June 2023: This report has been redacted so that it can be shared publicly without compromising the remediation process or the safety of workers and monitors.

Our Regional Risk Assessment on the ICT and battery value chains in Hungary has identified risks for workers in nine thematic areas of the Electronics Watch code. Written by monitoring partner, Periféria Policy and Research Center, the report explores each of these risks in detail, and provides recommendations on key actions to mitigate them.

In 2021, Electronics Watch launched a monitoring pilot of mining operations linked to global electronics supply chains. This project is co-funded by Bread for All and includes monitoring in the Philippines, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Bolivia. Electronics Watch has been working with its monitoring partner, Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC), and their partner, Friends of the Earth Japan (FoE Japan), on nickel mining in the Philippines. PARC is a people's think tank based in Tokyo and works to connect various social movements for common purposes.

For years, a group of migrants who worked at Possehl Electronics in Malaysia, a manufacturer of parts for semiconductors, tried to get appropriate remediation for being forced into illegal and unsafe work...

Based on extensive consultations with monitoring and auditing experts, this Guidance standardizes and explains the Electronics Watch worker-driven monitoring methodology step by step. It includes separate chapters on preparing for monitoring, selecting appropriate methods, and getting and analysing evidence. Annexes, available to monitoring partners only, include sample questionnaires and other research tools.

"When Compliance is Not Enough - Why victims of forced labour should be partners in the remediation design" shows just why it is essential that workers are involved in the process of remediation, and raises a fundamental question about the limits of responsible business conduct: When companies address violations in their supply chains in accordance with their codes of conduct, but workers still suffer serious harm, does human rights due diligence require the companies to do more?

In 2019, 10,570 migrant factory workers in two facilities of Cal-Comp Thailand, supplier of printers, external hard disk drives and other computer peripherals, received full compensation for excessive recruitment fees they had paid. The settlement followed three years of worker-driven monitoring by Electronics Watch and our monitoring partner, the Migrant Worker Rights Network, and ongoing reporting to, and dialogue with, buyers and Cal-Comp. What happened in this case? What lessons does it offer about remediating debt bondage and forced labour in global supply chains? What remains to be done?

See also: Compliance Report Update: Cal-Comp, Thailand, October 2018; Remedy Proposal for Cal-Comp (Thailand) Workers, February 2019; and Guidance for Remediation and Prevention of Migrant Worker Recruitment Fees and Related Costs in Public Procurement, April 2019.

Electronics Watch monitoring partner, Center for Development and Integration (CDI) in Vietnam set up a team of local researchers to conduct the research for this risk assessment which highlights risks in the areas of freedom of employment, freedom of association, working hours, and health and safety. The risk assessment is based on CDI worker surveys, review of the secondary data, and expert interviews. A multi-stakeholder focus group with representatives from trade unions, business, NGOs and academic organisations reviewed and commented on draft findings of the report.

This remedy proposal from Migrant Worker Rights Network and Electronics Watch proposes a specific full remedy for the migrant workers at Cal-Comp (Thailand) in order to mitigate and prevent risk of forced labour through debt bondage. The key elements of the proposal are to reimburse, in full, new migrant workers immediately upon their arrival at Cal-Comp if they have paid recruitment-related fees and costs, as well as veteran migrant workers who already have been partially reimbursed. Cal-Comp should also commit publicly to a policy of zero cost recruitment, whereby the company itself pays migrant workers' total recruitment-related fees and costs in advance and ensures recruitment agents do not charge workers to get a job at Cal-Comp.

Electronics Watch monitoring partner, Sedane Labour Resource Centre (LIPS), conducted the research for this risk assessment, including interviews and focus group discussion with 70 workers and 10 union leaders, and analysis of a range of secondary sources. This assessment suggests that risks of breach of the following standards are of particular concern: freedom of employment, freedom of association, working hours, and health and safety. It is made possible by the dues of Electronics Watch affiliates.

The Link Between Employment Conditions and Suicide: A Study of the Electronics Sector in China by the Economic Rights Institute and Electronics Watch analyses original quantitative and qualitative data to show how certain employment conditions heighten the risk of employee suicide. The report suggests two "cycles of influence" that contribute to different forms of suicide. In one cycle employers use coercion and punitive forms of discipline to enforce productivity requirements. In the other cycle, employers use hiring requirements and incentives to ensure their flexibility to recruit and downsize, depending on the needs of production. These cycles can result in high levels of stress, depression, or insecurity, aggravated by forced overtime, fines and supervisor hostility in the one cycle, disputes with recruiters and employees struggling with dating and marriage in the other. The Economic Rights Institute and Electronics Watch have issued a "call to action" for a multi-stakeholder taskforce to develop, implement, and monitor an action plan to effectively address employment conditions that heighten the risk of employee suicide in the electronics industry.

See press release, call to action and academic perspectives on the report.

This report is based on research conducted by Electronics Watch from 2016 to 2018, including interviews with recruitment agents and migrant workers from Myanmar working at Cal-Comp's two major production facilities in the Samut Sakorn and Petchaburi Provinces of Thailand. While there have been improvements in the treatment of migrant workers at these two facilities, Electronics Watch has found that Thai recruitment agencies demand large sums of money from Myanmar recruitment agencies to secure demand letters to recruit workers to Cal-Comp. The Myanmar agencies, in turn, pass the costs onto the migrant workers, who end up indebted and at risk of forced labour during the time it takes them to pay off debts that result from unlawful costs.

The reports highlight the problem of precarious employment and income insecurity of the indirect workforce, their unpredictable working hours and late shift notifications, and their lack of information concerning their own wages and bonuses as well as improvements in these areas.

Electronics Watch has monitored and reported on labour standards compliance at the Foxconn factory in Pardubice, Czech Republic, since April 2016, and originally shared these reports with the trade union, Foxconn, HP, a leading buyer, and affiliates in 2017 (see our transparency policy).  Readers should note that information in the reports may no longer be up to date. Electronics Watch welcomes comments and suggestions from readers regarding issues that should be further investigated. Note that the most recent findings begin on page 51 in the combined report.

Foxconn (the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry) is the world's largest contract manufacturer. It manufactures and develops computers, communications and consumer products, and components for many of the best-known electronics brands. Foxconn CZ operates two plants in the Czech Republic.  The one in Pardubice serves as the company's regional base for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

This regional risk assessment of the electronics industry in India suggests that precarious workers-- temporary, contract, daily-wage, apprentices and trainees—are particularly vulnerable to labour rights abuses.  Cividep India conducted the research for this report using multiple sources of data and methodologies, including original worker and management interviews. It is made possible by the dues of Electronics Watch affiliates.

This regional risk assessment of the semiconductor and electronics industry in the Philippines suggests that breaches of particular concern include: freedom of association, working hours, and health and safety. The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) in the Philippines conducted the research for this risk assessment, including interviews with 34 electronics workers in all major electronics industry regions. The regional risk assessment is made possible by the dues of Electronics Watch affiliates.

This regional risk assessment of the electronics industry in China suggests that breaches of particular concern include: forced labour, discrimination against women workers, excessive and illegal working hours, underpayment of social security obligations, health and safety hazards, abusive termination of employment, and violations of collective bargaining rights. The research and monitoring activities for this risk assessment were conducted by three organisations—Economic Rights Institute, Globalization Monitor, and Labour Education Services Network. The regional risk assessment is made possible by the dues of Electronics Watch affiliates and the support of Bread for All.