Report: Riots break out at Foxconn factory in China

There was a very good documentary done on the factories. I saw it on public tv. One of the factories in the documentary made beads for Mardi Gras. The reporter asked the workers if they knew what the beads were used for. The girls all said they couldn't believe anyone would want the little plastic beads.

When they showed the girls what they did for the beads they all nearly fainted. These girls come straight from the country. Their parents make money off of them so they can better their own lives. The children are basically working off their right to be born. Since only 1 child can be born to a set of parents their birthright is very important. Many girls are left to die and those who grow up with parents know how fortunate they are. They are very driven to repay their parents' sacrifice.

Unfortunately their lives are turned upside down when they begin shift-work in the factory. The factories are set up as dorms so the children cannot leave the facility unescorted. It is not quite a prison, but it is nearly so. They live a very regimented life and most burn out by 21 years old. Many make it into schools and find jobs in the city and others stick it out at the factory for as long as possible before trying to find a new job in the country which is nearly impossible.

Our country was not much different half a century ago. Kids worked in factories (I did). Parents lived with their children when they got old and could no longer care for themselves. The family tried to stay together and build the wealth for all of them to have a future. It is an old standard that served people well for centuries. Our problem is that we have the "Fix It" bug. We want to fix things so bad we ignore the underlying problems or ship them overseas.

China is not a place to raise your kids. Early America wasn't either. Now we are the elite, even the 99% are. We are capable of making things better, but we have a hard time fixing ourselves before others. We have to have a "War" to try to fix anything and when we screw it up worse we can't admit our failure. That is Hubris. Our pride is our problem. The Chinese are proud too and they work very hard for what they have.

I think the real problem that we all need to deal with is the lopsided wealth distribution. The next problem is overpopulation. Neither of these are easy to solve in our current mindset because of multiple issues.

reply to post by elouina



Did you buy a Nexus Q?

Let's see how long Google keeps it up.

If you look back you see cycles, manufacturing stateside, leading to worker complaints, unions that overstep what is reasonable, then corporations side stepping unions and shipping jobs overseas, because either the company can't compete, or the higher cost loses out to other companies that don't have them.

When the jobs are here the unions are doing everything to get rid of them, and when they are gone, everyone likes to blame corporate greed.

It's political greed though. There is a fine line in the middle where the employer and the employee should be able to live in harmony, either side having too much power either causes the collapse of a company or the exploitation of the worker.

But this isn't an issue where you just jump up and shout "Corporations are evil", it makes you look very simple, very dumb.

The issue, like most, has many more things involved to it.

reply to post by onecraftydude


I starred your post but I disagree with you on wealth distribution. Being that if you distributed evenly the price would go up on everything. Money is nothing more than piss in the wind. Overpopulation and allocation of resources however, are two very real things that change quality of life, and I agree with you there...

reply to post by sylent6


this is HUGE HUGE HUGE news

china workers will not BE WAGE SLAVES for american and european countries for long..let alone a company like APPLE who is NOW the biggest market cap company of all time.

i can't stress this enuff to people...without cheap china slave labor..the profits of US companies will crash and so will world economies

china holds all the cards..they can ban apple from their land tommorow if they wanted

sure looks they are in JAIL to me

reply to post by boncho


Allocation of resources will never be equal because people will never be equal.

It is an imperfect world we live in. I am of the live and let live camp myself. That has been a minority feeling in this country for as long as I can remember now. It was not that way when things were tough though. When farmers lived into their late 40's and children milked cows before walking to school they had little concern for Chinese factory workers.

Now we complain if our food stamps are late or if our HMO doctor is Jewish (just for illustration). We are spoiled little tyrants. Running around boasting how tough we are and how we will rule Heaven and Earth because our God is the right one! Meanwhile little mass murdering actors pretend to run our country while stealing us blind and blaming Islam (For illustration). The righteous lemmings gobble it up and profess their proud nature to be good and they just ignore the bad stuff like Chinese workers in factories. They have Meadicare, Medicade, HMO's, AARP and a million other benefits for being OLD!

This is a new development historically speaking. It is not sustainable.

reply to post by onecraftydude


They don't have to be equal, but they also don't have to be as unequal as they are now.

The economic system we have perpetuates that inequality.

Worker ownership would make things more equal than they are now.

Nothing wrong with that, unless you have a massive ego and want more than everyone else because you simply have to be better than them.

Originally posted by RealSpoke


Mitt Romney = spreading wage slavery world wide.

Lol dude I'm getting the feeling you don't like old Mitt much...seems every Post you need to twist it into an anti-Romney thing...funny as hell...

China is just like Japan was in the 70s....the people will want more in life and it will change over there...Romney and Obama got nothing to do with it though.

Originally posted by SuperTripps
this is HUGE HUGE HUGE news

china workers will not BE WAGE SLAVES for american and european countries for long..let alone a company like APPLE who is NOW the biggest market cap company of all time.

i can't stress this enuff to people...without cheap china slave labor..the profits of US companies will crash and so will world economies

china holds all the cards..they can ban apple from their land tommorow if they wanted

It might be huge news, but you seem to have missed a few key points:

1) People working at Foxconn aren't wage slaves for Americans or Europeans. They're wage slaves for a Taiwanese corporation.

2) Apple might be the most recognizable name that Foxconn holds contracts with, but they are by no means the biggest. Pretty sure that would be either Intel or Cisco.

3) China might hold all the cards, but the multinational corporations that are currently investing in China are not playing poker. They're playing a different game entirely. Ban Apple? Go for it. Ban Intel as well, ban Cisco, ban microsoft, ban acer and motorola... the only thing that will happen is that Chinese people won't have access to products by those companies. The world will keep on spinning, the products will be made elsewhere, and life will go on. Sad, but true.

If there is significant unrest in China, Foxconn will simply shift production to one of its other dozen factories in other countries - and that's the same with everyone else currently operating in China. Production will continue, and Chinese workers will be out of jobs. Sorry, but that's the harsh economic reality. China is a branch plant economy at the end of the day, and like all branch plant economies, their economic security is entirely out of their hands.

reply to post by onecraftydude

Allocation of resources will never be equal because people will never be equal.

Allocation of resources implies what we do with our resources to produce more. It's very simple. It has nothing to do with being "equal" as I pointed out earlier there is no equality in the world and there never has been.

Originally posted by boncho


Allocation of resources implies what we do with our resources to produce more. It's very simple. It has nothing to do with being "equal" as I pointed out earlier there is no equality in the world and there never has been.

and never will be....

It's funny how many of you blame capitalism or blame Mitt Romney but how many of you own an iphone? Or any product that was made over there...cause guess what, most of our stuff was made by what is essentially slave labor, and we are all guilty of it.
Why is it that when people cry out for things "made in America" it's always right wing rednecks...and yet when other people cry out for fair trade it is always those crazy liberals....

It's time we come together and demand that items either be made with fair trade and workers rights or demand that they be made here instead!

I had the experience of working in mainland China for a period of 30 days during one of my trips there. It was common for me to sleep at the factory as well during my stays. My quarters were normally management or executive type suites, which were basically a small hotel room. The dorms are quite common for the factory workers. Yes, they are pretty hard living conditions, and not once did my eyes ever get inside one of them. From my inquisitiveness during discussions with the many people I interacted with. I feel that I gathered many things. I was a very young adult during this time and I didn't have reservations for my questions. What I believe I found was that they were generally happy with their lives. Proud to be part of a bigger picture, and very proud to be Chinese.

I realize what this looks like to Americans such as myself. I just don't feel that it is exploitation of a race of people. They understand that they are Billions strong, and to support all of its citizens, sacrifices must be made.

They look at their country as their mother.

The Foxconn dorm does look pretty bad, and its been over 7 years since I've been there, maybe times are a changing.....

reply to post by sticky


Regardless of the conditions, when a worker is payed cents to make a product that then makes dollars for someone else, it is exploitation.

All workers are exploited in a capitalist economy. The Chinese are happy to have a job simply because it is a better alternative to starving. Why do so many commit suicide if it's so good? Why are they rioting?

Are you a spokesperson for Foxcon?

Actually....those nets strung in the courtyard look like a fun short cut to the street level from any floor....if they hadnt pur those heavy screens on the windows that is.....The funs over and the fight for better working conditions, higher pay, and a "normal life"whatever that is....is just beginning for those people....and they thought the revolution was the end of that.....
The truth is that those with the chances and the power, exploit those with no chances and little power everywhere all the time.....till they fix this one thing, the systems will all be screwed.....

Seeing these pictures truly breaks my heart. Just look at these people! They are caged up like F'in animals working 12 hour shifts for at least 6 days a week. I don't wish this type of treatment on my worst enemies but this is happening all for the all mighty dollar/yuan.

Everyone should take a step back for a second and think about how these people are treated and what must be going through their minds as they work for places like this. It's truly sad to see that this is how we, as humans, treat one another when money is on the line. All for what? So someone can talk and take film and pictures on their phone.

This isn't about communism or capitalism......this is about greed and how primitive we humans are in the bigger picture. 100 years from now, we will look back to see how backwards we are as a society.

Man's depravity is its greatest disease.

You know what's absolutely shameful, their bosses are probably telling the workers that they should feel lucky to have jobs. Oh yeah, that line is being used here in the US as well to push our work force into slavery like the Chinese.

Originally posted by SeekingAlpha
This isn't about communism or capitalism......this is about greed and how primitive we humans are in the bigger picture. 100 years from now, we will look back to see how backwards we are as a society.

It has nothing to do with communism, but it does have everything to do with capitalism.

The reason they are forced to work like this is because they are being used as cheap labour by European, and American, companies unwilling to lose profits paying high wages. They have no labour unions to demand better pay and conditions on behalf of the workers.

The firm's revenues were $28.57bn, up 90% year-on-year, and profits $7.31bn, up 124%, as it sold 20.34m iPhones – more than double the number sold last year, ahead of the release of the iPhone 4 – and 9.25m iPads, almost triple the number sold during its debut quarter in 2010. "We're thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever," said Apple's chief executive, Steve Jobs, on Tuesday.

Apple profits up 124% year-on-year after record iPhone sales

Of course Steve is thrilled, filthy rich off the backs of desperate people happy to work for next to nothing as a better alternative to starving in a system that has made resources artificially scarce. Problem, how do I, a land owner, get filthy rich. Reaction, create a system I can control. Solution, Inclosure laws, division of labour, private ownership of the means of production.

Capitalists would rather see you starve for lack of employment, than take a reduction in their profits. Profits are more important than people. How can anyone support such a system?

reply to post by Swills


The picture of the safety net says a lot.

"-Hey John, those human rights activists are claiming people are jumping out of buildings because of stress and depression from working in our factory. Shouldn't we improve their working conditions and salaries?

- Naaahh... Just put a safety net so they can still jump but won't die, so they can continue to work for us. They'll be fine!"...

Really?? You don't recognize a concentration camp and forced labor??

reply to post by ANOK

Of course Steve is thrilled, filthy rich off the backs of desperate people happy to work for next to nothing as a better alternative to starving in a system that has made resources artificially scarce.

Steve is dead actually...

Capitalists would rather see you starve for lack of employment, than take a reduction in their profits. Profits are more important than people. How can anyone support such a system?

And communists do what exactly?

You are actually the problem of why garbage like this continues to happen. You and anyone trying to politicize something like this.

It's not a communist, capitalist, democrat or republican problem. It's a human problem between employer and worker. And unions, who are supposed to champion the worker, have forced business in some cases to leave because they go to far. Just as we see here when the business has to much leverage they take advantage of the worker.

There has to be a common ground between business and employee, that's all there is to it. There doesn't need to be the politics in between.