Activists representing thirty-seven labor rights and sustainability groups from across the globe held a three-day get-together outside Seoul on June 17-20, to share their common experiences in solidarity work and campaigns for a sustainable electronics industry.
At the three-day Global Meeting on a Sustainable Electronics Industry, the activists agreed that their movement is poised to grow thanks to the following reasons:
- A rise in public awareness of environmental and occupational health, and workers rights;
- The emergence of a new movement that may grow strong enough to change the lifecycle of the global electronic industry;
- The emergence of a new generation of activists such as SHARPS that is raising public awareness of occupational-disease clusters at multinational corporations such as Samsung and that is mounting strong pressure on the government to address the workers safety issue; and
- An escalation in labor and environmental protests in China.
The activists also identified the weaknesses as follows:
- A poor level of global coordination between activists compared with a highly integrated global electronics industry;
- A poor level of resources among the activists compared with a rapidly expanding global electronics; and
- A need to develop ways to better coordination in order to create synergy, minimize duplication and maximize the impact.
The activists on June 20 joined the daily picket mounted by bereaved families of Samsung leukemia victims, wrapping up Global Meeting on a Sustainable Electronics Industry. The first-ever global networking conference was planned to mark the tenth anniversary of the International Campaign for Responsible Technology based in San Jose, California.
Global Meeting on a Sustainable Electronics Industry was comprised of activists representing the following groups (in alphabetical order):
Altogether, Korea
Association of Injured Workers, Korea
Asia Monitor Resource Centre, Hong Kong
Association for Labour Rights Promotion (TALRIP), Thailand
Center for Development and Integration, Vietnam
Citizen of the Earth (CET), Taiwan
Consumer Association of Penang, Malaysia
Dasan Human Rights Center, Korea
Electronic Industry Employees Union Western Region (EIEU Western Region), Malaysia
Globalization Monitor, Hong Kong
Gyeonggi Irregular Workers Support Center, Korea
Hesperian, USA
Indonesian Metalworkers Union (FSPMI), Indonesia
International Campaign for Responsible Technology, USA
ITUC/GUF Hong Kong Liaison Office, Hong Kong
Korea Institute of Labor Safety and Health (KILSH), Korea
Korea Metal Workers Union (KMWU), Korea
Labor Education & Service Network, Hong Kong
Labour Action China, Hong Kong
Local Initiative for OSH Network (LION), Indonesia
National Alliance Federation of Independent Trade Union (NAFITU), Taiwan
NXP Union, Philippines
Oxfam, Vietnam
Pearl River Delta Worker Service Centre, China
People’s Solidarity for Social Progress (PSSP), Korea
Sedane Resource Center (LIPS) Indonesia
Solidarity Centre, Thailand
Supporters for Health and Rights of People in Semiconductor Industry (SHARPS), Korea
Taiwan Association for Victim of Association for Occupational Injuries (TAVOI), Taiwan
Taiwan Labor Information & Education Association, Taiwan
Texas Environment, USA
Thai Labor Campaign, Thailand
Wintex Union, Taiwan
Workers Assistance Centre, the Philippines
Worksafe, USA
Yokohama Action Research, Japan
Stop Samsung - No More Deaths! 
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