Oregon semiconductor workers want a share of company’s CHIPS Act windfall

Workers at one of Oregon’s biggest semiconductor manufacturers say they’re being shortchanged as their employer collects millions of dollars in state and federal subsidies.

About 70 employees of Analog Devices Inc. delivered a petition to the company Friday complaining about wages and working conditions at their factory near Beaverton. They say they might consider joining a union — a rarity in the chip industry — if the company doesn’t address their concerns.

“We can see the money they have. We can see where they’re spending. And we’re capable of standing together and saying, ‘That’s not fair’,” said Robbie Garecht, a 36-year-old factory operator.

The workers’ petition calls for a $27 hourly minimum wage for factory operators, no unpaid factory shutdowns and better training for handling chemicals used in the factories.

Analog Devices didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Though Garecht has worked in Analog Devices’ Oregon factory for more than two years, he said he makes just $21.73 an hour, far below the hourly average of $34.80 among all workers in Multnomah and Washington counties.

Employees note that Analog Devices paid out $1.7 billion in dividends over the past 12 months, according to its most recent financial filings, and spent $1.6 billion in stock buybacks.

Additionally, Oregon’s state government just awarded the company $12 million in subsidies to expand its Washington County factory, and Analog Devices is seeking millions more from the federal CHIPS Act.

“I like the work. It’s interesting. When I look through the microscope at semiconductors, I find myself fascinated by what each thing in it is,” Garecht said. But he said Analog Devices should be paying closer attention to what its employees need.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me that a company like this is able to make so much and receive so much in handouts and still not take care of their workers,” he said.

The Massachusetts company makes chips that serve as components in larger electronics systems, including airplanes, cars, communications networks and health care tools. It employs 900 at its Oregon factory, its largest site, and another 500 at a factory in Camas.

It recently completed a $1 billion expansion of the factory near Beaverton and purchased 39 acres of the adjacent Tektronix campus for future growth.

Semiconductor manufacturing is among Oregon’s largest industries, and electronics are the state’s biggest export, valued at nearly $12 billion last year.

The average semiconductor job pays an annual wage of nearly $172,000, according to the most recent data from the Oregon Employment Department. But those figures are inflated by highly compensated executives and engineers.

Oregon semiconductor technicians working on the factory floor made an annual average of just $56,000 last year, according to state figures.

The chip industry is highly cyclical, and workers at some factories, including Analog Devices, are subject to periodic, unpaid furloughs when factories shut down.

Analog Devices closed for two weeks around Christmas last year, and Microchip Technology has furloughed its Gresham workers twice already this year after winning $162 million in federal CHIPS Act funding in January.

“I want this to be a good place to work. I like aspects of it, but I’m worried about not being able to work here long-term,” said Kate Long, 25, who has been working as a factory operator at Analog Devices for about two years.

The job involves moving cassettes of silicon wafers from one manufacturing tool to another, across the stages of the production process. Factory operators also supply and maintain the tools, pouring acids and other chemicals into the machines.

It’s an interesting job, Long said, but Analog Devices hasn’t explained how she can move up in her career, what new roles might be available to her or what kind of training she needs to advance.

Employees have been talking with IUE-CWA, a division of the Communication Workers of America, about their organizing efforts but haven’t formally moved to join a union. And Long said that while she’d be open to unionizing, her top priority is that Analog Devices hear workers’ concerns.

“What’s important to me is that we all speak together,” Long said.