To pass these laws you need an actual political organisation. So yes, Unions can have political motivations, so do entrepreneurs. What's wrong with that?
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Foxconn Workers Reportedly Strike over iPhone 5 Quality Control Demands
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To pass these laws you need an actual political organisation. So yes, Unions can have political motivations, so do entrepreneurs. What's wrong with that?
Time to slow the product cycles and up the number of production line
As the title says. If you have product cycles as tight as Apples and cut production margins to maximise profits this is what happens. I appreciate tight controls on overheads, production costs and stock levels is part of the reason the modern Apple succeeded but too much of a focus on the economics only is what brought apple to its knees in the 90s. I know Steve drove everyone ma with his desire for products to be perfect before releasing them but that's why people lovef them (even when they were considerably more than the competition). Now is the time to ensure that the production is properly equipped to produce products to the standardards Steve would be proud of. This may mean Apple has to make more serious investment in their production partners facilities to gain production lines and staff solely dedicated to their products only, where the works have adequate time, training and equipment to produce the products Apple wants. It may even be time to bring production back under Apples control directly (wherever that may be) then Apple would have full transparency of the production processes.
Just a thought
As the title says. If you have product cycles as tight as Apples and cut production margins to maximise profits this is what happens. I appreciate tight controls on overheads, production costs and stock levels is part of the reason the modern Apple succeeded but too much of a focus on the economics only is what brought apple to its knees in the 90s. I know Steve drove everyone ma with his desire for products to be perfect before releasing them but that's why people lovef them (even when they were considerably more than the competition). Now is the time to ensure that the production is properly equipped to produce products to the standardards Steve would be proud of. This may mean Apple has to make more serious investment in their production partners facilities to gain production lines and staff solely dedicated to their products only, where the works have adequate time, training and equipment to produce the products Apple wants. It may even be time to bring production back under Apples control directly (wherever that may be) then Apple would have full transparency of the production processes.
Just a thought
Bring back Jobs to the US
This is America! We designed the best smartphone in the world and its marked Made in China, Hell no!
This is America! We designed the best smartphone in the world and its marked Made in China, Hell no!
Companies have tried the comparison with "Made in the USA". When the IDENTICAL product is produced overseas for 25% less than the product made in the USA, the consumer pretty much always selects on price. While labor costs are a significant cost of production, our higher labor costs in the USA are offset by the costs of importing (excise taxes, shipping, etc) the product from overseas.
As to labor, the direction that the US government is to push attendance at collages. There is less of an effort to training employees in hands-on skills. Where is the vocational type training in high schools? Once our society became risk adverse, you saw the elimination of manual skills classes (like welding, shop class, etc) at many schools. We may have gone to far and may have caused an imbalance in employment training.
True and i doubt there is a lot of political will for this sort of thing at China at the present. China has become the most capitalist country on earth in just a few years, remarkable really
What an incredibly sadistic, uncaring comment. Those workers don't just do iPhones, you know.
they also do iPads and iPods! Don't forget about the late shipping on them as well!
Literally laughed out loud.
The governmental agency I work for has its own police force too. They enforce worker safety. Foxconn is akin to a small city. They better have beefed up security.
And no one is forcing them to work there either. Most people on here have never been to or lived in a 3rd world country. You work to survive. China has no such thing as social welfare, nor unemployment benefits. These people need to work. It is not an option not to work.
It's really appalling to read so many callous comments. Makes me think that a lot of the users of this form are a bunch of one-percent-ers or wanta-be types.
Brazil had it right. They put a giant tarrif on Apple products and told them, "you want our market, you re-locate here in Brazil or pay a big tarrif." Apple built plants in Brazil because $1200 iphones slowed sales. We need the US president and congress to do that for the US market as well.
The same should be true for all electronics, actually everything.
All the free-trade talk is crap, it's just glorified slave labor conditions. If anything good comes of Apple and other companies relocation in China it would be a workers revolution that throws out the now-phony Communist Party and installs something that is really democratic and really socialist.
As for robots doing the work so your iphones are available, just remember you too can be replaced. Already even intellectual jobs, research jobs are moving overseas. We need solidarity with the workers that are being exploited, not whining.
The issue is not the quality control standards, it's not training and equipping the workers to achieve the standards they are demanding.
Workers in China who work for foreign companies (Foxconn is treated as foreign because of Taiwanese ownership) are all unionized and have legal minimum wage, maximum hours and overtime rules. It looks like a manager at Foxconn tried breaking those rules, and also breaking Foxconn's working condition agreement with Apple, which is stricter than the legal rules.
Workers in China who work for foreign companies (Foxconn is treated as foreign because of Taiwanese ownership) are all unionized and have legal minimum wage, maximum hours and overtime rules. It looks like a manager at Foxconn tried breaking those rules, and also breaking Foxconn's working condition agreement with Apple, which is stricter than the legal rules.
A web site quotes $400/month and work 60 hours a week.
Google is your friend, but of course not Apple's friend.....
Interesting that by western capitalism using eastern socialism, you get extreme capitalism and phony socialism. That then forces another revolution that installs what?....real socialism. Has any socialism ever performed well?
I like the sound of idealist socialism ...i really do, i just doubt our ability to ever attain it.
And simply raising prices on everything is not a panacea either.
It looks like the QC requirements are very stringent, at least for the current production run.
0.02 mm
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/foxconn-workers-strike-over-insane-202556184.html
0.02 mm
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/foxconn-workers-strike-over-insane-202556184.html
There was a report recently that Foxconn would go full automation. Which means robots doing everything. The only place humans would be involved in the assembly line is to make sure the robots are working properly.
If this really happens then manufacturing will no longer be a significant employer to low-skilled workers. I hope manufacturing moves to full automation so we don't have to deal with sweat shops.
So, who has manufacturing know how or capacity to produce these phones at $8 a pop in this country.
Why is Foxconn having problem with iPhone 5 now after making 100+ Million other iPhones?
Why is Foxconn having problem with iPhone 5 now after making 100+ Million other iPhones?
Sadly, I'm really beginning to get a sinking feeling that owning my shiny new iPhone 5 is promoting the suffering of Chinese people. I am hoping that is not the case, and I would like to hear more. Do we have any contacts with people associated with the factory here on the forums?
You've hit on a huge factor.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/10/600000_manufacturing_jobs_go_unfilled_due_to_applicants_lack_of_soft_skills.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/manufacturing-jobs-unfilled-not-cool-enough-2012-10
http://voices.yahoo.com/manufacturing-jobs-desperately-skilled-workers-868223.html
...and all those Chinese, Indians, Malaysians, Brazilians, are going to do what? get college educations and become bloggers? move out to the country and start a farm? I'm not sure robots are the answers to the world's problem with wealth distribution.
earlier reported worker are beaten by guards
now latest is workers beating the QC workers;
there is a big problem going on ...
Sure, they have rights as they pursued those highly sought after jobs.
Sorry if I come across as callous, but I still think they should have gone on a strike when the guards were beating them, not after they allowed those obviously damaged iPhones full of nicks and scuffs to slip past QC.
It seems like Foxconn is really nothing but trouble. Maybe it's time for Apple to bring their factory jobs back to America.