Apple boss defends conditions at iPhone factory

Apple boss defends conditions at iPhone factory

news.bbc.co.uk

Apple boss Steve Jobs has defended conditions at a Taiwanese electronics firm that produces the firm's popular iPhone, following a spate of suicides.

"Foxconn is not a sweatshop," he told a conference in the US.

Mr Jobs said that Apple representatives were working with Foxconn to find out why 10 workers had killed themselves at a factory in Shenzhen, China.

An eleventh worker recently died at another factory in northern China.

In total, there have been 13 suicides and suicide attempts at Foxconn factories this year.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 2-6-2010 by vagabondrobb]

Mod Edit: Review This Link: Instructions for the Breaking News Forums: Copy The Exact Headline

[edit on 6/2/2010 by semperfortis]

The official response:

'Foxconn has said that it will give its assembly line workers a 30% pay rise.'

When will people understand that money cannot buy happiness?

A man who lives on the street can be the happiest man alive, a rich man one of the most miserable.

The reason these people took thier own lives was probably because they lived a mundane factory-line existence, they were emotionally dead and lacked inspiration and hope. This is what consumerism ultimately delivers!





news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Mod Edit: Review This Link: Instructions for the Breaking News Forums: Copy The Exact Headline

[edit on 6/2/2010 by semperfortis]

reply to post by vagabondrobb


It's not consumerism.. it's capitalism.. Sorry, but that's what unfettered capitalism, without the ability for labor to organize, gets you.

PS. They worked there to afford food/shelter. It's not a choice, it's slavery in the name of profits.

I have a question.


This happened in CHINA the suicides were CHINESE the report comes out and Apple takes measures to address the issue. Where is the CHINESE Government in all of this? NOWHERE that's right. They could cares less. I wonder how many more Suicides are not being reported do the this same situation all over CHINA in other factories?


It seems to me that the CHINESE Government is more worried about production, exports and Profits than they are about their own citizens AKA Average Joe Chan.


PEACE

Slay

reply to post by SLAYER69


Why is it china's fault?

I'm not disagreeing with you, the government has the power to stop the abuse by Apple and their contracting department (which has exported OUR jobs to China, btw). Why put the blame just on the chinese government, instead of spreading it around to all players involved, where it belongs.

reply to post by Kaytagg


Yes Capitalism, they go hand in hand. I was thinking more in context of the connection between massive mechanized human factory lines and the demands of consumerism, but you are spot on, Capitalsim, in it's most effeicient form, is ultimately to blame!

It's staggering how blatant corporations can be sometimes:

Yesterday Foxconn sent a letter to be signed by all employees, removing liability to the company should an employee die. It immunised them against law suits. There was an outcry in the Chinese media and today Foxconn withdrew the letter.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Is there no wonder these people feel worthless?

[edit on 2-6-2010 by vagabondrobb]

reply to post by vagabondrobb


I just saw this on Gizmodo and remembered this thread. The workers are being worked to death. No wonder they are committing suicide.

Another Foxconn Employee Dies, After Working 34-Hours Straight

Gotta love how pretty much nobody took notice of this until the almighty Steve Jobs commented on it. For those who don't know, Foxconn makes, in addition to iphones, ipods, ipads, etc.., wiis, ps3s, xbox 360s, possibly the motherboard in your computer. As of last week, Sony and Nintendo were already investigating factory conditions regarding the whole situation. Leave it to Jobs to get the headlines, though.

/rant

This is what globalization is all about and why im against it corporations would LOVE to have it this way if it were mae legal here in the states

reply to post by ziggy1706


Yep, and they want to get rid of social security, medicare, and medicaid, because A) it costs them more than it costs the people who use it, and B) they want grandmothers and the disabled to be working more hours in walmart, rather than being retired at home.

or C) the combined debt of all those programs will eventually ruin the US economy, and then you will really see what misery is about. Then the choice those men in China took will seem all the more appealing.

"Foxconn is not a sweatshop," he told a conference in the US.

The deaths have shone a spotlight on working conditions at the factory, where workers - often from rural China - work up to 12 hours a day, six days a week.

Sure sounds like a sweatshop to me. 12 hour work days, 6 days a week, no wonder these people are killing themselves, they have no life outside of working.

"You go in this place and it's a factory but, my gosh, they've got restaurants and movie theatres and hospitals and swimming pools. For a factory, it's pretty nice," he said.

Why would they need to have all of these things in a factory ? I've read articles before where they said that some factories lock their workers inside and they are only allowed to go home one day a week. The above statement makes me really believe that is true.

reply to post by Kaytagg


If the Chinese government didn't allow their people to be treated like this then none of the players involved would be able to do so. If they had to treat the workers like human beings and pay them decent wages they wouldn't have moved the jobs to China in the first place. All players involved bear resposibility, but ultimiately the responsibility falls on the Chinese government for allowing it in the first place.

reply to post by chise61


Someone on Gizmodo commented that because Apple requires absolute secrecy of their products they force the Foxconn workers who put together Apple's products to live in the facility and have minimal contact with the outside world. If that is true it makes Apple worse than the other companies.

Originally posted by Kaytagg
reply to post by SLAYER69

 

Why is it china's fault?

I'm not disagreeing with you, the government has the power to stop the abuse by Apple and their contracting department (which has exported OUR jobs to China, btw). Why put the blame just on the chinese government, instead of spreading it around to all players involved, where it belongs.

Well see they could and should step in on behalf of their citizens. Apple is just the latest example but they will do whatever they can get away with as long as the Chinese Government doesn't give a damn about their citizens. If the Government didn't care about the bottom line more than their own citizens then there wouldn't be so many Suicides IMO.


[edit on 2-6-2010 by SLAYER69]

reply to post by black cat


If what I've read is true, Apple is not the only company that locks their workers in their factories.

No one should be able to force their employees to live in the facility where they work. If this is truely happening then the Chinese government is at fault, and ultimately worse than the companies that treat their employees in this manner. They can only treat their employees like that if their government allows it to happen. It's all up to the Chinese government to step in and make sure that the Chinese citizens are treated properly.

reply to post by vagabondrobb


America is like the worse plague out there and it's spreading it's sickness worldwide!!!!

NAFTA....

That's all I got to say...

reply to post by ldyserenity


I hear you brother!

Globally, the 20% of the world’s people in the highest-income countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures — the poorest 20% a minuscule 1.3%. More specifically, the richest fifth: * Consume 45% of all meat and fish, the poorest fifth 5% * Consume 58% of total energy, the poorest fifth less than 4% * Have 74% of all telephone lines, the poorest fifth 1.5% * Consume 84% of all paper, the poorest fifth 1.1% * Own 87% of the world’s vehicle fleet, the poorest fifth less than 1% Runaway growth in consumption in the past 50 years is putting strains on the environment never before seen.

globalissues.org

Capitalism and mindless consumerism IS a plague, America is it's host.

I'm suprised more people dont bring this up actually

Apple admits using child labour

I have to be honest I really dislike apple and their products why people pay their money to get locked into apples tricks is beyond me. I actually really can't think of one good thing about them.

On the plus side I hear android phones are outselling them now and making them look quite primitive I hope that keeps up oh and they actually have working flash as well.