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TSMC is facing serious claims of discrimination in a lawsuit filed by former and current workers in Arizona, USA.
wccftech.com
Racial discrimination against non-east-Asians
Unsafe work conditions
Workers called stupid or lazy
Hiring preference for speaking and writing in Mandarin
Discouraging calling 911
Drug use
Prostitution
"One plaintiff said company policy discouraged calling 911, directing employees to call an internal emergency number instead. Another claimed managers wanted to buy safety harnesses from the online retailer TEMU, but dropped the idea after an outcry. Others allege they were exposed to hazardous chemicals because of a lack of training or a lack of personal protective equipment.
One section of the lawsuit includes an allegation of a drug and prostitution ring operating at the site. Other sections are redacted, with the judge stating those redactions relate to claims of sexual assault."
This is a pretty broad set of (concerning) accusations. Of course we will have to see how the rulings go..
..
In some ways TSMC smells like a company that was always "medium size" that is finally finding itself a "large global enterprise". I know they are huge in terms of volume, wafers, business scale and scope, and have had a worldwide presence for a long time, etc -- but if all of these things are happening it sounds like a corporate culture maturity issue to me.
(I can't expand too much upon this - but I worked at Vanguard for a couple of years last decade and they were still clearly transitioning from being a small enterprise to a large one, despite already managing $Trillions in assets. The 'small growing big' companies tend to have massive inconsistency in the quality of all levels of management, and more acceptance for bullying and negative behaviors that long-term large corporations have learned to deal with). Note: I'm not saying large companies automatically have competent leadership -- just that they tend to have longer term thinking and process in place to help groom out some of these issues.
I'm sort of on the fence here about how "real" these issues are. No criminal arrests AFAIK. That suggests some things are maybe being inflated. The top TSMC AZ boss losing his job ("retiring") is clearly related, I think. So this is an embarrassment for TSMC, and they take the embarrassment seriously. Remains to be seen if they take the employee complaints seriously. From that standpoint, having a 360 degree feedback process that works and doesn't require a class action lawsuit, would be worth looking closely at.
I'm sort of on the fence here about how "real" these issues are. No criminal arrests AFAIK. That suggests some things are maybe being inflated. The top TSMC AZ boss losing his job ("retiring") is clearly related, I think. So this is an embarrassment for TSMC, and they take the embarrassment seriously. Remains to be seen if they take the employee complaints seriously. From that standpoint, having a 360 degree feedback process that works and doesn't require a class action lawsuit, would be worth looking closely at.
Having been in court a few times I have zero trust in lawyers and the broad net they throw and statements they make with impunity. This looks like a settlement cash grab to me. Settle or we will embarrass you. Clearly TSMC did not see merit so they chose not to be blackmailed.
I know Rick Cassidy, his retirement had nothing to do with this so I do not agree with you bundling it together.
Having been in court a few times I have zero trust in lawyers and the broad net they throw and statements they make with impunity. This looks like a settlement cash grab to me. Settle or we will embarrass you. Clearly TSMC did not see merit so they chose not to be blackmailed.
I know Rick Cassidy, his retirement had nothing to do with this so I do not agree with you bundling it together.
I agree with this take on lawyers, but all it takes is one leader to do something bad and the company is legally accountable.
Given how much the news has been reporting on culture differences between TSMC Taiwan and the US workforce, and the "TSMC Arizona" ratings on Glassdoor, I suspect the cash grab will be successful.
...
In response to the report, chairman Mark Liu said, "Those who are unwilling to take shifts should not enter the industry, since this field isn't just about lucrative wages but rather a passion for [the semiconductor industry]."
Liu also suggested that U.S. employees had it relatively easy compared to Taiwanese employees, but said work culture was open to discussion so long as TSMC's core company values were adhered to.
... "You have it easy here in the US" is the kind of comment that tends to breed resentment across global workforces.
I agree with this take on lawyers, but all it takes is one leader to do something bad and the company is legally accountable.
Given how much the news has been reporting on culture differences between TSMC Taiwan and the US workforce, and the "TSMC Arizona" ratings on Glassdoor, I suspect the cash grab will be successful.
...
In response to the report, chairman Mark Liu said, "Those who are unwilling to take shifts should not enter the industry, since this field isn't just about lucrative wages but rather a passion for [the semiconductor industry]."
Liu also suggested that U.S. employees had it relatively easy compared to Taiwanese employees, but said work culture was open to discussion so long as TSMC's core company values were adhered to.
... "You have it easy here in the US" is the kind of comment that tends to breed resentment across global workforces.
Maybe that is why Mark retired? He has been gone for more than a year now. Have there been issues in AZ since CC Wei took over? CC is a very different type of leader.
Maybe that is why Mark retired? He has been gone for more than a year now. Have there been issues in AZ since CC Wei took over? CC is a very different type of leader.
FWIW, The Glassdoor ratings have improved since the article was written. The (older) article says 22% positive on Glassdoor for TSMC AZ, it's now "39% would recommend". Also, "68% approve of the CEO CC Wei".
FWIW, The Glassdoor ratings have improved since the article was written. The (older) article says 22% positive on Glassdoor for TSMC AZ, it's now "39% would recommend". Also, "68% approve of the CEO CC Wei".
Not surprised. One thing you should know about CC Wei is that he does not like to lose so good luck to the opposing side.
I have been through multiple legal cases on both sides of the table. Not a single one of them ever made it to court. They were all settled after discovery, depositions, and pre trial stuff. The #1 reason why they were settled is that one of the sides did not know the unspun truth. This also goes to my experience that whoever has the best lawyers win.
One time I saw a company lose due to having bad legal representation. Personally I thought it was a slam dunk but the other side had better attorneys and we all knew it. I asked the losing CEO why he did not go with a top tiered attorney and he said, and I quote "We do not need one". As it turns out he did need one. The loss shuttered his company.
I would bet this case is based on a 30-40% contingency fee plus expenses. The closer to trial the bigger the expenses.
Bottom line: The defendants will see little if anything and will regret it if it goes to trial. Depositions are torture and sitting in court for 8 weeks is no picnic and if you are a defendant you had better be there everyday.
TSMC has changed since the Morris Chang days. He was always against moving fabs outside of Taiwan but as you can see he was wrong. Clearly TSMC has learned some important lessons along the way and it has made them stronger. How did the Japan fab build go? Are there any legal actions against TSMC in Japan? Let's see how the Dresden fab build goes.
I would have never guessed that TSMC would invest $165B in Arizona but I would never bet against CC Wei.
www.abc15.com
www.azfamily.com
www.12news.com
wccftech.com
-- just that they tend to have longer term thinking and process in place to help groom out some of these issues.