System Error: The dark side of global computer production

Today, the computer industry's production network spans the entire world, with entire branches of production being outsourced from the countries of the North to suppliers in low-wage regions, each of which purchases individual parts from other suppliers.

In low-wage countries in particular, the working conditions for the mostly female employees are devastating: precarious working conditions, low wages, unpaid overtime and unhealthy working conditions characterize their everyday work. Working hours of over 80 hours a week are not uncommon during peak production times. Their legal position is precarious, as existing labor laws are often circumvented or only apply to a limited extent, for example in China's special economic zones.

The social and ecological problems in the extraction of raw materials, production and scrapping of computers are also discussed and perspectives for labor rights and environmental justice in the industry are presented.

From the contents:
-The globalization of computer production: the outsourcing and relocation of production

-When work makes you ill: unhealthy, insecure and poorly paid - the situation of employees in computer production

-The view into the computer: raw materials and the problems of their extraction

-The disposal problem: the high-tech boom and electronic waste

-Strategies for labor rights and environmental justice

Authors: Florian Butollo, Tine Laufer, Daniel Zettler