Brazil sues Samsung over work conditions
Brazil sues Samsung over work conditions
Last updated: August 14, 2013 7:44 pm
By Samantha Pearson in São Paulo and Simon Mundy in Seoul
Brazilian public prosecutors are suing Samsung for R$250m
($109m) in damages over alleged poor working conditions at the electronic
group’s vast plant in the Amazon city of Manaus.
The Public Prosecutor for Labour of the Amazon has
accused the company of putting its employees’ health at risk by forcing them to
carry out intense but repetitive activities for long periods on the factory
line.
Samsung’s Manaus factory, which has 6,000 employees,
instructed workers to perform triple the amount of movements considered safe
under ergonomic studies, prosecutors said.
Employees were found working up to 10 hours on their
feet, while one worked 27 straight days without a day off, prosecutors said in
a statement late on Tuesday.
Samsung has promised to conduct a thorough review and
fully co-operate with the Brazilian authorities once it receives details of the
complaint. “We take great care to provide a workplace environment that assures
the highest industry standards of health, safety, and welfare for our employees
across the world,” the company said.
Global electronics groups have piled into Latin America’s
biggest economy to take advantage of booming demand among the country’s growing
middle classes. However, Brazil’s strict labour laws and powerful workers’
unions have proved to be a challenge for groups such as Taiwan-based Hon Hai
Precision, widely known by its trade name Foxconn.
Workers at Foxconn’s plant in Jundiaí, which employs
6,000 people, have staged protests during the past year over everything from
the food in the canteen to working hours and lack of career planning offered to
employees.
The prosecutors’ office in the Amazon said that it
started legal action against Samsung on August 9 following three government
inspections at the plant, the first of which started in May 2011.
Last year, cases of tendinitis, bursitis, repetitive
strain injuries and back problems caused workers to take a total of 2,018
periods of sick leave, some of which lasted as many as 15 days, according to
the prosecutors’ statement.
“[The sum of R$250m] may seem excessive at first, but
putting things into perspective, it is equivalent to what the defendant makes
as a profit around the world in less than two days,” the prosecutors’ office
said.
As well as demanding R$250m in damages, prosecutors are
asking Samsung to give employees a 10-minute break every 50 minutes.
Samsung, the world’s largest maker of smartphones and
televisions, has also come under criticism in China over working conditions at
its suppliers.
Last year, New York-based China Labor Watch released
reports including allegations of child labour. It also alleged illegal
practices at six factories that were wholly or mostly owned by the South Korean
group, including working hours in excess of legal limits. Samsung denied
allegations of child labour, citing a “zero tolerance” policy.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013.
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