We're talking about China here, not a third world country. What publications are you reading??
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Apple's Sweatshop Factory
- Thread starter Phatcat73
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We're talking about China here, not a third world country. What publications are you reading??
Most people in China live no better than people in third world countries. That's my point. That's the reason so many clamor for a factory job.
Another uninformed statement. You must have watched some documentary on a specific remote village or something. Don't believe everything you watch on TV.
While in China how many people did you see with your own eyes? Ten thousand? One hundred thousand? A million? Ten million? One hundred million?
There are 1.3 billion people who live in China and the majority eke out a liviing in a rual agrarian life of hardships. Which = third world.
Have a nice day I'm tired.
Good, hopefully you'll drop this. Because you have no clue what you're talking about.
BTW, I didn't count how many I met, but I've spent a lot of time in a pretty remote part of China on the North Korean border that is primarily agrarian. I worked at an orhpanage while I was there.
OH, and an agrarian life doesn't necessarily = hardship or third world. My grandparents led and agrarian lifestyle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World
i've seen people in central africa hobbling in the street because they can't afford medical care for a broken foot. even though the huge hospital down the street looked nice. i've seen people living in 3 sided shacks like Abraham Lincoln.
if someone opened a sweat shop there paying people $10 a day, there would be fights for the jobs. the people working there would be wealthy compared to everyone else
kind of hard to progress when there is a famine or war for every generation in the last few hundred years that kills millions of people
True, I've seen similar conditions in Africa. But this is China we're talking about, not Africa.
Hahaha, kind of like seeing how the cow gets butchered?
And why is it better than working in the fields? There's nothing wrong with working in the fields. Most of our existence, men/women have worked the fields.
Honestly, the suicides are probably mostly due to adolescents thrown into a situation that they are not suited to handle. All of the drama and hormones of young life on top of working VERY long hours....add up to this kind of stuff.
I'm not saying the factory is Hell (as the title stated). But what I am saying is there need to be a few more basic protections, just like the protections that were put into place in the US during the Industrial Revolution, to prevent companies from taking advantage of young workers with a dream. They come to Foxconn with dreams of making it big and Foxconn exploits that by making them work long hours w/o additional salary.
Fair wages for a fair day's work. That's really all I'm trying to say. At least make overtime voluntary and make sure they get paid for it.....even if I pay more for my iPhone, laptop, etc...
I think it's fair to say that you CAN read history textbooks and watch TV to find out something about another country. But, every country's textbooks, TV, and advertisements are catered for one market: their own.
Read the same history from a different country, and the outcome will be vastly different. It is called propaganda. It is fed to us as little kids and by the time we are old, we think the things our country publishes are right and others, especially the stuff published by countries whose politics are different, are wrong, or off.
I'd be careful with TV and with school books. They are as factual as... who knows, but they aren't to be trusted. Going there, living there, having friends from there - that will help. But there is no one sided truth ever.
That plant made it through the layoffs. I hope they have improved through the years, they must have to still be open. I may complain but I have a lot of years invested there, pretty much grew up in that plant. I always wish them the best. Obviously I wish conditions were better for the foxcomm people, I have a hard time beleaving they couldnt pay more and still make a huge profit. Forget unions they need the basic stuff like OSHA.
I am on vacation in Ireland now. If what the poster said about wages being lower in Ireland is true, then I don't know how people live here. Ireland seems more expensive than England to me.
Despite my user name, I am actually American and it seems to me that to live the same comfort level as you could for 30K in the USA you need to make 100K a year here. Even then you would still be scrounging to get by here.
It is however, indeed a nice country and the people are very friendly and occasionally sober.
Seriously? That kinda sucks. I guess if you live there you find the best deals but still. I dont see how people in NY can survive on less than 1MM a minute.
Awesome that your taking the vacation! Maybe you can post a good irish bar pic on the screensaver thread. I'd love to have it.
But this is typical of factory conditions where products are made manually. That's why we are outsourcing our factory jobs! So you stand all day. Big deal. You know what sitting all day in an office job gives you? Hemorrhoids and back pain. I am not saying working condition cannot be improved. But factory jobs are factory jobs. Perhaps these people should try mining coals for a living.
I am on vacation in Ireland now. If what the poster said about wages being lower in Ireland is true, then I don't know how people live here. Ireland seems more expensive than England to me.
Despite my user name, I am actually American and it seems to me that to live the same comfort level as you could for 30K in the USA you need to make 100K a year here. Even then you would still be scrounging to get by here.
It is however, indeed a nice country and the people are very friendly and occasionally sober.
The wages in Ireland are generally not lower than England. In both cases it depends what you work at! The standard of living in Ireland is higher than most other countries in Europe.
In Dublin for example, the average wage is higher than say.. Spain. This is because the rent is higher and and it needs to balance.
In Belfast the wages are a little lower than England, but this is because the cost of living and rent is lower than England.
Typical American, open you mouth and think later. I get offended when Americans think they know it all about other countries, particularly Ireland. Take a look at you own countries state at the minute.
30k equivalent to 100k here.....what a joke.
I am Irish and don't know any alcoholics....perhaps we judge less or dont panic if someone has more than 5 drinks on a night or hand out pills for every little thing in life.
But as usual, the American thinks they know best, the truth is we look at you as being rude and dumb. Rememeber that next time you enter an Irish pub!
What rubbish! Take an economics lesson!
Really? How about quitting the job instead?
Notwithstanding how sad these stories are there's more to those suicides than just the difficulty to cope with the stress of Foxconn's working conditions.
This is not to say that Foxconn doesn't have to improve the treatment of their employees (which, reportedly they started to do by substantially increasing wages and limiting overtime hours). And Apple, while they could possibly do more, as far as we know has shown some commitment in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility on that front.
Look - I've never been to China yet. I don't know first hand what FoxConn is like nor do I pretend to know what life is like working for them or NOT working for them.
What I do know is that people in the US like to turn a blind eye when it suits them. I also know, from being on this message board that there will be people that defend Apple with no yielding - no matter what.
Now I'm not finger pointing at Apple. But (and I hate to use this analogy) this scenario is like the Antenna "issue." Why? Because just because every other phone has some issue doesn't excuse Apple from its practices - just like when several people are speeding - and one gets pulled over.
Is it fair - no. But that doesn't make the party any less "guilty" in the scenario.
Again - I don't pretend to know what's going on overseas other than what can be read online. And whether or not Dell, HP or anyone else has products made by FoxConn matters in the big picture.
But you can't use other companies as an "excuse" to legitimize what Apple is doing (or not doing). Either condemn them all or none.
As mentioned above - there are people on this board (and I believe in this thread) that have the idea that since other companies do it the story isn't about Apple. As with the Antenna issue - Apple HAS been singled out. Fair or not - doesn't matter because they ARE, in fact, producing products at FoxConn. Apple's being singled out because of the suicides there that were directly linked to the factory. Is anyone REALLY surprised that Apple was singled out?
What I do know is that people in the US like to turn a blind eye when it suits them. I also know, from being on this message board that there will be people that defend Apple with no yielding - no matter what.
Now I'm not finger pointing at Apple. But (and I hate to use this analogy) this scenario is like the Antenna "issue." Why? Because just because every other phone has some issue doesn't excuse Apple from its practices - just like when several people are speeding - and one gets pulled over.
Is it fair - no. But that doesn't make the party any less "guilty" in the scenario.
Again - I don't pretend to know what's going on overseas other than what can be read online. And whether or not Dell, HP or anyone else has products made by FoxConn matters in the big picture.
But you can't use other companies as an "excuse" to legitimize what Apple is doing (or not doing). Either condemn them all or none.
As mentioned above - there are people on this board (and I believe in this thread) that have the idea that since other companies do it the story isn't about Apple. As with the Antenna issue - Apple HAS been singled out. Fair or not - doesn't matter because they ARE, in fact, producing products at FoxConn. Apple's being singled out because of the suicides there that were directly linked to the factory. Is anyone REALLY surprised that Apple was singled out?
Wow. I bet I can guess who you voted for. You'll get your chance to pay more soon enough.
I don't know if you're mocking me or not. But I hope you realize that I was being specific to this story.