solidarity. Representatives of the Communication Workers of America, the Santa Clara Central Labor Council, Plumbers Local 393, San Jose State University, Santa Clara University, and the San Jose Peace and Justice Center came out and stationed themselves at each of the plant’s exits. With informational signs and flyers in hand, they attempted to inform the employees of the San Jose plant of the dangers existing in their same division’s Korean Semiconductor plant in Onyang, South Korea – the site of international controversy in regards to worker safety in the high-tech industry. Workers at Samsung’s chip-manufacturing plants in South Korea are suing the country’s worker compensation service for denying that illnesses the have developed were contracted on the job. Samsung, South Korea’s largest company, claims its workplaces are safe, but its opponents say at least 23 workers have gotten cancer after extended exposure to radiation and benzene, and that at least nine have died.

The goal was not only to inform San Jose workers of the dangers associated with semiconductor plant’s chemical use, but also to investigate whether similar concerns exist at the San Jose plant. Samsung’s global brand could be stained by the allegations of the cancer cluster issue existing in their Onyang plant. Samsung is a huge multinational corporation with many divisions all over the world. They are market leaders in the production of chips, cell phones, TV’s and LCD displays.

Ted Smith, founder of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, and member of the International Campaign for Responsible Technology was present at the San Jose leafleting. He spoke with a Samsung US representative a few weeks ago when Samsung was trying to get environmental support for their “green” programs which consisted primarily of recycling. Smith asked the Samsung representative to better communicate with Samsung headquarters in Korea about the chemicals used in their production process.

San Jose, considered to be the capitol of Silicon Valley, is a leader in the high tech industry of silicon chip advancement and manufacturing. Early in the inception of the industry, Silicon Valley manufacturers had struggled with the occupational safety and health issues associated with the fabrication end of the industry. As organizations like the Santa Clara County Occupational Safety and Health and the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition fought for commitments from the high tech industry to protect the health of their workers, many of the production plants went overseas. Silicon Valley health and safety activists though, such as Ted Smith, have worked with union and advocacy organizations in countries such as South Korea to inform them of the workplace dangers.

For further information regarding employees of Samsung, visit stopsamsung.wordpress.com.