DEPARTMENT OF LABOR TO INVESTIGATE PRACTICES INVOLVING ASIAN IMMIGRANTS

Following the publication of two stories in the San Jose Mercury News about some firms requiring Asian immigrants to make electronic components at home, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced an investigation into the labor practices in Silicon Valley. According to George Friday, regional administrator for the DOL, there may be overtime violations and child labor violations, and are almost certainly record keeping violations.

According to the stories in the Mercury News, at least a dozen contract manufacturers were involved. The companies are said to contract out assembly work, which eventually ends up in the hands of someone at home. None of the workers the newspaper interviewed said they received overtime as they should have, and sometimes their wages were as little as a penny per part assembled.

The last major investigation of labor practices in the area was in 1980. This investigation was quickly halted when politicians and industry leaders asked government officials to let the industry police itself.

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