Foxconn labour practices

[Abe]

I am not normally one to post this sort of stuff but this article troubled me enough to make me do it.

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-child-labor-2012-1

Your iPhone Was Built, In Part, By 13 Year-Olds Working 16 Hours A Day For 70 Cents An Hour

Before all of the people dive in and say that Foxconn makes components for other companies as well (e.g. Acer, Dell, IBM, Sony, etc). I know, but that doesn't make it right. While this article is made from the Apple perspective, I think we should take a good look at all companies supporting this sort of practice.

 

[Zenbaas]

They had this story on Jon Stewart the other night. All I can say is that it's crazy..! They supposedly put nets around the building to prevent workers from committing suicide by jumping. According to the show some work 32 hour "days" for as little as 31 cents/hour.

 

[TJ99]

This is one (rare) situation where Apple is not directly responsible for the evil, they're just taking advantage of existing conditions in order to make their ungodly super profits. There were already useful idiots working for next to nothing and useful idiots willing to pay double the price of any similar (or better) product so it makes business sense.

However, this article is just another reminder for all those China apologists on the forum who always appear when you call the place a commie ****hole, claiming that living standards are on par with SA or even the 1st world. Get real people. The only reason why China has such a huge economy is because there a zillion bajillion of them, the average person there is still pretty much piss-poor and working under terrible conditions.

 

[sajunky]

It is already model for South Africa. Cosatu claims that Rand is to strong, as we can not compete with China.

 

[Abe]

This is one (rare) situation where Apple is not directly responsible for the evil, they're just taking advantage of existing conditions in order to make their ungodly super profits. There were already useful idiots working for next to nothing and useful idiots willing to pay double the price of any similar (or better) product so it makes business sense.

I think that it makes them partially responsible. If they know about the conditions then they should put pressure on Foxconn to rectify them. They can threaten to take the work to another supplier. IMHO, they are putting profits above the welfare of people which is sad.

 

[bwana]

I think that it makes them partially responsible. If they know about the conditions then they should put pressure on Foxconn to rectify them. They can threaten to take the work to another supplier. IMHO, they are putting profits above the welfare of people which is sad.

They're one of the few companies that are. For a more balanced article I suggest you read the NY Times coverage - http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/b...osts-for-workers-in-china.html?pagewanted=all

Then head over to Apple's site and review their Supplier Responsibility Reports (http://www.apple.com/supplierresponsibility/reports.html).

I'm sure all the other pc manufacturers are doing likewise, I just cant seem to find the info.

 

[TJ99]

I think that it makes them partially responsible. If they know about the conditions then they should put pressure on Foxconn to rectify them. They can threaten to take the work to another supplier. IMHO, they are putting profits above the welfare of people which is sad.

True, but they're definitely not the only company that does this, as you said. Pretty much every successful company out there has done some morally reprehensible things. I'm not saying it's not bad, just that they didn't directly cause it. Also, it depends on your viewpoint. When Wal-Mart was accused of similar practices (using cheap child labour in 3rd world countries etc,) they admitted to it, but said that those children were far better off than they were before, since they would have literally starved and they were happy to have something to do. We may not like it (I know I don't), but circumstances are different over there. It's hard to maintain a balance between the 2 extremes, this Foxconn-like situation, and the SA-type labour situation where you have to pay workers to do almost nothing, they are given unfair protections by law etc, and are very difficult to get rid of.

 

[bwana]

Here's a list of some of the companies that use Foxconn:

Foxconn manufactures products for companies including:
(country of headquarters in parentheses)
Acer Inc. (Taiwan) [27]
Amazon.com (United States)[28]
Apple Inc. (United States)[29]
ASRock (Taiwan)[citation needed]
Asus (Taiwan)[citation needed]
Barnes & Noble (United States)[citation needed]
Cisco (United States)[30]
Dell (United States) [31]
EVGA Corporation (United States)
Hewlett-Packard (United States)[32]
Intel (United States)[33]
IBM (United States)[citation needed]
Lenovo (China)[citation needed]
Microsoft (United States)[34]
MSI (Taiwan)[citation needed]
Motorola (United States)[31]
Netgear (United States)[citation needed]
Nintendo (Japan) [35]
Nokia (Finland)[29]
Panasonic (Japan)[citation needed]
Samsung (South Korea)[36]
Sharp (Japan)[citation needed]
Sony (Japan) [37]
Sony Ericsson (Japan/Sweden)[38]
Vizio (United States)[39]

 

[FNfal]

The legal age to leave school in china is 16
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_leaving_age

 

[FNfal]

The writer of that article seems to be a controversial character
"Henry Blodget (born 1966) is an American former equity research analyst, currently banned from the securities industry, who was senior Internet analyst for CIBC Oppenheimer during the dot-com bubble and the head of the global Internet research team at Merrill Lynch. Blodget is now the editor and CEO of The Business Insider, a business news and analysis site, and a host of Yahoo Daily Ticker, a finance show on Yahoo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Blodget

 

[Elimentals]

Before all of the people dive in and say that Foxconn makes components for other companies as well (e.g. Acer, Dell, IBM, Sony, etc). I know, but that doesn't make it right. While this article is made from the Apple perspective, I think we should take a good look at all companies supporting this sort of practice.

I think the biggest difference is that not all the other companies go bragging about the $98 billion in the bank.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Re working children - I feel that it is a neccessary evil to have working children.... But only if the child is willing to work in order to improve his/her life (there's too large a list of variables to mention here)...

Much better than having them beg for handouts and food in unsafe conditions (at traffic lights etc). Besides, that'll learn them to take responsibility and that only they can take care of themselves and not somebody else.

But if the child is exploited in order to make a profit at the expense of the child, then that's a definite no.

We don't have all the facts though.