The Global Samsung Unsustainability Report
Investigative news reporters at Korean media outlet, Hankyoreh, visited nine cities in India, Indonesia, and Vietnam and surveyed more than 120 workers at mobile phone factories over a 70-day period to develop an investigative series they call, “Global Samsung: A report on unsustainable labor practices.” The series asks questions about the life and work of company workers in Asian countries that host its major bases of production. The series assesses Samsung Electronics’ sustainability as a top-tier global company and describes its results as “unpleasant truths.”
Reporting in English
[Special report- Part I] Worked to death at the ripe age of 22
“My daughter was very healthy. She received a health examination when she went to work at Samsung, and they said there were no issues. And then all of a sudden she died. Samsung and the police gave us money and told us her death had ‘nothing to do with the factory,’ but that isn’t true. My daughter clearly died because of Samsung.”
The photo at the top right of this page shows a memorial portrait of Luu Thi Thanh Tam, a worker at a Samsung Electronics factory in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam, until Aug. 31, 2016, when she suddenly collapsed and was later pronounced dead at only 22 years old. (Cho So-young, Hankyoreh TV producer)
[Special report- Part II] Samsung’s labor violations gone global
“Samsung is exploiting the young people of Asia, while crossing the boundary from the ethically dubious to the outright illegal. Youth who are hired as irregular workers stick with grueling jobs with the hope of a permanent position only to be kicked out of the job when they reach their mid-20s. Though Samsung prides itself on being one of the world’s leading companies, its working conditions are barely sufficient for these workers to keep food on the table.”
[Special report- Part III] Curses, verbal abuse, and impossible quotas
“Samsung’s ability to remain a world-class business in the semiconductor and mobile phone industries cannot be accounted for through technology alone. Experts have concluded that the company’s dominance owes itself to a mass production system where items are produced cheaply through labor exploitation…. The global wealth and power that Samsung enjoys comes with a price: the sweat, tears, and souls of young Asian workers.”
[Special report- Part IV] Samsung’s systematic dismantlement of its first overseas labor union
“Samsung responded with threats, persuasion, surveillance, and violence, the same as it has done in Korea. Union members were subject to surveillance within the factory and had their movements outside the factory tracked…It took only 40 days for Samsung to completely destroy the union.”
[Special report- Part V] Samsung has come under fire worldwide for its union-busting tactics
“If there are no unions, there is no way for workers to protest collectively no matter how bad things get. [Samsung] can also stop company corruption and industrial accidents and deaths from being made public.”
[Special report- Part VI] Samsung’s collusion with local police to suppress labor activists
“Over the past nine months, our organization has been impeded by secret surveillance from individuals posing as laborers or government authorities. One female activist was even stalked,” adding, “We recently learned that this harassment and bullying was carried out at the orders of Samsung Electronics, a globally renowned company.”
French court indicts Samsung on labor rights violations
“The company is charged with making false claims about respecting the rights of workers at its Asian factories when it was in fact infringing those rights.”
Samsung’s potential global management crisis
“Samsung’s global management is facing a global crisis. With a French court indicting Samsung Electronics on charges including violating the basic labor rights of its Asian workers, analysts are saying Samsung’s practices – which have triggered allegations of labor rights infringements around the world – have emerged as a potential threat to its management stability.”
News outlets around the world highlighting Samsung’s indictment by French court
“Major news outlets around the world are reporting on Samsung Electronics’ preliminary indictment by a French court.”
“Samsung’s sustainability will depend not on whether it recruits labor and human rights experts, but on how determined it is to adopt a business approach that respects human rights.”
[Special report- Part VIII] The Samsung Brazil's labor union case
“Brazil is one of the few places in the world where Samsung workers are relatively free to engage in union activities… If unions existed at Samsung’s factories in Asia, workers would have been able to create an environment for promoting and protecting their own minimal rights.”
The Hankyoreh’s response to Samsung’s denial of its global labor violations
Reporting in Korean
한겨레 기사
“살 벗겨지고, 손가락 잘리고”…삼성 하청 공장은 더욱 처참”
삼성, 독일 노조방해 망신에도… 전 세계 공장서 ‘무노조 공법’
삼성 상무, 베트남 국회서 “결사의 자유, 사회 혼란 부를 것”
도움 요청에 경찰은 협박…삼성 광고 끊길까 언론도 외면
‘글로벌 최저선’ 오명 얻은 삼성…대전환 없인 미래없다
근무여건 개선 이룬 브라질 삼성…강한 노동법·노조 있었다
“삼성전자서비스 협력사 노조 와해, 삼성전자가 주도했다”
외신들 “삼성, 소비자 기만행위로 법의 심판” 일제히 보도
한겨레 TV
예고편 글로벌 삼성, 지속불가능 보고서 (6월 17일 공개)
‘글로벌 삼성’②+ 고 김용균 어머니 인터뷰
(삼성 뉴스 보도20분 35초 에 시작헤요)
‘글로벌 삼성’ ③베트남 노동자의 석연찮은 죽음
(삼성 뉴스 보도21분 30초 에 시작헤요)
김도성 인터뷰 ‘삼성 해외공장 노동실태에 대한 다큐멘터리 제작 중’
(삼성 뉴스 보도1 시간8분 50초 에 시작헤요)
베트남 박닌 공장 인근에서 번지는 ‘한국식 성매매‘ 실태
