Nightline's Look into Apple's Foxconn Factories

[RalfTheDog]

In some ways, this reminds me of the fishing industry. Very hard work, very good pay, you keep at it until you burn out or you can no longer keep up. When you do start to slow down, it is compensated for by having more experience. I guess the real difference is, Foxconn is much warmer and you are much less likely to drown in a fishing net or get your arm ripped off by a rope.

 

[arcite]

In some ways, this reminds me of the fishing industry. Very hard work, very good pay, you keep at it until you burn out or you can no longer keep up. When you do start to slow down, it is compensated for by having more experience. I guess the real difference is, Foxconn is much warmer and you are much less likely to drown in a fishing net or get your arm ripped off by a rope.

Globalization is an ugly business. Most people have no clue where the products come from that they purchase. ie. many of the base minerals contained in an iPhone were mined using child labor under horrible conditions. Really though, Apple should be doing all they can to improve the supply chain. Hopefully this isn't just a one time media blitz, but a real push to improve labor conditions. Next thing you know, the workers there will be demanding unions...

 

[orfeas0]

Apple and the rest of the world...

Just because the jobs are in demand, does not give you the right to be a pig and pay dog food wages while you roll in ungodly profits.

Sony does not have a machine that runs OSX, but at least the Z is made in Japan where people are paid accordingly for the work done.

Perhaps we should start thinking different on what we buy Apple.

Dog food wages? Dude their wages are very high compared to the average wage in china and relatively to their food and rent cost, it's more than enough! Did you even read the article and/or the comments?

 

[davidg4781]

The two are completely independent companys, so why the hell should Apple even 'allow' the media to look into Foxconn's factories? THATS FOXCONN'S CALL.

Am I the only one that thinks "WTF?!?" about all this????

I'm guessing because there could be some "secret" information in there that could be used by competitors. Possibly Foxconn didn't care either way, but since it's full of Apple's products, and possibly next generation stuff on the assembly line, Apple had to give the OK.

 

[arcite]

Dog food wages? Dude their wages are very high compared to the average wage in china and relatively to their food and rent cost, it's more than enough! Did you even read the article and/or the comments?

So says a guy from Athens....

 

[q64ceo]

I wonder how much Apple paid for the infomercial

 

[RalfTheDog]

Globalization is an ugly business. Most people have no clue where the products come from that they purchase. ie. many of the base minerals contained in an iPhone were mined using child labor under horrible conditions. Really though, Apple should be doing all they can to improve the supply chain. Hopefully this isn't just a one time media blitz, but a real push to improve labor conditions. Next thing you know, the workers there will be demanding unions...

The rare earths that are needed for many of the components are not available in any nice countries. If you want them, you must deal with slave labor or invent nuclear fusion to have the power needed to extract them economically from non totalitarian countries.

Air dry?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=A8dmSsObmkM#t=83s

If you look at that Apple cutout in the back, it is filled in with plastic. I would bet, that is injected into the cutout, then it needs time to dry before it is polished or whatever they do to it.

 

[Papajohn56]

The guy who runs the Fair Labor Organization looks like a complete tool.

 

[s0505484]

Ten hours of work to pay a months dorm rent? Sign me up! It takes me 4 12-hour shifts to pay my rent!


If the cost of living to pay ratio are even it doesn't matter if you make $.25/hour or $250/hour.

I doubt you are living in a dorm room, are you?

 

[vrDrew]

Well, most automobiles aren't hand made, though. Are hand-built Ferraris built in ten labor-hours? How does five days to build equal 2.5 labor hours? I obviously don't know jack about assembly lines, but what am I missing in the equation?

Think of it this way: You've got bread, cheese, bologna and mayonnaise in your refrigerator that you bought on Sunday. You make a sandwich (in 3 minutes of actual hand prep time) with those items today. But it still took you four days total to "make" that sandwich.

Thats where most of the five days went: Sitting around waiting to be unloaded from trucks, sitting in a warehouse, being inspected, etc. Most of the time the parts were idle.

A five day assembly time is still pretty impressive. It suggests that Foxconn/Apple are turning their inventories more than sixty times per year. Which is very efficient by any measure, even in the consumer electronics field.

 

[SeaFox]

Apple allows access the their Foxconn factories?

Yeah, that sounds much better.

I'm assuming they're working 6 days a week. If that's the case they're making about $512/mo. While that is del below the poverty line...

The "poverty line" is a measurement set by the government. You can't use U.S. standards of living and wages to judge the well-being of a foreign workforce, because the prices they pay for the necessities of life are different.

The QA guy testing internet connectivity? He has both arms but the other is otherwise occupied.

No, no. He only needs one arm because all he needs to do for testing is make sure he's not holding the iPhone wrong.

 

[jackc]

I just hope all this nonsense didn't slow down the production line. Back to work!

 

[linuxcooldude]

Its worth remembering that a generation or two ago twenty or forty million people in China starved to deathThe only odd note came at the end, when the reporter suggested that Apple could, because of their profitability, double the pay of all the Foxconn workers.

If I remember correctly the reporter was talking to an executive of Foxconn when he asked this question implying Foxconn could double wages, not Apple.

This whole report is absolutely ridiculous. Since when was it Apple's responsibility for Foxconn's employees? Since when were client's of a company the representatives of said company? Why is Apple being treated as if Foxconn *was* Apple?

The two are completely independent companys, so why the hell should Apple even 'allow' the media to look into Foxconn's factories? THATS FOXCONN'S CALL.

Am I the only one that thinks "WTF?!?" about all this????

Completely agree with you. Seems some people use Apple & Foxconn interchangeably. Like they are one and the same company. Not so at all.

Even Bill Wier said in the news story:

"Apple was taking an increasing heat in running their factories"

People, Apple is NOT Foxconn.

 

[Eidorian]

While that is likely true unfortunately for America there is no infrastructure in place to support something like this. You would have to get all the other vendors in place, everything from glass panel manufacturing to smelting of Aluminium to the printing and manufacturing of the boxes used to house the iPhone. Also you have to take into account the housing, food and medical requirements of all those staff you hire. What about electricity and waste treatment?

With the decades of outsourcing all that supporting infrastructure is gone or nearly gone. So to say "bring manufacturing back" isn't realistic in the short term and no amount of wishing will make it happen.

I can understand issues with the acquisition of the raw materials for manufacturing but alongside it is also mentioned that there is a lack of "skilled" American workers to accomplish the assembly. Just at a glance I read the usual rural citizens lining up in the city to get a job to send money back home to the farm.

Could someone elaborate on that? I doubt a significantly educated workforce is required for assembly lines.

 

[LethalWolfe]

While that is likely true unfortunately for America there is no infrastructure in place to support something like this. You would have to get all the other vendors in place, everything from glass panel manufacturing to smelting of Aluminium to the printing and manufacturing of the boxes used to house the iPhone. Also you have to take into account the housing, food and medical requirements of all those staff you hire. What about electricity and waste treatment?

With the decades of outsourcing all that supporting infrastructure is gone or nearly gone. So to say "bring manufacturing back" isn't realistic in the short term and no amount of wishing will make it happen.

And that's basically the gist of the article. It's not really labor costs that are the hindrance but the fact that nearly the whole process, soup to nuts, is no longer viable to do in the US.


Lethal

 

[mijail]

Globalization is an ugly business. Most people have no clue where the products come from that they purchase. ie. many of the base minerals contained in an iPhone were mined using child labor under horrible conditions.

You mean minerals like, say, iPhonium?
Or is it any mineral used by every kind of electronics but which somewhat got under the radar for decades until some weeks ago?

Really though, Apple should be doing all they can to improve the supply chain.

Yeah, Apple should. Like most everyone else didn't for much too long.
But hey, any moment is good to start, regardless of the hypocrisy or the less than virtuous ways it started; at least something good should come out of this.

Hopefully this isn't just a one time media blitz, but a real push to improve labor conditions.

Agreed. And not only labor conditions, but life conditions in general.

Next thing you know, the workers there will be demanding unions...

And hopefully they will be able to get them.

 

[lostngone]

How does it take an odd number of hands to make an iPad?

Who's the poor bastard with only one arm?

His name roughly translates to Gimpy in english and he is responsible for testing the home button on all the iPads.

Let's not make fun of the guy alright...

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Did they say what minimum wage was? What is that salary compared to other workers in factories in the area? And WOW, 5 days and 325 hands on an assembly line to build an iPad? I don't know if I want one now...All them people touch it, and we kiss it when its fresh out the box... (Just kidding about not wanting one, but I may never kiss my new Apple products again).

325 pairs of hands.

 

[numble]

Just curious...

What's the average salary for other jobs in China?

Janitor, McDonalds, police officer, doctor, etc?

Average starting salary for college graduate in China is $2.50/hour.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7389879.html

 

[jackc]

Agreed. And not only labor conditions, but life conditions in general.

You know how they will get that? Leave them alone. When countries develop, wages increase -- there are no known exceptions. The only thing that will stop it are naive do-gooders who would just as soon shut them down.

 

[mijail]

Since when was it Apple's responsibility for Foxconn's employees?

Legally, probably never. But that's arbitrary (and probably that kind of responsability depends on the country and on the century )
Morally, it's much more of a gray area.

The two are completely independent companys, so why the hell should Apple even 'allow' the media to look into Foxconn's factories? THATS FOXCONN'S CALL.

I work in a company in which we are not allowed to take cameras into the workplace.
We outsource somethings to some other companies.
I bet management would not be happy if those other companies allowed cameras into their workplaces, at least while they work for us. I'd bet that's even stipulated from the beginning of their working for us.
Logical enough?

 

[X-JRO]

I would happily pay a surcharge on apple products I buy to have karma free. Workers treated properly, paid better, better conditions etc.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Average starting salary for college graduate in China is $2.50/hour.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7389879.html

Thanks!

So... starting hourly salary for college graduates is $2.50

And it's $1.78 for a factory job at Foxconn.

That seems perfectly in line, actually.

 

[Wondercow]

Its all relative. Then again, most north americans are clueless when it comes to matters outside of their borders.

Most Canadians know a lot about the world beyond our borders. I can't speak for the Mexicans nor Americans.

 

[linuxcooldude]

Thanks!

So... starting hourly salary for college graduates is $2.50

And it's $1.78 for a factory job at Foxconn.

That seems perfectly in line, actually.

I think when they recently raised wages, people with technical skills started with higher wages, I think taking a test was mentioned.