01-04-2009 WEED & SACOM: Fujitsu Siemens Refuses to Take Responsibility for Labor Rights Violations in its Supply Chain!

Excerpts from the press release issued by WEED and SACOM:

Taiwanese-invested Compeq Manufacturing Co., Ltd. has been communicating closely with SACOM and WEED following the release of /The Dark Side of Cyberspace Report /in December 2008. The report uncovers serious violation of workers rights such as excessive overtime hours, payment below the legal minimum wage and an authoritarian system of labor control. On March 24, 2009, top-level management from Compeq, Compal Electronics, Dell and SACOM met to share good practices of worker representation and sustainable production. Hit hard by the global financial crisis, Compeq laid off some of its workforce at its Huizhou facility in the short-term but quickly managed to recruit new workers in early 2009. SACOM was impressed by these stakeholders’ strong commitment to continuously improving labor and environmental standards in the electronics industry.

In contrast to these companies’ responsible behavior, Hong Kong-owned *PC Partner and Excelsior Electronics *(Dongguan) has refused to share information about their workplace conditions for the full three months since they received the report. In correspondence with SACOM and WEED, Alex Wong, Chief Human Resource & Administration Officer at Excelsior, stated that he did not “agree with most of the allegations” in the report. However, he failed to provide the concerned public with any evidence that could show the report to be mistaken.

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Worse yet, *Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC)* *– *while awarding Excelsior a preferred Chinese supplier in 2007 *– *positions itself as merely “an observer” in this serious case of worker exploitation. Behind the facade of the FSC code of conduct, there seems no real effort on FSC’s part to collaborate with Excelsior to take concrete corrective actions. “We cannot accept Fujitsu Siemens Computers’ defining itself as an “observer,” which amounts to denying its responsibility for its supply chain. That forced us to cancel the April 2 meeting with FSC and Excelsior,” explained Jenny Chan (SACOM).