From Clean Rooms to Dirty Water
Labor, Semiconductor Firms, and the Struggle over Pollution and Workplace Hazards in Silicon Valley
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19561172 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Christophe Lécuyer (0000-0001-9513-2492, Sorbonne Université, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 52 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 304-333 |
| Publication date | 2017-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Information & Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2164-8034 • E-ISSN: 2166-3033 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.7560/ic52302 |
| OpenAlex | W2738356467 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 4 |
This article argues that labor activists initiated Silicon Valley’s antitoxics movement and were the driving force behind environmental remediation in the region in the first half of the 1980s. In order to unionize semiconductor plants, activists associated with SCCOSH and United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers, a left-wing union, attacked corporate negligence regarding worker safety and health. SCCOSH later allied itself with the Central Labor Council of Santa Clara County to push for the cleanup of aquifers contaminated by the semiconductor industry. The activists ultimately failed to organize Silicon Valley, but their campaigns led to a revolution in safety among microelectronics firms and to large-scale remediation efforts conducted under the EPA’s Superfund program
Business · Contamination · Environmental remediation · Hazardous waste · Political science · Semiconductor Industry · Silicon valley · Superfund · Waste management · American Environmental and Regional History · Engineering · Environmental Justice and Health Disparities · Law · Research, Science, and Academia
The Environmental History of Computing
Digital, grün, global gerecht
From closed world discourse to digital utopianism
Mapping chemical discardscapes of electronics production
Putting the digital growth machine in place
Mouvement syndical et critique écologique des industries numériques dans la Silicon Valley
Des luttes éthiques aux luttes sociales
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.88 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2025 (8) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |