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As chipmakers brace for billions of dollars in federal funds and tax breaks designed to boost the U.S. semiconductor industry, they have faced growing calls from inside their factories to improve working conditions and salaries.
Workers and unions are urging key companies in the sector to “do the right thing” and prioritize the welfare of employees over the wealth of their shareholders.
Dozens of employees at Analog Devices Inc (ADI), an Oregon chipmaker, are demanding living wages, paid layoffs and safe working conditions as they dispute a slice of $39 billion in federal funds provided by the Chips and Science Act. signed by Joe Biden in 2022.
In interviews with the Guardian, workers at ADI’s Beaverton plant described a “real struggle to survive” with their wages as the industry grew. ADI did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Companies in the sector have faced greater scrutiny of their work practices. In January, TSMC arrived an agreement with local unions, while Micron agreed in April to meet with workers to discuss workers’ rights at new chip plants and to work on a labor peace agreement.
At ADI, more than 100 workers have signed a petition so far he has urged the company to raise pay, end mandatory shutdowns that put workers on furlough and improve safety around hazardous chemicals.
Those behind the petition said they have even greater support, but said many workers fear retaliation for signing the petition. A coalition of environmental organizations and unions, including the United Auto Workers, the Sierra Club and the Communications Workers of America, have publicly supported the effort.
“Regarding receiving millions of public dollars, we expect the ADI to do the right thing and guarantee that its workers have the benefits and protection they require,” said Carl Kennebrew, president of the industrial division of the industry. Communications Workers of America, IUE-CWA.
An operator at the ADI plant, Robbie Garecht, described working regularly with hydrofluoric acid. He had to pour the chemical, which can cause immediate caustic burns on contact with skin or tissue, into a funnel with no sensor to know when it was full and had to get comfortable to try to avoid spilling . This has been a consistent problem plaguing workers at the plant, he said.
“Certainly we would all be safer if we had a specialized team that did this kind of thing and that was well trained or compensated for it,” said Garecht, “rather than someone who is assigned. Those chemicals are required elements that you need to do semiconductors, so it will always be an inherently dangerous job. But they just don’t take into account how much they have to compensate us.”
Workers are pushing for a $27 minimum wage at the semiconductor plant, which they say is the minimum necessary to live in the Beaverton area. They are currently paid about $21 an hour.
“It’s a real struggle to survive on what they pay us,” Garecht said. “Even when I found the cheapest studio apartment I could find in the area for me and my six-year-old son, I still can’t afford to keep it.”
A report published by the Institute for Policy Studies in July called for greater measures to ensure that federal funds are not used by corporations to further increase executive compensation and stock buybacks.
ADI paid $25.5 million to its CEO Vincent Roche in total compensation in 2023, the report noted: 527 times the median salary of the company’s workers. The company has also spent $9 billion in share buybacks since 2019 and plans another $2 billion in share buybacks.
“Essentially they’re getting all this influx of funding, their stock is at an all-time high and they’re spending money on share buybacks and expansions, and they’re not dedicating funding to the workers who are the reason for everything they are. earn this money,” said Ben Coffey, another ADI worker in Beaverton. “Most people who work make some kind of compromise or sacrifice to be able to continue working here. I can’t keep up without having a roommate, without looking at my budget.
He criticized recent comments from Tina Kotek, the governor of Oregon, who recently announced millions of dollars in state funding for chip makers including Analog Devices. A state senator was quoted as saying the investment would help create more “family wage” jobs.
“Governor Tina Kotek wants to grow more family wage jobs, but this is not a family wage job,” Coffey said. “This is hardly a studio job. I think people are under a misconception that because the industry is growing, the workers are doing well. And that’s just not the case.”
ADI workers are also pushing for an end to plant closings that put workers on leave, forcing them to use their vacation time or go into vacation debt to continue being paid for those closures. The last shutdown happened over two weeks last December.
“Most people started the year back, essentially, in a vacation deficit. So they had to work for the vacation time that they had to spend for their two weeks of vacation that they didn’t ask for,” he added Coffey. “What we ask is a fair share. We only ask to be able to support ourselves.”
