iPhone Makers Reportedly Vow Not to Kill Themselves

iPhone Makers Reportedly Vow Not to Kill Themselves

www.foxnews.com

A 10th employee of iPhone-maker Foxconn jumped to his death late Wednesday, just hours after the company's chairman promised to make life better for employees at the sprawling production site in southern China.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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The company did not give details of the death but China's official Xinhua news agency reported Thursday that an initial police investigation indicated the 23-year-old man from northwest China had committed suicide by jumping from a seventh floor dormitory balcony.

The deaths have thrown a spotlight on the labor practices of Foxconn, a unit of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry, whose clients include Apple, Hewlett Packard and Sony Ericsson.

Workers live inside the factory complex and churn out products for the world's leading computer and phone companies in round-the-clock shifts.

Suicide rate amongst factory workers has been on a rise lately. These workers are do not enjoy the same work environments & liberties found in the more developed nations.

Many factories operate 24 hours a day on two 12-hour shifts, with the workers rotating between day and night shifts each month. The workers are at the factory for up to 87 hours a week, and all overtime is strictly mandatory. There are just two half-hour meal breaks per shift, but after racing to the cafeteria and queueing up to get food, the workers have only about 15 minutes to eat.

"Every shift (10 hours), we finish 4,000 Dell computers, all the while standing up," a Foxconn worker recently told China Labour Watch. "We can accomplish these assignments through collective effort, but many of us feel worn out."

These workers also have to pay for their room & provide their own matress. Usually they rooms are very small and shared by as many as 4 workers per room. The base wage is 64 (US) cents an hour, which after deductions for room and board drops down to a take-home wage of just 41 cents an hour.

There is also mandatory unpaid overtime to clean the factory and dorms. At the end of a shift, workers must stand at attention as the foreman reviews the day’s work and what improvements must be made.

`We feel like we are serving prison sentences', say factory workers for Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Lenovo, Microsoft and IBM

These companies & factories acknowledge that suicides are a problem, but to them they can easily just pay the families of the victims many more times the pay the victim had recieved to quiet down any dissent.

While most of us enjoy new gadgets and gizmos that come out every year, we fail to think about those who work days & nights in slave camp style labor to allow for this to happen.

Is it really that important to buy something new every year? Companies thrive on marketing the next big thing, but is that next big thing really that necessary when one already posseses something that was considered the next big thing.

These individuals are suffering at the hands of corporations who look to satisfy our greed to stand out of the crowd or be part of the crowd. Until we change our own habits we can never bring any change to these practices.

Become Aware...












www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 27-5-2010 by prionace glauca]

[edit on 27-5-2010 by prionace glauca]

reply to post by prionace glauca


I'm completely with you, OP. Our consumption lifestyle here in the West is almost sickening. We love to have the latest thing, and the clever corporations emphasis this notion, and continue to feed us what we want. Are we willing to pay more for products if they are manufactured in a better environment? I'll let the abundance of Wal-Mart's speak for themselves.

The truth is, human nature is greedy, and we want to get the most "bang for our buck" so to speak. Why would someone pay $1000 for a cell phone made in the United States when they could get one for $300 dollars made the China? There would be little quality difference either way, just the labour wage would jack up the prices.

So as long as we adhere to free market principles and feeding our own wants and needs, people will suffer, and chances are, it won't be us.

I wonder if those assembling the products under these conditions look upon those mining the materials for these products with pity what with their childrens arms being lopped off and all.

Relative suffering.

Were there such industrial socio-economic tiers when the world was agricultural? Were oligarchs lopping off the arms of farmers children for lack of production? Were potato pickers locked into tiny rooms with cots and made to labor 16 hours a day? Are they still?

I dont think much has changed in the past thousands of years. Governments come and go. Economic philosophies come and go. In the end there's still some kid having his arms chopped off and some other guy living in a tiny box and another sitting fat on the hog.

reply to post by prionace glauca


Welcome to the world of EMS.

I've been interested in the case since it's been reported from about 2-3 suicides and now up to about 11.

Granted, I can't authenticate any of the reports, but I keep an eye on the evertiq.com website...it's a kind of news-site for the EMS industry.

Here's an example... a bit suspect, if you ask me.

foxconn

What a joyous thing, profiting at the expense and livelihood of others. Governments imposing their will upon their citizens. Tsk, tsk, tsk. What hath thou wrought?

Face a life of management from above, subjected to a plethora of rules and regulations, along with standards and practices that you may or may not agree with.

-----

Although we may not experience such extremes ... I like to sit back and ask, "Are you living the life that you want to live? Or are you living the life your were told to live?" And not necessarily ordered, but ... if you can imagine walking up in a maze and be guided towards a certain room. No one told you to go down that path, but ... you know, the mind might wander and even though you wish you could break down the walls ... it would be rude to do so.

So you end up in that quaint little room that you were kind of ... led to. Here you sit. Trying to convince yourself, if you already haven't, that what you did was in fact what you wanted to do. Or that you don't mind the choices.

-----

It isn't a call for anarchy and chaos. But it does raise questions as to how we go about living our lives, and how much power we give to these governments.

These governments that are practically telling us(whispering it at first, until they get enough power to demand it, like in China) what to do with our lives. How to feel. How to act. What to strive for. What decisions to make. How to spend our money.

All the while they permeate corruption and foul-play.


Have we been too trusting?



I mean, there comes a time where the people need to learn how things work.

And really judge for themselves ... whether or not the Powers That Be are doing the best they can for OUR benefit.

Or if we just tell that to ourselves because they have "credentials," and we couldn't possible fathom the parameters of their work.



I'unno. Seems like it leaves a lot of room to be led on.

I, personally, don't care to invest that much of my freedoms and life into the hands of such questionable characters.




But ... some people like to play games of chance.

And why not go all out when you can win big?

[edit on 27-5-2010 by SentientBeyondDesign]

I myself never put attention on anything else other than my own well being & going about my life. I will be the first to admit that I was part of the crowd that had to get the newest phone with all of its hoo haa. I was the first one out there shopping for the newest trends. Those years are far gone now.

I just don't feel that need anymore to be the first and only to acquire stuff. Might have to do with the environment one is in or just naturally growing out of that phase.

To see what goes on in these manufacturing countries is dispicable. I can not imagine if such conditions existed in the developed nations even here in the US. Another poster mentioned the conditions faced by those who mine & farm the raw materials, those conditions are even worse. I agree, all of us are connected. Our actions here have huge impact on anothers livelihood somewhere else.

Can we stop this cycle, anytime a country makes leaps & bounds culturally..they are judged to be more westernized. If being westernized is the cause of these sorrows, the populace of these countries need to become aware.

I have now become aware and I am going to refrain myself to the best of my ability to not partake in the involved entities until things change. The reach of products made in countries who practice these type of work conditions is so much, just refraining from purchases might not bring about any change.

I can only hope others become aware and more light can be shined on how our greed promotes this very behavior.

[edit on 27-5-2010 by prionace glauca]

Originally posted by prionace glauca
Suicide rate amongst factory workers has been on a rise lately. These workers are do not enjoy the same work environments & liberties found in the more developed nations.

Its not just developing countries that have problems like this..

Twenty-three employees of France Telecom have killed themselves since the beginning of 2008.

news.bbc.co.uk...

God bless America right?...I mean I'm right yes?
AMERICA

Americans fought bloody for their rights, see Battle of Blair Mountain. Corporations don't want Chinese enjoying these rights which you guys take for granted.

Corrupt bribed governments of US and China are doing damage to both parties and don't take sides - just like corporations and bankers actually.

Now, the ultimate result of bribing American population with these cheap broken gadgets is their acceptance of corporatism. As soon as these monsters have the chance, they'l turn on 300 million "untapped" slave "resources" in US... and no, I don't mean the illegal emigrants .

reply to post by SentientBeyondDesign


Very nice, but what's that got to do with cheap electronics?

Originally posted by Knobby
reply to post by SentientBeyondDesign

 

Very nice, but what's that got to do with cheap electronics?

Everything.

Play by the rules and profit.

Easy enough to say for those that make the rules, no?

Those who are so blinded, to believe that socialism and communism aren't so bad-it sure beats our current capitalist system, need to be paying close attention to these (and other similar) stories.

So, even THIS better than our current system?

I, for one, will hold every fellow American who believes in, and supports communism, accountable for their beliefs. Accountable, for their support of those groups of people who are pushing this very purpose. If Americans believe (and speak out in support of) this type of progressive system, then 'they' had better know what the hell they are supporting.

reply to post by SourGrapes


I think Taiwan is more like the US than like China. They popularly elect their president and they have something a lot like congress.

Still, mainland workers conditions arent exactly enviable.

Originally posted by prionace glauca
I have now become aware and I am going to refrain myself to the best of my ability to not partake in the involved entities until things change. The reach of products made in countries who practice these type of work conditions is so much, just refraining from purchases might not bring about any change.

I can only hope others become aware and more light can be shined on how our greed promotes this very behavior.
[edit on 27-5-2010 by prionace glauca]

Making people aware of this is probably the best any of us can do. There actually are small corporations who threat their employees nice regardless of nation they're in. But that is doing damage to the grand Ponzi scheme and they are usually taxed into oblivion by the local government.... But they evade that by slowly emigrating their employees as the capital grows.

Here is an al-Jazeera video piece on this exact incident...

Proving once again, if US jobs all get exported to country X, soon country X's workers will become less suitable than previously...

reply to post by SourGrapes


One example I like to think of when people harp on socialistic values is the follow:

If someone takes an idea/concept, and perverts it, then introduces it to you. The perversion of that idea is NOT the idea, the perversion of that idea is simply just that ... a perversion of an idea.


That is to say that the nations that have FAILED at using socialism, and implemented abusive measures against their people, have given the Western world this impression that all socialist/communist regimes will lead to anguish and suffering.

--------

This entire ordeal is based on the premise that no matter what, people will take advantage of power.

Socialism allows for those efforts to meet with less resistance, while Capitalism allegedly makes it more difficult to control all aspects of life without people speaking up and mounting defenses.

--------

Seems interesting to me that we think so little of ourselves.

HOWEVER, if that IS the case ... Then shouldn't our governments consist of taking power away from state, because we know they will abuse it?


Looks like we need to get our priorities straight and stop acting like a bunch of misfits.

Maybe it's time we all became governors.


[edit on 27-5-2010 by SentientBeyondDesign]

reply to post by prionace glauca


1. These people work at this factory voluntarily.
2. Have you ever worked in an American Factory? I know there aren't many around anymore, but after I graduated High School I worked at a place called "ColorBox" which made the boxes for many things, including at the time MS Windows. I worked regular 10 hour shifts with two twenty minute breaks breaking up the day. Those were the only times we sat down. It sux.... so I moved on to the Navy where I worked 12 hours on, 12 hours off, for 6 months, never seeing the light. At one point, I worked 18 hours a day for 4 weeks straight. I did all of this voluntarily, even though it sucked.

I'm still buying my new gadgets... at 4,000 dell laptops every 10 hours, I'm a drop in that bucket. I'm just glad these people have jobs...

Personally I think the competition must be awfully high in China for the management to have this type of managing style...

The only thing these people are slave to are their desires and the currency through which they manifest them... the same as us over here.

They can quit anytime they want... why some choose suicide is beyond me,

the problem is not with the US or Apple or whatever

the problem is that in China and some places, there are no rules ...

they work for almost nothing all day ... its hard to see

These workers should slow the hell down! Or quit for that matter. Nobody needs to work faster and harder than the body can handle. I thought Apple would have enough money to have robots replace workers that do the harder stuff.