Today I received an email detailing the gross exploitation of the Samsung workers which I now share with you all.
Dear Mel,
Help bring the hidden stories of Samsung’s supply chain workers to the Mobile World Congress, happening now in Barcelona.
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When airlines banned the use of Samsung’s Note 7 after its fire-prone batteries started to spontaneously combust, the public got a sense of the fear that Samsung supply chain workers face on a daily basis.
Because beneath Samsung’s shiny exterior as global electronics giant is a corporate culture that is callously geared towards maximising profit to the detriment of the everyday lives of its workers. It’s a modern tech company with medieval labor practices, whose calling cards are union busting, poverty wages, and insecure and unsafe work conditions.
This week Samsung’s modern face is on full display at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where tech industry giants are gathering to unveil the latest in smartphones, tablets and mobile tech. Who’s not invited to the glitzy convention? The largely invisible workforce of 1.5 million low-paid supply chain workers from across the globe who make Samsung products under precarious and sometimes deadly conditions.
Join with us to help bring the stories of Samsung’s hidden workers to Mobile World Congress and the attention of the world’s tech elite. Share now.
It wouldn’t take much for Samsung treat their workers with dignity and pay a living wage. Our research shows Samsung makes $10,435 in profit for every supply chain worker -- meaning if they increased wages of $50 per month (just $600 per year) to reach a minimum living wage in Asia, they would still make $9,835 per worker. A tidy sum, even for a company so ruthlessly devoted to profit.
For Hesty, who works in semiconductor production in Indonesia, a minimum wage on which she can live from Samsung would mean being able to pay for basics for her family such as clothes, food and childcare, without having to worry about whether her wages will last until the next pay day.
Though Samsung would have to suffer very little to raise wages across its supply chain, its workers pay a huge price for the work they do: at least 79 workers have died of cancer related diseases after being exposed to chemicals used in the Samsung production process. And did the company take responsibility? Indeed not -- they refused to name the chemical that led to the deaths, citing trade secrets.
It’s time Samsung and other tech giants acknowledged the true cost of modern tech by shedding their medieval practices. With all eyes on Samsung at the Mobile World Congress right now, your shares right now will have maximum impact.
Thank you for all you do,
Sharan Burrow,
ITUC General Secretary.
ITUC General Secretary.
Many thanks for sharing this Heron !
ReplyDeleteIt is all about awareness raising - thanks for commenting.
DeleteHi Mel - sadly another company does the dirty .. thanks for letting us know - Cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteThank you for your interest Hilary.
DeleteThank you for sharing. I had no idea.
ReplyDeleteIt was news to me too Toni. I think that we tend to see all work as a means toward a steady growth and improving ones life style.
DeleteStill have a flip phone...I guess I'm in dark ages.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on
If you are in the Dark Age then so are we :-)
DeleteHere we go again, the back side of the golden coin. Progress is not always a benefit, at least not for everyone. We haven't come far, have we? We are still letting other people create a way of life for us, that they will never have. Recently a book was released here in Sweden about the slavetrade in our west indian colonies in the 18th century. People say that it's good to know we have left all that behind us, I'm not so sure that we have.
ReplyDeleteYou bring new light to it with this article, Melvyn, your friend is courageous, the truth must be told!!
Solveig you are correct we have not travelled very much at all. The only movement is due to technological development. If that was removed we would be back into the Stone Age and I say this because
Deletewe are still killing each other, the wars continue and famines plus homelessness through out the world still exist to taunt us.
Mel, thank you for your lovely message. I have taken a break from blogging (longer than I intended I admit) but I will be back very, very soon. I intend to spend this afternoon on a major back blog reading exercise!
ReplyDeleteThis post of yours here is very disturbing, but unfortunately not surprising. For most people it is very hard to understand the lack of compassion in this money led, corporate world that we live in. Sometimes, those of us that try to fight it, in our own small way, feel like we are swimming against the tide and it becomes exhausting. I am very glad that I am not young but I do worry about the future of our children and grandchildren. I often force myself to concentrate on the good and the beautiful because surely that will win out in the end.
I hope that you and Jane are keeping well xxxxx
Fran said:
ReplyDeleteThis post of yours here is very disturbing, but unfortunately not surprising. For most people it is very hard to understand the lack of compassion in this money led, corporate world that we live in. Sometimes, those of us that try to fight it, in our own small way, feel like we are swimming against the tide and it becomes exhausting. I am very glad that I am not young but I do worry about the future of our children and grandchildren. I often force myself to concentrate on the good and the beautiful because surely that will win out in the end.
Hello Fran !
DeleteThank you for writing and I do appreciate all that you have said.
I agree with Fran, and all your other commenters here, Mel. This is outrageous. But then the even sadder fact is that we haven't progressed at all. We often shake our heads in disbelief at what happened in history, only to find it's still happening today on an even grander scale. When will we ever learn?
ReplyDeleteI think that the way to change the worlds business attitudes is to demonstrate how much more content and happy people can be when treated with humanity and fairness ; thus it is only by example that changes in attitude can be made.
ReplyDelete