ABC Previews 'Nightline' Visit to Foxconn's Chinese Factories

[evolute8]

is there anywhere to watch the video outside US?

 

[linuxcooldude]

Just saw report:

Balanced reporting. Bill Wier made it clear 3 times Apple was the biggest face of the issue, but others equally culpable.

And it might not be an issue at all.


Link: (video is morning show for now) http://abcnews.go.com/nightline

(I would think workers could have iPods to listen to music, no?)

Maybe I saw something different. He said Apple was taking an increasing heat and another time he said their reputation was under fire. Did not notice anything where he said Apple was the biggest face of the issue or some such thing. Will have to re-watch it again to see.

When he said "Apple was taking an increasing heat in running their factories" which was inaccurate, as its not their factories, its Foxconns.

I think the story you linked is an shorter version. I thought it was like a half hour long?

Interesting to note, they do seem to have to pay for food and for rooms.

 

[bmacir]

The argument isn't "everyone else is worse, we shouldn't blame Apple", it's "Apple is actively and measurably better than everyone else, and has been shown to actively be working on improving things, why the **** aren't we holding everyone else's feet to the fire?"

Foxconn employees make in the neighborhood of $2/hour. That wage is, in the areas of China from which these employees originate, sufficient to *buy a house* back in their home town from just couple years worth of work, in part because they have virtually no living expenses while they're working in the factory. They get room & board, medical, etc. Yes, by our standards, conditions are cramped, but if they want to, they are perfectly free to rent a place off campus, and with their pay they can actually *afford* to do so.

You can't directly compare pay rates without also factoring in living expenses and cost of living. In the US, minimum wage puts you solidly in poverty. Over there, $2/hour is a pretty good wage, equivalent to roughly $10-15/hour over here. That's not a bad wage for unskilled labor. (As a matter fact, that's about what we pay people for unskilled factory work over here.)

"Apple is actively and measurably better" but it's still not enough IMHO. Apple is a world leading company and everyone expects the best not just product-wise.

I'm not trying to compare pay rates. I'm just saying that it's just not right that there is such a big difference on the pay rates between executives and factory workers.How do you argue that?

If I were Tim, earning a salary of $900,000 and a grant of Apple stock worth $376 million, I would feel at least a tad guilty knowing that there are thousands of workers in a factory in China that earn 1$ per hour making the devices that allow me to be so rich. I know that it's how modern economy works, but it's just not right.

In today's view the only social responsibility of a company, is to maximize profits. Future's view should be to achieve market-oriented, competitive, yet sustainable and responsible behavior. That is the only way to go.

Apple is doing, by far, better than any other company in rewarding their own executives but only a little better when it comes to sustainable and responsible behavior.

Plus I think it's bad pay for unskilled labor considering how they live and how many hours they work, though it's just my opinion. (Try to negotiate these conditions with European or US factory workers).

 

[Val-kyrie]

Oh please, I'm well aware of our military's BS. Servicemembers also don't have due process and their civil rights and liberties are severely limited. Foxconn isnt military. The people who work for Foxconn aren't servicemembers. Theyre civilians.

Which US company makes their factory workers work in the same conditions that foxconn employees have to?

Have you ever worked in a factory?

The factory conditions shown on Nightline are better than some manufacturing places in which my spouse has worked in the US. It is even on par with another electronic manufacturing place my spouse worked here. Oh, and BTW, twelve hour shifts is [edit: are] normal for many factories.

Also, have you ever worked for a company that provided food and shelter for their employees?

I have. I incurred three bouts of food poisoning, the food for which I paid, and we had public bathrooms. Also, the dryer vents went over our room, which made it hot in the summer (the average temp was in the mid-to-upper 90s by day and upper-70s to low-80s by night), the screens over the windows had holes in them--hello mosquitoes, etc.--and I battled keeping the mice off of me when I slept. There was no A/C. And I paid for my room too. I worked sixty to eighty hour weeks and because I was a server in a dining hall, I made a whopping one-half minimum wage plus tips. Minimum wage was $4.25, so I made $2.12 per hour (they didn't even round the half-penny up to $2.13). There were no benefits, medical or otherwise. When I got sick, the money came out of pocket. I was also young, as young as these workers at that time. I needed the money, so I worked the job, until I left four months later to go to college. BTW, this was in the US, too.

I am not saying this to justify the dormitory conditions I saw in the video, which need to be improved, but I don't think many people realize how hard working in the US can be as well.

 

[ggrossi]

But iPod is the same price in China as in the US. They could never afford one

I've worked at Maserati factories in Modena(Italy) and I'm pretty sure I will never be able to afford a Maserati, not even 2nd hand. So what's the point? Do you feel sad for me or for the other overpaid (yes, Maserati pays well) workers building cars they will never afford to buy?

 

[bmacir]

I've worked at Maserati factories in Modena(Italy) and I'm pretty sure I will never be able to afford a Maserati, not even 2nd hand. So what's the point? Do you feel sad for me or for the other overpaid (yes, Maserati pays well) workers building cars they will never afford to buy?

I feel really bad for you (and myself), because we can't afford a maserati!