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工会反对台积电凤凰城工厂引进台湾工人
南华早报 ｜2023-08-14
一个美国工人工会开始在网上请愿，反对芯片制造巨头台积电从台湾引进工人，该公司价值400亿美元的凤凰城工厂面临挫折。
除其他问题外，亚利桑那州的工人们希望美国立法者拒绝向该公司希望引进的台湾工人发放EB-2签证。
亚利桑那州管道贸易469在其Votervoice.net页面上表示：“台积电宣布，他们计划将800多名外国工人带到亚利桑那州，在北凤凰城的工厂工作。”Votervoice.net是一个用于宣传和组织的数字平台。该工会总部设在凤凰城，代表着管道钳工和水管工。
“保护你的工会兄弟姐妹，保护你的薪水，保护美国的就业机会！”
这份名为“阻止台积电工人签证”的请愿书指责该公司“缺乏对美国工人的尊重，将利润置于工人安全之上，并故意歪曲亚利桑那州劳动力的质量、技能和经验”，尽管这家台湾芯片制造商根据《芯片与科学法案》(Chips and Science Act)获得了“巨额财务减免”。
2020年，美国前总统唐纳德·川普政府宣布了建设台积电凤凰城工厂的计划。
美国商务部表示，尚未宣布根据拜登签署的《芯片与科学法案》向任何公司提供任何奖励，该法案提供超过500亿美元的补贴，以支持美国半导体研发。
周三，白宫为纪念该法案通过一周年而发布的一份情况说明书显示，自拜登政府上任以来，美国公司已经宣布了超过2310亿美元的半导体和电子产品投资承诺。
去年12月，拜登参观了台积电在凤凰城的工厂，在那里他宣布“美国制造业回来了”。
但由于缺乏熟练工人来安装制造高端半导体所需的先进机器，台积电被迫推迟了在凤凰城的生产计划。该公司原本预计在2024年开始生产5纳米芯片，但该公司已将这一目标推迟到2025年。
台积电董事长刘德音上月在财报电话会议上对分析师表示，
该公司正努力从台湾派遣技术熟练的技术人员，培训美国当地工人。
如果得到允许，这些工人将持EB-2签证工作，EB-2签证允许拥有“高等学位或特殊能力”的外国专业人士在美国永久工作和生活。
但美国劳工团体反对台积电引进台湾工人的计划。
该工会在请愿书中要求当选官员“利用他们的影响力停止发放EB-2工人签证”，但同时表示，“用外国工人取代亚利桑那州的工人，直接违背了《芯片法案》颁布的初衷”。
据称，也是由亚利桑那州管道贸易469资助的网站protectazworkers.org敦促亚利桑那州立法者“与劳工站在一起，阻止台积电取代500多名美国工人”，称劳动力引进计划是“一记耳光”。
台积电在发给《南华早报》的一份电子邮件声明中表示，该公司正在美国打造“最先进”的半导体制造技术，目前正处于“在一个复杂的设施中处理所有最先进和专用设备的关键阶段”。
“到目前为止，来亚利桑那州的工人人数尚未确定，但数量将非常有限，”该公司表示。
该声明还强调，台积电“高度重视”培养当地劳动力，并仍在积极寻求从美国境内招聘员工”.
US trade union fights TSMC plan to use Taiwanese workers on Arizona semiconductor factory build
- A pipe fitters and plumbers’ group asks American lawmakers to block EB-2 visas for workers from the island
- TSMC claims number of workers coming to Arizona has not been determined, but the number will be ‘extremely limited’
Khushboo Razdan in New York 11 Aug, 2023A US workers’ union has started an online petition against chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, whose US$40 billion Phoenix plant faces setbacks.
Among other issues, workers in Arizona want American lawmakers to deny visas for Taiwanese workers the company wants to import to speed up construction of the plant, once hailed as a symbol of President Joe Biden’s agenda to compete with China.
“TSMC announced they plan to bring more than 800 foreign workers to Arizona to operate on the North Phoenix facility,” Arizona Pipe Trades 469 said on its Votervoice.net page, a digital platform used for advocacy and organising. The trade union is based in Phoenix and represents pipe fitters and plumbers.
“Protect your union brothers and sisters, protect your pay cheque and protect American jobs!”
Biden to introduce new restrictions on US investments in China, declares tech 'emergency'
The petition titled “Block TSMC Worker Visas” accuses the company of showing “a lack of respect for American workers, placing profit above worker safety and deliberately misrepresenting the quality, skills and experience of Arizona’s workforce” despite the Taiwanese chip maker receiving “large financial breaks” under the Chips and Science Act.
Plans to build the TSMC Phoenix plant were announced in 2020 under former US president Donald Trump’s administration.
The US Commerce Department said it has not yet announced any awards to any company under Biden’s signature Chips and Science Act, which offers more than US$50 billion in subsidies to support US semiconductor research and development.
Since the beginning of the Biden administration, companies have announced more than US$231 billion in commitments to semiconductor and electronics investments in the US, according to a White House fact sheet published on Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of the bill.
In December Biden visited TSMC’s factory in Phoenix, where he declared “American manufacturing is back ”.
But a shortage of skilled workers to install advanced machinery required to manufacture high-end semiconductors has forced TSMC to postpone its production plans in the city. It had been expected to start making 5-nanometer chips in 2024 but the company has pushed that goal to 2025.
If allowed, these workers would work on EB-2 visas, which permit foreign professionals with “advanced degrees or exceptional abilities” to work and live in the US permanently, according to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services website.
Biden tours new Taiwanese chip-making plant in Arizona, fans US-China semiconductor rivalry
But labour groups in the US oppose TSMC’s plan to bring in Taiwanese workers.
The website protectazworkers.org, which is also purportedly funded by Arizona Pipe Trades 469, urges Arizona lawmakers to “stand with labour and block TSMC from replacing more than 500 American workers”, calling the labour-import plans “a slap in the face”.
In an emailed statement to the Post, TSMC said it was building the “most advanced” semiconductor manufacturing technology in the US was in a “critical phase of handling all of the most advanced and dedicated equipment in a sophisticated facility”.
“As of now, the number of workers coming to Arizona has not been determined, but the number will be extremely limited”, it said.
The statement also emphasised the “high value” TSMC places “on nurturing [the] local workforce and still actively seek to hire from within the United States”.
A Facebook page called IBEW 640 Brotherhood, a Phoenix-based labour group representing electrical workers, has been flooded with screenshots of “disrespectful” posts about America and American workers allegedly made on PTT, a Taiwanese online public forum.
The posts on the Facebook page – which is not run by the brotherhood – claim the social media screenshots support suggestions that TSMC wants to bring in cheap labour from Taiwan to cut costs.
Khushboo RazdanKhushboo Razdan is a correspondent based in New York. Before joining the Post, she worked as a multimedia journalist in Beijing and New Delhi for over a decade. She’s a graduate of Columbia Journalism School.
