From: Steve Carr <rthr427%emx.cc.utexas.edu@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Subject: Call for SEMATECH Advisory Participants
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 20:22:24 GMT


Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 09:14:27 -0400
From: "(Gary Chapman)" <chapman@silver.lcs.mit.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list CPSR <CPSR%GWUVM.BITNET@utxvm.cc.utexas.edu>
Subject: Call for SEMATECH Advisory Participants

PLEASE DISTRIBUTE THIS MESSAGE WHERE APPOPRIATE AND ONLY WHERE

Campaign for Responsible Technology
Sustainable Industry Policy Development at SEMATECH

ADVISORS NEEDED!

The semiconductor industry is often touted as a "clean" industry, but in
 fact uses some of the most dangerous materials in existence and has
been the source of unprecedented environmental degradation and workplace
 hazards. One of the major "footprints" of the industry's development
has been substantial groundwater contamination. Exposure to toxic
chemicals in the workplace and surrounding communities has been linked
to cancer, central nervous system damage, birth defects and deaths. CRT
and Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice are
collaborating on an Electronics Industry Good Neighbor Campaign. Last
Summer, community organizations participated in a grass-roots assessment
 of the impact of the semiconductor industry on their communities that
confirmed widespread occupational and environmental problems. Further,
the assessment identified serious concerns about employment
discrimination and the uneven benefits of the industry's economic
development for the community.

Seeking to solutions for these problems, the Campaign for Responsible
Technology (CRT) successfully helped to amend the FY '93 congressional
funding re-authorizing SEMATECH to include $10 million for research on
environmentally safe manufacturing methods.

The groups are also asking SEMATECH's private sector partners*--thirteen
 of the largest semiconductor manufacturers in the U.S.--to match the
taxpayer's $10 million by similarly earmarking 10 percent of their
SEMATECH contribution for environmentally safe manufacturing methods.

That would create a $20 million research fund at SEMATECH that could
directly address the problems experienced by semiconductor workers and
the communities where the production facilities are located. The
challenge for CRT is to develop a well-conceived research agenda that
would fulfill this promise. CRT will initiate a "shadow advisory
committee" to develop a $20 million research agenda for SEMATECH and to
establish a "yard stick" that will influence SEMATECH officials on how
the money will be spent in fiscal year 1993. There are three components
to this committee:

1) A task force on environmentally responsible manufacturing in the
semiconductor industry;

2) A task force on community development, to ensure that   communities
chosen as the sites for new semiconductor fabrication plants, or
communities hoping to attract such   plants, can have expert advice on
how to manage the   development process to attain maximum community
benefit.

3) A task force on labor, to promote high skilled jobs and new forms of
work organization in the semiconductor industry.

Participants in the three advisory task forces will be drawn from CRT's
advisory board and other nationally recognized experts in these fields.
The task forces are will not seek to answer these questions on their
own. Rather, each would identify questions that SEMATECH researchers
should be asking in order to comply with the needs of CRT and the
Electronics Industry Good Neighbor Campaign's needs.

The three task forces will serve as guides for the research to be
conducted at SEMATECH; they will determine the most important research
questions and suggest qualified professionals who could competently help
 SEMATECH arrive at good policies.

The task forces will not deal directly with SEMATECH officials, but
serve as an expert resource for the grassroots organizers who have
conducted this campaign and who will continue to monitor SEMATECH's
performance.

CRT plans to organize a conference in early 1993 where each of the task
forces will present their findings to representatives of organizations
participating in the Electronics Industry Good Neighbor Campaign and or
members of the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice.


After evaluating the research design proposed by the task forces, CRT
and the Electronics Industry Good Neighbor Campaign will present the
proposals to SEMATECH. CRT is looking for technical people to serve on
these taskforces. Anyone interested should contact:

Rand Wilson
Director
Campaign for Responsible Technology
408 Highland Ave.
Somerville, MA 02144
(617) 391-3866
rwilson@igc.com

Gary Chapman
Coordinator
The 21st Century Project
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
22 Kidder Ave. #2
Somerville, MA 02144
(617) 625-6985
chapman@lcs.mit.edu

* The 12 member companies are Advanced Micro Devices, AT&T, Digital
Equipment, Harris, Hewlett Packard, Intel, IBM, LSI Logic, Motorola,
National Semiconductor, Rockwell, Texas Instruments.
Xref: sparky misc.activism.progressive:7425 alt.activism:17513 soc.culture.latin-america:3820