IPS report calls for better working conditions through CHIPS Act

Chris Mills Rodrigo, Institute for Policy Studies Managing Editor, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss a report he authored called “Leveraging the CHIPS Program to create good jobs for all semiconductor workers.”

Mills Rodrigo’s report examines the dangers and poor working conditions faced by hourly employees at semiconductor plants and explains why the CHIPS Act must be used to ensure that the multi-billion dollar investment actually creates good jobs.

With CHIPS Act contracts being awarded to semiconductor companies, Mills Rodrigo believes now is the time for the Biden-Harris administration to require these entities to share a list of toxic chemicals used in their processes. In the 1990s, multiple studies linked working in these facilities to rare forms of cancer and miscarriages, he said. When the manufacturers claimed they would stop using toxic chemicals, they offshored their production. Now is the time for the government to step in and create new exposure limits to the chemicals used in these processes in order to keep workers safe, he added. 

Mills Rodrigo said the hourly workers face other problems, such as low pay and lack of advancement. Many of the workers he interviewed for the report claimed to earn around $20 per hour. He learned that the industry has a common practice of shutting down production for weeks at a time once it manufactures a certain amount of chips. During these shutdowns, the employees do not get paid and are not eligible to file for unemployment, he said.

Mills Rodrigo discussed how these companies also engage in anti-union activities. He pointed to organizing efforts by Samsung workers in South Korea, who made significant strides this year to improve working conditions. He added that Akash Systems, which is building a semiconductor facility in Oakland, Calif., has signed an agreement with the Communication Workers of America that guarantees it will only hire union workers.

To hear more about this topic, listen to the episode above.