Labor and Community Organizations Stand with Chip Workers Demanding Living Wages and Safer Working Conditions

CHIPS Communities United (CCU), a coalition of labor unions, environmental organizations, and community groups, and the Oregon AFL-CIO today urged Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) to invest in its workers and honor their demands for living wages, safer working conditions, and an end to unpaid shutdowns. ADI worker demands point to larger job quality concerns and the need for strong labor standards accompanying public investment in the semiconductor industry.

Last Friday, more than a dozen ADI employees participated in the first public action semiconductor workers have taken since the CHIPS Act was passed in 2022. The workers delivered a petition to management with over 70 worker signatures, demanding living wages, safer working conditions and paid shutdowns at the company which saw $12.3 billion in revenue in 2023. The action came just a week after Governor Kotek announced ADI would be awarded $12 million from the Oregon CHIPS Act to expand its Beaverton facility. 

The Oregon AFL-CIO voiced their strong support for the workers. “We are inspired by any group of workers who are standing together,  building power and speaking up about their working conditions,” said Graham Trainor, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO. “The Oregon labor movement stands ready to support the workers at Analog Devices as they fight for fair pay and safe working conditions and the end to unpaid furloughs.”

The semiconductor industry has a poor track record of creating good quality jobs. Historically, wages for production workers have been low and the hours have been long and unrelenting. In Silicon Valley and in other countries, employees in chip fabrication facilities have been exposed to toxic chemicals, resulting in illness, miscarriage, birth defects, and death. 

“Public investment in semiconductor companies like ADI should create healthier communities and family-sustaining jobs where workers have a voice–not just big profits for shareholders and executives,” said Jill Pham, executive director of Portland Jobs with Justice. “It’s simply unacceptable that workers cannot make rent at a multi-billion company that is subsidized by taxpayer dollars.”

“The Sierra Club promotes a healthy environment not just for wildlife and nature but for people, too," said Damon Motz-Storey, Director of the Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club. "Thousands of Oregonians work in the semiconductor industry. Companies receiving huge public investments should guarantee living wages as well as labor, public health, and environmental protections to their workers and communities. Analog Devices should be no exception. Analog Devices has a history of toxic hazardous waste violations that put workers and communities at risk. It must be held accountable."

“We need to make sure these are good, safe jobs,” said Ranfis Villatoro, Oregon policy director at the BlueGreen Alliance. “Analog Devices has a history of environmental violations for improper disposal of hazardous waste. We support the employees as they demand better health and safety practices and environmental protections.”

“Workers across the country are rising up and demanding their fair share.” said Carl Kennebrew, president of the industrial division of the Communications Workers of America, IUE-CWA, which represents workers at one of the only unionized chip factories in the country as well as multiple semiconductor supply chain facilities. “As it stands to receive millions of public dollars, we expect ADI to do the right thing and guarantee that its workers have the benefits and protections they are demanding.”

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