Samsung sued over working conditions

The Ministry of Labour said employees at the factory worked up to 15 hours a day, spending 10 hours on their feet and sometimes working for 27 days at a time.

The audit was performed at the Manaus plant, one of the largest of Samsung's 25 factories worldwide. The facility employs 6,000 workers and supplies all of Latin America.

The South Korean electronic company is accused of subjecting its employees to the risk of illnesses from repetitive activity and the intense pace of work on the assembly line, the labour ministry said.

According to a report on the website of the Tribuna Hoje newspaper, individual workers at the plant are given just six seconds to place a phone with its battery, charger, earphones and instruction manual in its packaging. Individual workers can repeat this process up to 6,800 times a shift.

The newspaper said workers were given 4.8 seconds to place a television in its cardboard packaging while the assembly of a smartphone - involving dozens of workers on a production line - was clocked at 85 seconds.

Samsung said in a statement the company was reviewing the allegations.

"We are conducting a thorough review of the complaint and promise to fully co-operate with the Brazilian authorities," the company said.

"We take great care to provide a work environment that assures the highest industry standards of health, safety, and welfare for our employees across the world," it claimed.

The government wants 250m reals (US$108m) in collective moral damages. Samsung already faces about 1,200 legal complaints by workers at Manaus.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge