Worker treatment that's acceptable in Taiwan simply won't be tolerated by US employees

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), one of the world’s largest advanced computer chip manufacturers, continues finding its efforts to get its Arizona facility up and running to be more difficult than it anticipated. The chip maker’s 5nm wafer fab was supposed to go online in 2024 but has faced numerous setbacks and now isn’t expected to begin production until 2025. The trouble the semiconductor has been facing boils down to a key difference between Taiwan and the U.S.: workplace culture. A New York Times report highlights the continuing struggle.

One big problem is that TSMC has been trying to do things the Taiwanese way, even in the U.S. In Taiwan, TSMC is known for extremely rigorous working conditions, including 12-hour work days that extend into the weekends and calling employees into work in the middle of the night for emergencies. TSMC managers in Taiwan are also known to use harsh treatment and threaten workers with being fired for relatively minor failures.

TSMC quickly learned that such practices won’t work in the U.S. Recent reports indicated that the company’s labor force in Arizona is leaving the new plant over these perceived abuses, and TSMC is struggling to fill those vacancies. TSMC is already heavily dependent on employees brought over from Taiwan, with almost half of its current 2,200 employees in Phoenix coming over as Taiwanese transplants.

    • aidan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      8 months ago

      Agreeing to it doesn’t mean I like it…

      Trapping people in terrible jobs sucks. Especially when it’s considered the legal standard and your contract has to state it’s at will(which might be illegal in some places)

      • Honytawk@lemmy.zipEnglish
        12·
        8 months ago

        It means they can’t just fire you either. Unless they pay the entire severance up front, which can be multiple months of wage.

        Also, losing your job has a lot more impact on your life than a company losing one of its workers impacts that business. So it is definitely in the employees favour.

        • aidan@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          8 months ago

          It depends on the job. And you’re not always guaranteed severance.

          It’s a lot more impactful for the worker if they’re trapped in a terrible situation making them miserable. Or if they have to go somewhere else

            • aidan@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              8 months ago

              It was a job that required traveling, was trying to refuse paying overtime for travel time. Because I was constantly traveling I couldn’t see my friends, family, or partner. Was unpredictable mandatory overtime.

              But I already quit months ago.

              And yes, I’m sure some of that was illegal on their part. But there wasn’t much I could do.

        • aidan@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          8 months ago

          A month is easily survivable

          Depends on the job/employer.

          Furthermore it’s more important when things come up. Say you need to go take care of a relative in an emergency.

            • aidan@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              8 months ago

              Yeah, let’s make all regulations up based on exceptions and edgecases.

              When it comes to people’s freedoms, yes.

              If something happens and you need space, most EU countries have leave for that

              Assuming you’ve earned/haven’t used it.

              Again, strange corpo way of trying to normalize not having proper contracts and labor protections. You have bought in to the propaganda too much.

              Not a corpo. Stop with the ad hominems.

              Probably anti union too, no?

              Some unions do good things, some do bad.

                • aidan@lemmy.worldEnglish
                  1·
                  8 months ago

                  And the freedom at-will employment gives you is overshadowed by the freedom it gives companies to have employees bear the risk, while hoarding all the profits.

                  Both parties bear the risk. It’s hard and expensive for companies to replace most people in developed economies. Have you ever been fired with no notice? Because my understanding is workers quit a lot more often than they get fired(or at least that’s what I’ve done).

                  I’ll leave it at that, and if you spout corporate propaganda that has been ingrained into you from birth… I’ll call it like it is.

                  My beliefs are based on a consistent set of ethics. Stop insulting me.