Chipmaker Vying for US Funds Pledges to Hire Unionized Workers
- Akash Systems to hire union production, construction workers
- Union coalition pushes for agreements at biggest chipmakers
Technicians inspect a semiconductor wafer during testing.
Photographer: Kobi Wolf/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
A California semiconductor company plans to hire hundreds of employees exclusively from local unions, a rare move in an industry historically averse to organized labor and one that could boost its bid for US funds.
Akash Systems has entered formal labor agreements with the industrial division of the Communications Workers of America and the Alameda County Building Trades Council, covering some 250 production-line workers and dozens of construction workers who will build a $62 million semiconductor facility in West Oakland.