There is no definition of "middle class life" that involves non-seasonal work where you live in a factory dorm with strangers.
Using Haiti as a litmus for poverty doesn't help your argument.
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NYU Student Goes Undercover at Pegatron Factory, Offers Inside Look at iPhone Production
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There is no definition of "middle class life" that involves non-seasonal work where you live in a factory dorm with strangers.
Using Haiti as a litmus for poverty doesn't help your argument.
Once Trump finalizes his plans to bring back all production assembly to US, don't worry, iPhones will cost 2-3K to remain profitable for Apple.
Estimated labour cost to assemble an iPhone is $5-10 (the whole phone costs about $210 to make -- yes not counting R&D and Timmy's expense account, but those have nothing to do with the cost of assembly labor anyway) . If you pay that worker 10 times as much ($4500 per month), you raise Apple's cost $45-90 per phone. That's all the cost of the phone would have to rise to pay a good American factory wage without touching Apple's profit. Even if Apple wants to make their fat margin on the increased labour, you're still looking at a $150 increase at the most.
And that ignores the fact that increasing automation because a lot more financially worthwhile when you're paying your workers $4500/month, so the cost wouldn't actually even need to increase as much was that.
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VERY WELL SAID! Either end Consumerism or fully automate production lines.. hmm..
Please define their unethical business practices in China?
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Virtually everyone reading this article from the comfort of their couch has never been to China let alone understands the economics of the region. I have lived and traveled throughout China for ten years and can say with out a doubt these jobs are some of the most coveted in the labor industry for people with no job experience.
Ah, another Apple-guided "opinion", formed by their PR & spin docters that flood the world with fruity propaganda. Paid by us, customers - and far more expensive than all Apple's donations combined.
So thank you for offering some return on that investment.
To fill the empty half that they leave out of the equation:
Yes, they stepped in, but their business model is intrinsically based on inequality that TC vocally refutes. When your hear Apple say "sustainable", they actually mean this business model.
And their tax behavior, being investigated, seems tax avoidance by Irish, but tax evasion by EU regs. Essentially activities are attributed to places where they don't happen, which is just as discutable as me walking out of an AppleStore paying $100 less for my iPad than you or anybody else. Or just stealing every 5th iDevice for that matter (...)
About moral obligations: I think as the largest corporation in the world, they should be an example, and beyond discussion. Instead of being another milkman, applauded by the uncritical that follow Apple framing and incomplete truths - rather than the bigger picture.
So this is the student's story: while they appear to be conformative, their existance remains based on social inequality and exploitation on an immense scale.
Thinking different - but essentially doing always the same.
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its just matter of time, when all the people will be replaced with robots. I do work in factory that creates plastic products.
factory as big as 5 football fields and 3 people working in it. We do not even need to feed plastic pellets, we outsourced to transport driver, who has chip card and delivers straight to silo and from there it goes into production. Basic maintenance is done once a week with one engineer we outsourced from outside. My point is People should be happy they have job and you can not compare foreign economy to U.S or E.U.
factory as big as 5 football fields and 3 people working in it. We do not even need to feed plastic pellets, we outsourced to transport driver, who has chip card and delivers straight to silo and from there it goes into production. Basic maintenance is done once a week with one engineer we outsourced from outside. My point is People should be happy they have job and you can not compare foreign economy to U.S or E.U.
What these SJWs fail to understand is that in cases like these, change will not come overnight, but it is a process that will take time, and most importantly, this must not and cannot be imposed externally by well-meaning but misguided 'fix-all-ills' zealots who would like to see wholesale change instantly.
As it is currently, peasants from rural areas are literally lined up by the thousands to get these jobs so they can help their families get ahead, while at the same time Apple's genuine efforts to improve the working conditions at factories like Pegatron, are to be commended, and have raised the bar for other tech companies who are getting their merchandise manufactured in China.
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Most young Americans. Plenty of older ones know, but now those factories are closed. And they will stay closed, until Trump reopens them.
And we have plenty of people in the West who provide Home Care services on zero hour contracts, with little or no protection from employer scams (no sick pay for the first three days, no pay for traveling between clients, etc), who can barely afford to keep the roofs over their heads or food on the table, non of whom can afford the sort of care they are providing to others.The issue here, as in just about every other area of the modern economy, is the tyranny of ever increasing profits. The solution is the restructuring of the economy so that it serves humanity, rather than a psychotic subset thereof.
Funny how no one ever seems to do these studies on Samsung gear, or Lenovo, or Huwaei, or any of the other "household brand names".
Funny how no one ever seems to do these studies on Samsung gear, or Lenovo, or Huwaei, or any of the other "household brand names".
Actually the single right he DOES have is one you are freely indulging in right now. The RIGHT to an opinion. Now the question remains, "does your opinion hold more weight than his?" Somehow I doubt it.
Were you there as a factory worker with no one having knowledge of your background, as this man was? It sounds like you were taking a tour. It's obvious the experience is not going to be the same because everything you're allowed to see was planned and controlled by Foxconn's management. A truly apples vs. oranges comparison.
This comment just makes it seem that you may not possess a degree yourself and despise those who do. Prejudice goes both directions. Think carefully before you critique others.
I'm sorry but I find it rather deplorable that one person who actually lifts a finger to raise awareness of a subject and try to help make life just a bit better for a few people is being chastised by a community of .... I don't wish to be harsh but the only word I can find appropriate here is... hypocrites.
I know a little bit about prices in Thailand, not China. What you are not mentioning is the _huge_ difference in price between local goods and foreign goods. The $450 a month mentioned will give you a very good life, as long as you are happy with local goods, and won't last very long at all with foreign goods. It's your choice to feed the whole family at a local restaurant, or get one burger at McDonald's for the same money.
They do, but Apple gets more press (for better or worse) so naturally stories pertaining to their products will naturally get run and others will be panned.
Regarding your comment on home care workers. This is actually an area of employment which both New York and California (not surprisingly one of the states which this university student hails from) have addressed with a "household" employee bill of rights. Those rules and regulations have essentially made it impossible to abuse, undercut or coerce employees the way they once were.
On the other hand, these regulations have also made it more expensive and in many cases entirely cost prohibitive to employ these same people. So while you can argue the benefits vs detriments of such regulated protections it may be impossible to have an absolutely correct answer satisfying every perspective.
Seriously, while wages play _some_ role in the cost of an iPhone, it's nowhere near as bad. Unless you think the average American worker can only manage to assemble two or three iPhones a month.
So.... there were no problems. News at 11.
The companies looked after the employees' health and well-being, trained them in safety processes, and by scanning for corporate security reasons also ensured employee security (e.g. from weapons from disgruntled or unstable employees).
He, as an absolute entry-level worker with no experience, performed a necessary job function for the going rate in that country, so that Americans can buy the device for the price they expect. Where is the scandal?
My job is boring too sometimes. Who here works for the entertainment and enjoyment factor?
I don't get paid for my lunch breaks either, and I earn enough to comfortably afford the mortgage on a townhouse. Even if I don't take a lunch break, I have to put one on my timesheet anyway. An "8 hour day" works out as "7 hours, 21 minutes".
Perhaps Apple should build a special robot to perform that function and eliminate the job and the need to employ people to do it at all?
Or perhaps people just assume the Chinese economy is exactly the same as the US economy, so USD$450 in China is the same as USD$450 in the US?
The companies looked after the employees' health and well-being, trained them in safety processes, and by scanning for corporate security reasons also ensured employee security (e.g. from weapons from disgruntled or unstable employees).
He, as an absolute entry-level worker with no experience, performed a necessary job function for the going rate in that country, so that Americans can buy the device for the price they expect. Where is the scandal?
My job is boring too sometimes. Who here works for the entertainment and enjoyment factor?
I don't get paid for my lunch breaks either, and I earn enough to comfortably afford the mortgage on a townhouse. Even if I don't take a lunch break, I have to put one on my timesheet anyway. An "8 hour day" works out as "7 hours, 21 minutes".
Perhaps Apple should build a special robot to perform that function and eliminate the job and the need to employ people to do it at all?
Or perhaps people just assume the Chinese economy is exactly the same as the US economy, so USD$450 in China is the same as USD$450 in the US?
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Shock horror, most work is boring, arduous and not very well paid. That's why they call it work. Try working on a farm, in a fast food joint, in a factory anywhere in the world outside the US which is the strongest economy in the world. How about working as a cleaner, in a toll both on a motorway, in a steel mill, packing boxes for Amazon. Even in the US I imagine most factory jobs are crap.
So he gets free accommodation but complains that if he had a wife and kids he couldn't bring them along with him to the factory? Really? But he could rent a place, like everybody else. But rents are expensive. Well, hallelujah, rents are expensive. I think that will come as no surprise to anyone anywhere in the world reading this and none of us work at Pegatron. Which pays above the minimum wage. In fact he says the only reason that anyone is there is for the relatively decent money for work which requires no qualifications.
So he gets free food but it's really not that great. And what does he do the minute he gets off work. Goes to the canteen for some more of that free food which is not that great. I really think they should get Gordon Ramsay in there. Let me guess the pizza wasn't even up to Pizza Hut standards but was some fake Chinese rip off.
And his job was so boring he was literally putting the same screw in day after day. First it's really hard and you have to concentrate (whine). Then you learn how to do it and it gets really boring (whine). Well, duh, you entitled brat, welcome to the world of production lines. Then, later in the article, what do you do when there's a new model to assemble. Do you carry on putting in that same screw (which wouldn't make sense)? No then I get to work assembling the new phone. Oh so that thing about literally putting in the same one screw in day after day forever was kind of an exaggeration, then…
Oh and (whine) those meanies at Pegatron are really strict about "accidentally" bringing a phone in. They tell you multiple times that no metal or electronics is allowed in and there are metal detectors at the entrance, but should you "accidentally" kind of forget you have a phone in your pocket, while you're working undercover, intending to write an article (which lets face it would be better with pics) about the production process of a carefully-guarded top-secret multi-billion dollar enterprise, where industrial espionage is rife, well, then they will take your phone off you at the gate and record your name and what you did for future reference, lol. Poor baby. Bet he's glad to be back in New York where he can get a decent pizza and check Facebook at work.
So he gets free accommodation but complains that if he had a wife and kids he couldn't bring them along with him to the factory? Really? But he could rent a place, like everybody else. But rents are expensive. Well, hallelujah, rents are expensive. I think that will come as no surprise to anyone anywhere in the world reading this and none of us work at Pegatron. Which pays above the minimum wage. In fact he says the only reason that anyone is there is for the relatively decent money for work which requires no qualifications.
So he gets free food but it's really not that great. And what does he do the minute he gets off work. Goes to the canteen for some more of that free food which is not that great. I really think they should get Gordon Ramsay in there. Let me guess the pizza wasn't even up to Pizza Hut standards but was some fake Chinese rip off.
And his job was so boring he was literally putting the same screw in day after day. First it's really hard and you have to concentrate (whine). Then you learn how to do it and it gets really boring (whine). Well, duh, you entitled brat, welcome to the world of production lines. Then, later in the article, what do you do when there's a new model to assemble. Do you carry on putting in that same screw (which wouldn't make sense)? No then I get to work assembling the new phone. Oh so that thing about literally putting in the same one screw in day after day forever was kind of an exaggeration, then…
Oh and (whine) those meanies at Pegatron are really strict about "accidentally" bringing a phone in. They tell you multiple times that no metal or electronics is allowed in and there are metal detectors at the entrance, but should you "accidentally" kind of forget you have a phone in your pocket, while you're working undercover, intending to write an article (which lets face it would be better with pics) about the production process of a carefully-guarded top-secret multi-billion dollar enterprise, where industrial espionage is rife, well, then they will take your phone off you at the gate and record your name and what you did for future reference, lol. Poor baby. Bet he's glad to be back in New York where he can get a decent pizza and check Facebook at work.
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It isn't Apple's job to raise wages across China, that is the job of the Chinese government. And while Apple is big, it isn't big enough to move wages in a company of 1.6 billion.
Zeng did some interesting reporting. Glad he did it. Fascinating stuff for us Apple fans. Though if you've been to any manufacturing facility and looked at assembly line work, yes it is pretty boring. But the security for iPhone 7 production and the confirmation that they start making its n August was interesting. Glad he is going to work on human rights issues, but I hope he focuses on government action. That is more productive than pressuring any one company.
No, my guess is the exact opposite. Most of what you term cold-hearted comments - basically critical of the article - (I'm in that camp), are not written from a point of view of ignorance but from experience. I had many of these types of jobs when I was younger. They were crap, boring, arduous and badly paid. You need no qualifications and you walk in and walk out when you want. They're jobs that should be automated but it costs too much to invest in a robot to do the job. Over time all these jobs will be automated. But that takes investment and time. Better qualifications, age and experience allow you to have better paid more interesting jobs. And it turns out the author has all that. So it's kind of hypocritical of him to try to undermine the livelihood of people who don't have the same opportunities he does.
Yes, but you can't force Pegatron to pay its workers that much more. You have to pay Pegatron and then tell them to get the money to the workers. Apple can't legally become the employer of all these folks. But the workers do not have skills that command anywhere like those salaries. So much of the money would not get to them and instead it would end up in Pegatron's executive's pockets. First the free food and accommodations would go, then there would be brokers for the jobs (which would be even more coveted) and the workers would have to pay the brokers some upfront amount to get the job. Then there might be company stores that the workers are required to buy from (things like buying their own uniform which would be super expensive). It all gets very messy. Apple is trying to do some oversight and is helping a bit. But it can't create a scenario where jobs that pay $450 a month suddenly pay 10 times that.
Enjoying the comments. As soon as I neared the bottom of the article I thought, "MacRumors should have put this one in the 'Politics, Religion, Social Issues' forum."
Why higher prices? How about lower margins. I think Apple engineers won't be less happy if they worked on a campus that costs $1bn instead of $5bn.