Dozens of Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) workers and supporters rallied on Tuesday to demand the semiconductor company’s influx of public CHIPS Act funding translate into safer working conditions and family-sustaining jobs for workers at its facilities. As the company applies for federal CHIPS and Science Act funding on top of the $12 million it just received from the Oregon CHIPS Act, semiconductor workers at its Beaverton factory are raising alarming safety concerns stemming from recent incidents at the factory, and exposing a pattern of employee turnover fueled by low wages. The workers are also demanding paid shutdowns, in response to numerous periods of unpaid furloughs ADI has executed, where workers were forced to go without a paycheck or accrue negative vacation balances. These furloughs have routinely followed periods of unreasonable production expectations.
“Both President Biden and Governor Kotek have touted their CHIPS Acts as high quality job creators, but at ADI, we don’t have quality jobs,” said Robbie Garecht, an operator at ADI. “In order to realize the economic benefits of this historic legislation and truly bring American manufacturing back, we need to ensure the jobs created are good, family-sustaining jobs. That means fair wages, safe working environments, and job security.”
In an inspiring display of solidarity, workers were joined by Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor and BlueGreen Alliance Policy Manager Ranfis Giannettino Villatoro as they reiterated the demands they delivered in a petition to ADI last month. The petition, which management has yet to respond to, has now grown to include the signatures of over 100 workers at the Beaverton plant.
“We feel strongly that when a company like ADI receives millions in public funding, they must be held accountable for how that funding is used, and first and foremost they should be paying their workers a living wage,” said Ben Coffey, an operator at ADI. “This isn’t just about us, it’s about setting a standard for the entire semiconductor industry. With billions flowing from the federal CHIPS Act, semiconductors workers everywhere have a powerful case to demand accountability and real, positive change.”
At the rally, workers shared harrowing experiences of dealing with hazardous chemicals in dimly lit rooms and a lack of proper training and safety protocols. Many have also struggled financially due to the unpaid factory shutdowns, including a two-week shutdown one Christmas that management framed as a gift of time for workers to spend with their families.
"The CHIPS Act is meant to create good jobs and foster healthy communities, but Analog Devices is failing to meet this standard with their unfair policy of unpaid shutdowns or forced vacations,” said Tesla Uszodi, who has worked at ADI for almost 2 years. “These funds should provide sustainable job conditions, not line executives' pockets. ADI needs to be held accountable and stop placing the financial burden on workers."
Flanked by signs that blared “End Forced Vacation” and “Pay Living Wages,” workers juxtaposed their struggles to make ends meet with the $12.3 billion in revenue ADI raked in last year, and the more than $4.6 billion the company returned to shareholders in fiscal 2023, including $3 billion in share repurchases. In a report released last week calling for more stringent stock buyback restrictions in the CHIPS program, ADI was specifically flagged for its history of massive spending on stock buybacks and executive pay. As the report notes, CEO Vincent Roche made $25.5 million in 2023 – 527 times as much as the firm’s median worker pay.
“I grew up in Beaverton with a family who worked in the semiconductor industry as technicians, so I’m well aware of the hazardous conditions that the workers standing here before me face,” said Ranfis Giannettino Villatoro, Policy Manager at BlueGreen Alliance. “The future of this industry and our economy relies on the skilled workers that keep facilities like ADI running, which makes it beyond outrageous that workers across this industry are fighting for living wages and safer working conditions while their companies rake in millions of public dollars from the CHIPS Act. That’s why I’m proud to stand in solidarity with ADI workers as they urge ADI to use this once-in-a-lifetime funding to create good, family-sustaining jobs that our communities deserve.”
In their petition, workers are demanding a minimum wage of $27 an hour for all fab operators, guaranteed COLA and proper health and safety training for workers, as well as additional compensation to trainers for their work. As more semiconductor workers leave their jobs in search of more stability, flexibility and workplace protections, ADI workers detailed how the high employee turnover and insufficient training put them in precarious, sometimes dangerous, situations on the floor.
“As the demand for skilled workers in semiconductor manufacturing skyrockets, it is critical that the billions in federal and state funding from this historic legislation translate into the good, family-sustaining jobs that are needed to bolster our communities and economy,” said Oregon AFL-CIO President Graham Trainor. “Semiconductor workers here in Beaverton and across the country know that high quality jobs are key to ensuring that the CHIPS Act’s public dollars fuel the public good. I’m proud to stand in solidarity with these brave workers today as they call on ADI to make that a reality.”
Tuesday’s action adds to the momentum that workers across the semiconductor industry have been building in an effort to push for responsible and equitable implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act. With ADI under consideration to receive millions in federal funding from the Biden Administration’s historic bill, workers are urging the plant to ensure those historic funds are used to fuel good, family-sustaining jobs that will stabilize the industry and be a boon for Oregon’s communities and economy.
"Oregon workers deserve the economic and social benefits that the CHIPS Act promised to our communities, and that means a safe working environment, a living wage and no unpaid shutdowns," said Damon Motz-Storey, Director of the Sierra Club's Oregon Chapter. "Analog Devices has a history of hazardous waste violations that put people at risk. Any company that receives major public investments should ensure good work conditions and a fair wage at a minimum."
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