BUY IT FAIR

The guide offers practical guidance for public administrations to incorporate sustainability criteria in all phases of a public competition, with special emphasis on social criteria.   The increasing digitalisation of public administrations has made computers increasingly an indispensable tool in all their offices and dependencies. For this reason, public institutions have become a very important client of large computer brands. Every day more shopping departments are exploring new products and … Read More

“LOW COST” ELECTRONICS

This DanWatch research, supported by SETEM, describes the working conditions of four Dell-branded supplier factories in the Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Jiangsu.   The labour rights violations discovered violate ILO principles, Chinese labour law, the Electronic Industry Citizen Coalition (EICC) criteria and Dell’s own standards. China, and specifically the city of Shenzen – in Guangdong province – has become the world factory. Electronics is one of the sectors that … Read More

THE ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY, IN THE SPOTLIGHT

We show the complex functioning of the production network, who are the key actors, and how consumers – especially public administrations – can cope with the labour violations that occur in the electronics supply chain.   The report highlights the role played by both the electronics industry and the potential of public procurement in improving working conditions in the sector. This research examines the ICT expenditure made by public buyers … Read More

Civil society statement on the publication of the UN Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals report

United Nations Secretary-General convened a Panel on Critical Minerals for the Energy Transition to develop principles and recommended actions to place equity and justice at the heart of supply chains. The Panel, which included three civil society seats filled by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), Climate Action Network (CAN) and the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), has just released its report. Thanks to recommendations from civil society … Read More

Civil Society Raises Its Voice and Calls on the UN for Strong Leadership for a Just Energy Transition

In response to the growing demand for critical minerals for the energy transition, Secretary-General António Guterres is leveraging the convening power of the United Nations to bring together a diverse group of governments and other stakeholders in the value chain of these minerals. Their goal is to develop a set of common, voluntary global principles to safeguard environmental and social standards and integrate justice into the energy transition. A recently … Read More

Historic indefinite strike by Samsung workers in South Korea

The company has justified reductions in wage compensation and the freezing of wages by a ‘crisis situation’, despite having declared that its operating profits for the second quarter would increase more than expected. Women workers at the semiconductor plant, beyond the wage increase, are demanding that the company not treat them “like machines”. Samsung Electronics’ largest union, the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU), has launched an indefinite strike after failed … Read More

Initiatives for the prevention and management of electrical and electronic waste

With the aim of facing the challenge posed by the growing volume of production of electrical and electronic equipment, at SETEM we collect various proposals aimed at the public administration, companies and manufacturers and consumers. The increasing amount of electronic waste is mainly caused by higher consumption of ESA, short product life cycles, and few affordable repair options. Before becoming a waste, our devices have travelled a long way to … Read More

Research: Working conditions in the Philippine electronics factories from a gender perspective

In this report, we analyse the working conditions electronic products are produced by factory workers in the Philippines. An analysis from a gender perspective, since most of the workers in these factories in the region are women. The feminization of work in the manufacturing sector has been a global trend in recent decades. The report stresses that working women in electronics factories tend to have less access to education and … Read More

Fire at lithium battery factory kills 23 workers in South Korea

More than half of the 103 workers at the factory, including some of the deceased, were workers on temporary contracts. On 24 June, a huge explosion set fire to a lithium battery factory in South Korea, killing 23 women workers. The fire started at 10:31 a.m. local time after a series of batteries exploded inside a warehouse containing about 35,000 units. The fire spread through the factory run by battery … Read More

1 2 3 4 5