High-Tech Sweatshop Project 

ERA found through its research on immigrant women and welfare reform that many Bay Area immigrant women, as part of CalWORKs Work First Approach, are being pushed into low-paying, high-risk electronics assembly work.  Similar to the garment industry, the structure of the electronics assembly industry is a pyramid—multibillionaire computer companies are at the top of the pyramid, electronics contract manufacturers are the middle-companies and the electronics assembly workers are at the bottom of the pyramid. Such a structure breeds exploitation, especially in this global economy where the contract manufacturers in the U.S. are competing with overseas companies that use even cheaper labor.   

Electronics assembly workers engage in repetitive motions all day long, handling small parts and dangerous chemicals. They are sometimes paid by the piece, which does not amount to minimum wage. They are exposed to noxious fumes and the smoke of soldering irons, which can result in long-term health problems. Studies show the manufacturing industry average reported illnesses and injuries as 14.3%, the electronics industry as 20.5% and the semiconductor industry as 30.2% in 1995. 

According to Census data, women comprise 65% of electronics assembly workers in Santa Clara County, the heart of the Silicon Valley. Their dilemma highlights one of the starkest ironies underpinning Silicon Valley’s technological boom. Over the past decade, the top 100 Silicon Valley executives’ pay grew by 390%. In contrast, the average annual income of production workers in the electronics industry declined by 6%. A full 55% of Silicon Valley jobs pay too little to support a family of four.

The use of “homeworkers” in the electronic assembly industry is also a significant problem.  Homeworkers are those who assemble parts at home, sometimes after working a full day at the factory.  Immigrant women and their family members, including children, are performing assembly and repair work in their kitchens and garages without proper ventilation equipment or safety protections. Homeworkers are often paid by the piece, which typically does not add up to minimum wage. They are not paid overtime.

In certain cases, homework violates health and safety regulations, wage and hour laws and child labor laws.  Companies often attempt to circumvent these laws by requiring homeworkers to obtain a business license, thus making homeworkers appear as independent contractors, rather than an employees. With such an arrangement, companies illegally avoid paying overtime, benefits and employer taxes. ERA and Asian Law Caucus successfully challenged the illegal homework practice in the electronics assembly industry in Kamsan Mao v. Top Line Electronics and Lite-On Corporation.  This case generated significant media coverage.

ERA plans to continue targeting the computer and electronics assembly industry to correct labor and employment violations that overwhelmingly affect low-income, immigrant women. The High-Tech Worker Rights Initiative, a newly-formed collaborative project of ERA, Asian Immigrant Women Advocates (AIWA) and Services and Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN), hopes to assist other electronics assembly workers to enforce their rights to decent wages and safe working conditions, and to be free from gender, race and national origin discrimination.