As chip manufacturers grapple for billions of dollars in federal funds and tax breaks designed to boost the US semiconductor industry, they face growing calls from inside their factories to improve working conditions and pay.
Workers and labour unions are urging key companies in the sector to “do the right thing” and prioritize the wellbeing of employees over the wealth of their shareholders.
Dozens of employees at Analog Devices Inc (ADI), a chipmaker in Oregon, demanding living wages, paid shutdowns and safe working conditions as it vies for a slice of the $39bn 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” on their salaries while the industry booms. ADI did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Companies across the sector have faced greater scrutiny of their labor practices. In January, TSMC reached 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 urging the company to increase pay, end mandatory shutdowns that places workers on furloughs and improve safety around hazardous chemicals.
Those behind the petition claimed 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, Sierra Club and Communications Workers of America, have publicly supported the effort.
“As it stands to receive millions of public dollars, we expect ADI to do the right thing and guarantee that its workers have the benefits and protections they are demanding,” said Carl Kennebrew, president of the industrial division of the Communications Workers of America, IUE-CWA.
One operator at the ADI plant, Robbie Garecht, described working regularly with hydrofluoric acid. He has had to pour the chemical, which can immediately cause caustic burns upon contact with skin or tissue, into a funnel without a sensor to know when it’s full and having to stand awkwardly to try to avoid spilling it. This has been a consistent issue plaguing workers at the plant, he said.
“We definitely would all be safer if we had a specialized team that did these kinds of things and was well-trained or compensated for it,” said Garecht, “rather than whoever is assigned to it. Those chemicals are required elements you need to make semiconductors, so it’s always going to be an inherently dangerous job. But it just seems they don’t take that into account with how well they’re going to compensate us.”
Workers are pushing for a $27 minimum wage at the semiconductor plant, which they say is the minimum required to live in the Beaverton area. They are currently paid around $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, I still can not afford to sustain myself.”
A report published by the Institute for Policy Studies in July called for greater measures to ensure federal funds are not used by corporations to further increase executive compensation and stock repurchases.
ADI paid $25.5m to their CEO Vincent Roche in total compensation in 2023, the report noted: 527 times the company’s median worker pay. The company has also spent $9bn on stock buybacks since 2019 and has planned another $2bn in stock buybacks.
“They’re essentially getting all this influx of funding, their stock is at an all time high and they’re spending money on stock buybacks and expansions, and they’re not dedicating funding towards the workers who are the whole reason they’re making this money,” said Ben Coffey, another ADI worker in Beaverton. “Most people I work with are making some kind of compromise or sacrifice to be able to continue working there. I can’t sustain myself without having a roommate, without watching my budget.”
He criticized recent comments from Tina Kotek, the Oregon governor, who recently announced millions of dollars in state funding for chip manufacturers including Analog Devices. One 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 isn’t a family-wage job,” said Coffey. “This is hardly a studio apartment job. I think people are under a misconception that because the industry is booming, workers are doing well. And that just simply isn’t the case.”
ADI workers are also pushing for an end to plant shutdowns that place workers on furloughs, forcing them to use their vacation time or go into vacation debt in order to continue being paid for those shutdowns. The most recent shutdown took place over two weeks last December.
“Most people started the year coming back, essentially, in a vacation deficit. So they had to work back for the vacation time that they had to expend for their two weeks off that they didn’t ask for,” added Coffey. “What we’re asking for is a fair share. We’re just asking to be able to sustain ourselves.”