PHOENIX (AZ Family) — Several former TSMC Arizona workers are coming forward, saying they witnessed some of the allegations at the center of a class-action lawsuit against the company.

The lawsuit alleges that the semiconductor giant discriminated against American workers as it looks to open its first production line in north Phoenix early next year.

The lawsuit alleges the Taiwanese company gives East Asian workers an advantage at every stage of employment, even as TSMC is set to receive $11 billion in federal aid from CHIPS and the Law of Science.

In a statement, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. said it believes in a diverse workforce and hires and promotes employees without regard to factors such as nationality.

The company makes the chips used in everything from cars to computers.

TSMC Arizona hired thousands of construction workers when it broke ground on its north Phoenix facility in 2021.

A former construction worker contacted the Arizona family, saying he saw the company’s double standard.

“American workers were held to a higher standard,” said the worker, who asked to remain anonymous.

The worker says TSMC management complained that American union construction workers were too slow, and the company began bringing in busloads of workers from Taiwan.

“I’ve seen them do things that were obviously unsafe. Things that if we did, we were thrown out of service indefinitely,” he said. “He would even go up on a fight. They were standing on top of pipes, pipes – whatever they had to do to get their job done. We had to put scaffolding in place.”

He claims the company has been phasing out more and more American workers, including himself.

His allegations echo several claims in the class-action lawsuit against TSMC, which says company managers regularly harassed and berated American workers, calling them “stupid” or “lazy” while giving preferential treatment to policyholders. East Asian visas.

The lawsuit also alleges that complaints about the safety of American workers were ignored.

A TSMC spokesman said the company would not comment on ongoing litigation, but said the company provides “various channels for employees to raise concerns, and (we) strive to address concerns constructively.”

this week, Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health fined TSMC following an incident in May in which an explosion from a The pressurized garbage truck killed a worker.

“They should be held accountable for treating all races, all national origins, all citizens equally,” said Daniel Kotchen, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit.

Kotchen’s lawsuit says the company “intentionally neglected the diversity commitments TSMC made in the CHIPS Act application.”

As of last year, half of the 2,200 people working at TSMC Arizona were visa holders from Taiwan.

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