El Reg reports
A leaked presentation to Samsung executives has provided further insight into the company's damaged internal culture.
The PowerPoint document focuses on strategies to prevent the creation of labor unions at the South Korean company and takes a very aggressive stance, treating employees as enemies, and suggesting "countermeasures", as well as ways to "dominate employees".
It also talks about "punishing" union leaders, isolating "troublesome" employees, and "inducing internal conflicts" as a way of intimidating employees and preventing the creation of unions. The presentation is also dismissive of labor laws and government ministers that have proposed changes to protect employees.
The presentation [PPT] [PDF] is dated 2012, but appears to have been used repeatedly by Samsung executives up until two years ago. It was unearthed by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which drew a direct line between the approach demonstrated in the presentation and the recent aborted launch of the Galaxy Note 7 due to exploding batteries.
"Inhumane conditions are rife" at the company, the ITUC reports, noting that Samsung employees are overworked, under-paid, and forced to suffer appalling conditions, including "standing for 11 to 12 hours, verbal and physical abuse, severe age and gender discrimination, and lack of worker safety".
It quotes one worker who claimed that during an intense three-month period in the run-up to the release of a Galaxy tablet she slept only two or three hours a night and had to give up breastfeeding her three-month-old baby as a result.
One [slide] lists examples of employee deaths that have been attributed to overwork. One employee, Kim, killed himself and the presentation notes that he had worked 100 hours of overtime each month for nine months. A widow of a manager is quoted as saying he "died from overwork".
Ed Note: Title changed to more accurately reflect content. 0700UTC
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday October 25 2016, @10:13AM
The SN RSS feed [sylnt.us]. Check that and your statement will still be true, only you'll be helping filter that into submissions for the front page.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday October 25 2016, @11:13AM
Just adding in an addendum in case it might help anyone who's thinking of submitting. These are what I'm going to submit from that RSS feed, and why:
How German nuclear scientists reacted to the news of Hiroshima [lukemuehlhauser.com]
SN has a lot of history buffs. Most geeks have had an interest in WWII at some point.
Earth-sized planets with abundant water statistically likely around red dwarfs [phys.org]
Most Soylentils like planetary exploration. There will probably be a few jokes about Red Dward.
Scientists discover particles similar to Majorana fermions [phys.org]
Most Soylentils don't know much about particle physics. Our community is blessed, however, with a few who do have deep knowledge on the subject and can usually interpret the news in laymen's terms for the rest.
Nearly all Fossil brands now have hybrid smartwatches [arstechnica.com]
Stories like these can be thinly veiled advertisements, but I would submit it because the jury is still out on the subject of smartwatches and the SN community might have insight into whether smartwatches will play out well or turn out to be a dead end.
Swedes ban camera spy-drones for anything but crime fighting [theregister.co.uk]
The SN community has, like many people do, strong feelings about drones.
Big tech-media mergers raise fresh privacy concerns [phys.org]
Tech industry consolidation affects us on many levels, including as consumers and as technologists who might be caught in lay-offs that result.
Judge orders FBI to reveal whether White House launched 'Tor pedo' torpedo exploits [theregister.co.uk]
Digital liberty is something SN is always eager to discuss.
Iceland's Pirate Party tops polls ahead of national elections [theregister.co.uk]
This one is ostensibly about politics, but of possible interest to SN because the Pirate Parties in Europe were formed by geeks like us who got pissed off and did something about it.
New Tech Could Let Devices Function for Years Without a Battery [futurism.com]
Battery life is of concern to all technology users. SN has a number of electrical engineers who are able to give insight into the topic.
So there's 9 stories I'd submit. At 2-3 minutes per submission, that's my morning cup of coffee plus news reading.
Washington DC delenda est.