Christophe Lécuyer

Professor, History of Science and Technology, Sorbonne Université

Thursday, July 5, 2018   10:00-11:30

Seminar Room A, 12F, International Academic Research Building

Hongo Campus, the University of Tokyo

English

Labor activists often associated with the communist party 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.

Science, Technology, and Innovation Governance (STIG) Education Program

Global Leader Program for Social Design and Management (GSDM)