Challenging The Chip - Globalisation of Electronics, Labor Rights, Product End-of-life

Globalisation of Electronics, Labor Rights, Product End-of-life

Its editors say the book has "two geographical frames of reference" -- the vicinity of San Jose, California (or, Silicon Valley), and "parts of the world increasingly integrated into global networks of electronics production, consumption, and disposal". The volume looks at three "broad, integrative themes": the globalization of electronics manufacturing; labor rights and environmental justice; and the product end-of-life cycle issues (e-waste, and extended producer responsibility).

In terms of global electronics, the book focuses on Silicon Valley (where the United States electronics industry's roots lie, and which has a three-decade history of community and worker dialog and struggle). It also looks at electronics manufacturing in China, India, Thailand, and Central and Eastern Europe.

In terms of labor rights and "environmental justice", the book looks at the stories of workers and environmentalists taking up such issues -- "work hazards, antiunion hostility, and environmental health perils" -- in countries that range from the United States, to Mexico, Scotland, and Thailand, among others.

E-waste issues get looked at in the context of trading or dumping from the North to South. "But as nations like India and China increasingly modernize, their own industries and consumers are contributing to the problems as well," says the editors.