Unemployed Advanced Electronics, Inc., Workers Demand Just Severance and End to Workplace Abuse

by Amee Chew
May 28, 2005

Advanced Electronics, Inc. (AEI) is an electronics manufacturer in South Boston that has reaped enormous profits over the past 25 years, by tapping into a pool of inner city Chinese immigrant labor. In 1999, AEI made the ?Inner City 100,? a ranking for the fastest growing inner city companies in the U.S. In 2004, it remained on the list of Electronic Business 's ?Top 100 Contract Manufacturers? worldwide, with a total revenue of over $30 million in 2003.

AEI has been recognized in the business world for utilizing a Chinese-speaking workforce typically overlooked by other employers because of the language barrier. The CEO of AEI, Ching-Wah Wong, sits on the Women of Ethnic Diversity Initiative Advisory Board of the Commonwealth Institute, an organization to support women entrepreneurs. She has claimed that at AEI, ?There is a sense of belonging that everyone is in the same boat, from top to bottom.? However, a look at the treatment of AEI production workers immediately reveals the hypocrisy of this statement, and its attempt to use supposed ethnic solidarity as a cover for the abuse and exploitation of its workforce.

On May 16, a group of 30 former employees presented a petition to the AEI management. Most had been laid-off by AEI after 2002, with no notice whatsoever before being laid-off ? and only four days of severance after 18-20 years of hard work. But this end act of disposal was only the latest in a long pattern of exploitation they had endured under AEI.

The laid-off workers reported to the Chinese Progressive Association of Boston that they had been forced to take unpaid vacations when business was slow, so AEI could avoid paying unemployment ? and were yelled at when they asked to take vacations on their own time. This time control continues today, as workers are required to work extra intensively so they can be prepared to take unpaid vacations in early July, when CEO Wong has planned to take hers. Workers were forced to work through meal breaks or irregular shifts when business picked up, so machines could stay running 24 hours. Their work-week was cut to four days, although they continued doing five days of work. In 2001, AEI suddenly took back a third of its publicly vaunted ?profit-sharing' bonus policy, causing each worker to lose $10,000 in these benefits on average. Employees who have work at AEI for 15-20 years make only $7-9 per hour, and have not seen a raise in five years. Workers underwent daily harassment, including verbal abuse with epithets like ?old hooker? ? and being forbidden from taking bathroom breaks before 4:30 pm.

AEI has cultivated a climate of intimidation and harassment that violates employees dignity. Its management has retaliated against those workers who try to protest conditions or organize. In one incident, an employee was threatened for taking sick leave, despite displaying a doctor's note. The former employees report that workers risked being fired for taking a bathroom break at the wrong time.

The petition which former workers gave AEI demands: 1) one week of severance compensation per every year of work for all employees laid-off after 2002; 2) that AEI post notices in its factory affirming workers' right to organize under the National Labor Relations Act in English and Chinese, and end its climate of intimidation; 3) that it publicly explain whether it intends to sell or close the factory so employees and the affected community can be prepared. Additionally, the laid-off workers allege AEI practiced age and sex discrimination, and are taking their case to the EEOC. AEI has repeatedly laid-off older and higher-paid employees, and refused to hire women on the basis of possible pregnancy or fears of their family commitments.

On May 24, the group of former employees returned to enforce their second demand, leafleting current workers with bright neon green papers about their employment rights ? and presenting AEI management with the correct right to organize information to post. The former employees are taking steps to unite with current workers. After two weeks, AEI management has still not given them a response on their demands, so they are planning further action. On Wednesday, June 8, they will hold a rally starting in Chinatown and marching to AEI at 12 pm.

AEI claims that recently it has been facing business troubles. But in its heyday AEI's annual revenue surpassed $45 million; today its credit remains excellent. Paying former employees basic severance is only a start towards justly sharing the profits made at their expense, all these years. The laid-off workers demand that AEI open its books to prove why its financial difficulties might impact its ability to meet their demands.

The organizing of unemployed AEI workers may represent an exciting step towards building a movement based on the partnership of labor and community needs. They urge the public to support their organizing by calling, faxing, and emailing the AEI management in support of their petition's demands and the right to AEI workers to organize, and in protest of AEI's extensive workplace abuses.

• Ching-wah Wong, CEO - (617)598-3008, cwwong@aeiusa.com, fax:(617)598-3001
• To Young, VP of Human Resources - (617)598-3030
• Edward Chiang, Chairman of Shareholders Board - (781)275-7714, h2oeng275@aol.com, fax:(781)275-7604

In addition, support their organizing by joining the June 8 rally! For more information, please contact: Chinese Progressive Association Workers Center: (617)357-4499, Karen@cpaboston.org