NYU Student Goes Undercover at Pegatron Factory, Offers Inside Look at iPhone Production

[winston1236]

And by the way, that's about 40% of what I make in the U.S., I have all of Apples latest products, I pay my rent on time, and I save money, and their cost of living isn't nearly as high.

Maybe this kid should mind his business and shut up, instead of advocating for the violation of the rights that he claims to want to uphold. You don't have a RIGHT to INITIATE FORCE against anyone for ANY reason. Therefore, you don't have a right to tell people BY FORCE that they can't take a job, or that they can only take it under the terms that YOU prefer. Any claim to such a right is an absurd contradiction.

You make around $1100 a month and can afford to pay rent, have all of Apples latest products in addition to saving money? Seriously doubtful.

 

[Will do good]

What a loser. This guy kicks back in his cushy middle class lifestyle, and he has the NERVE to judge what other people CHOOSE to do for a living?? How much money per month does he think that those workers were making on the farm? Huh? How productive were they there? Living in absolute poverty ridden destitution? And he has the nerve to criticize them, because he finds their work "very boring"??? And now he wants to get involved with "human rights advocacy"???

Let me guess: Shot in the dark. He wants these companies to pay their workers more. And when they're not willing or able to pay more, he'll tell the government to install a minimum wage, and price these kids out of a job. He'll FORCE them to NOT work at the rate that they thought was good for them; the rate they agreed to when they traveled from home to get the job in the first place.

These kids *think* that they'll be better off making money, instead of starving in rural China, but ohh noooo here comes the NYU intellectual to tell him alllll about how to live his life the way the intellectuals think he should live it, or else. Good think he was there to FORCE his idiotic opinions on others.

And by the way, that's about 40% of what I make in the U.S., I have all of Apples latest products, I pay my rent on time, and I save money, and their cost of living isn't nearly as high.

Maybe this kid should mind his business and shut up, instead of advocating for the violation of the rights that he claims to want to uphold. You don't have a RIGHT to INITIATE FORCE against anyone for ANY reason. Therefore, you don't have a right to tell people BY FORCE that they can't take a job, or that they can only take it under the terms that YOU prefer. Any claim to such a right is an absurd contradiction.

Thank you for speaking up, so tired of these bleeding hearts to apply US standards to others without knowing what real options they have. Will working on a tiny farm in the middle of nowhere a better option for most?
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$450 for a month of 60 hour weeks. That's less than $2 per hour. It is no surprise that Apple and other companies will ship production overseas for that kind of cost savings. In America that amount of labor would cost over $2,000 plus benefits like social security, medicare, worker's comp, and unemployment.

Of course the flip side is Apple is still paying the local population more than they would be making elsewhere.

It is really no different than with the auto industry as jobs shift from the $50/hour union jobs in Detroit to the $20/hour jobs in the American South and eventually to the even lower wages in Mexico and South America. The locals who are in much more dire financial straits will welcome any job over the poverty they currently experience.

Apple is probably one of the few companies who possibly could shift production to the USA and get away with the higher prices for their goods, but eventually commoditization will catch up and they would be forced to shift to areas with low labor costs.

Welcome to the future, your job is only as stable as a companies ability to build a factory and ship the product back over here cheaper.

You sound like you don't know what the cost of living is for most (average) chinese not living in Beijing or Shanghai is.
That's a really good wage and that's why when jobs open, tens of thousands line up and hope to get one of those jobs!
You are using your US standard to judge things you don't understand.

BTW, if these employees are really unhappy with their job and can have better offers or options they can quit. They don't and can't that why they rather be at these factories than back home living on a backwater farm!!

 

[jweinraub]

It seemed like to me the person interviewing him was rather, lack of a better word, stupid. Like the comment on never hearing of the term cowling? And he kept talking to him like the kid never seen America. Like mentioning what Trump is doing or the history of Apple, not understanding what the kid meant about lying on the couch? I dunno, unless it was poorly edited, the interview was pretty awful. Most of his experiences are well known for Chinese factories. Only thing I felt interesting and never considered how their cheap labour is cheaper than automation.

 

[kobalap]

The problem isn't the expectation of a return on investment. The problem is when investors expect never-ending increasing returns. But thanks for proving my point.

Enjoy paying your bills bud.

If you put money in an interest bearing account, don't you expect to continue to get paid interest? People who invest in securities take a bigger risk than people who put money in bank accounts. As such, they expect potential for greater and continuing returns.

The fact is, this is how the world works. Bills keep coming. Taxes need to be paid. Rent, car payments, cell phone bill, so on and so forth. People need to get returns on their investments.

Time to put your big boy pants on and stop crying.

 

[bobdobalina]

He says cheap meals inside the factory were 5¥ - that's 70 cents. That's subsidised.

Not saying you're necessarily wrong, but how do you conclude that meals at that price must be subsidized?

Pegatron provides many thousands of meals per day. Their per meal cost should be lower than the most economical restaurants in the region. The employee cost is likely very near the actual cost. There could be a small subsidy, but I would not assume that based on the per meal cost alone.

Many people here are quick to state (the obvious) that cost of living is lower in many parts of China than in US. The same holds true for the cost of food production.

 

[Zombie Acorn]

We can't do this manufacturing in NA because we don't have enough slav.. I mean engineers.

 

[whiteonline]

If you put money in an interest bearing account, don't you expect to continue to get paid interest? People who invest in securities take a bigger risk than people who put money in bank accounts. As such, they expect potential for greater and continuing returns.

The fact is, this is how the world works. Bills keep coming. Taxes need to be paid. Rent, car payments, cell phone bill, so on and so forth. People need to get returns on their investments.

Time to put your big boy pants on and stop crying.

I'm not the one crying. My financials and professional life are sound.
Later.

 

[adib]

Guess what: the economy is a pyramid scheme. More affluent workers are supported by a bigger population of workers that are less well off. It all went down until the poorest of the poor. It has been like this since the Ancient Egyptians made pyramids.

Even those iPhone factory workers are supported by others, probably less affluent, factory workers that makes their phones – Oppo. Even them are supported by less affluent farmer-workers to produce their food.

 

[bjet767]

Individuals are less responsible than companies and governments for this problem.

We are all responsible for this kind of stuff. The problem is we can't police the Chinese factories, but we can decide how we will treat those in our circles.

So the only thing I can add to this thread is maybe we should treat those in our own house like we write about those in the Apple product factories. Or maybe we're all just a little bit too much of "sociopath" (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/sociopath) in us all to accomplish such.

 

[macgabe]

Not saying you're necessarily wrong, but how do you conclude that meals at that price must be subsidized?

Pegatron provides many thousands of meals per day. Their per meal cost should be lower than the most economical restaurants in the region. The employee cost is likely very near the actual cost. There could be a small subsidy, but I would not assume that based on the per meal cost alone.

Many people here are quick to state (the obvious) that cost of living is lower in many parts of China than in US. The same holds true for the cost of food production.

I'm going by
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Shenzhen

Pegatron cheap meal 5 ¥
Meal, Inexpensive Restaurant 25.00 ¥
Meal for 2 People, Mid-range Restaurant, Three-course 150.00 ¥
McMeal at McDonalds (or Equivalent Combo Meal) 30.00 ¥

1/6th the price of a McMeal, 1/5th the price of a normal cheap meal, in a city where cheap out of town 1bed appt rents are 2,000¥ /month ($300). 5¥ must be heavily subsidised. Very much like the accommodation, it's an obvious perk.

 

[malevolant]

Factories literally everywhere in the world are the same. Techs are paid low wages to do extremely menial, repetitive work. Turnover at EVERY factory in the world is extremely high. I worked for a company that produced 3d printers as a mfg engineer and techs were constantly being hired and leaving whether voluntarily or being let go due to inability to do the required work.

From what this undercover tech is saying it actually seems like Apple and the contract manufacturer are doing a lot for these employees, and more than what my old job gave.

OT days at Pegatron: 12 hours w/ 1.5 hours unpaid breaks
OT days at un-named 3d printer company: 10 hours w/ 25 minutes unpaid breaks

Lunch at Pegatron: extremely subsidized
Lunch at un-named 3d printer company: employee responsible for own lunch

 

[toph2toast]

Personally I've always been torn on this subject. I'm all for advocating human rights, and pushing for higher wages so workers aren't living in poverty, but student mentioned his task was to put a sticker on the back of the phone and add a screw. Not the most skilled task, and certainly something you can do without a HS degree. Given the un-skilled nature of this work, what would be a reasonable salary for this? And at what point do others think "why am I busting my butt doing XYZ job, when I can sit around and put a sticker on my phone for a little less". Or do you give those workers additional responsibility to justify a higher wage? I don't have the answer, but these are the questions that run through my mind when I read articles like this.

 

[Internaut]

Far from being some sort of loser, it looks to me like this man has provided a reasonably balanced analysis. A friend who lives in Shanghai tells me the dorms he's visited aren't all that bad, and that's your single biggest outgoing sorted out if you're working in one of these places. Unfortunately, I can't say anything to dispel the Chinese reputation for making horrible bosses.... Doesn't mean the reputation is wrong; I've just heard nothing to the contrary.

 

[Doomtomb]

Was this a NYU commercial ?

I didn't learn anything I didn't already know about factories in China. Many aspects of what they show also exist in factories in the US.

Source: I work at one.

 

[dantroline]

We are all responsible for this kind of stuff. The problem is we can't police the Chinese factories, but we can decide how we will treat those in our circles.

So the only thing I can add to this thread is maybe we should treat those in our own house like we write about those in the Apple product factories. Or maybe we're all just a little bit too much of "sociopath" (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/sociopath) in us all to accomplish such.

Good comment. If ever our social structure is devastated enough that we as individuals are able to change things, this should be kept in mind.

 

[mrex]

What a loser. This guy kicks back in his cushy middle class lifestyle, and he has the NERVE to judge what other people CHOOSE to do for a living?? How much money per month does he think that those workers were making on the farm? Huh? How productive were they there? Living in absolute poverty ridden destitution? And he has the nerve to criticize them, because he finds their work "very boring"??? And now he wants to get involved with "human rights advocacy"???

Let me guess: Shot in the dark. He wants these companies to pay their workers more. And when they're not willing or able to pay more, he'll tell the government to install a minimum wage, and price these kids out of a job. He'll FORCE them to NOT work at the rate that they thought was good for them; the rate they agreed to when they traveled from home to get the job in the first place.

These kids *think* that they'll be better off making money, instead of starving in rural China, but ohh noooo here comes the NYU intellectual to tell him alllll about how to live his life the way the intellectuals think he should live it, or else. Good think he was there to FORCE his idiotic opinions on others.

And by the way, that's about 40% of what I make in the U.S., I have all of Apples latest products, I pay my rent on time, and I save money, and their cost of living isn't nearly as high.

Maybe this kid should mind his business and shut up, instead of advocating for the violation of the rights that he claims to want to uphold. You don't have a RIGHT to INITIATE FORCE against anyone for ANY reason. Therefore, you don't have a right to tell people BY FORCE that they can't take a job, or that they can only take it under the terms that YOU prefer. Any claim to such a right is an absurd contradiction.

Are you serious??

 

[kis]

Factories literally everywhere in the world are the same. Techs are paid low wages to do extremely menial, repetitive work.

That's BS and you know it. Factories in low-wage 3rd world countries are the same. They're definitely not the same in Europe or the US. I know for a fact that factory workers in Switzerland get at least minimum wage, they have 42-hour weeks, paid or compensated overtime, 5 weeks of vacation time up to age 55, then 6 weeks. They get unemployment benefits if necessary and decent health care. In other European countries, vacation time is higher and weekly work time is lower than here.

Is the work great? Probably not. But no blue collar worker here does 60-hour weeks. That's reserved for management and other high-paying jobs where the long hours are rewarded by higher pay.

You guys can justify working conditions in China all you want, but the fact is, that we're all guilty of exploiting these people by buying that stuff.

 

[PracticalMac]

How about making the iPhone 8 $100 more costly, and using the money to pay for ethical manufacture instead of new features. Call it the "Human Rights" edition.

Meanwhile Samsung cuts worker pay and sells its phones for $200 less.
Calls it The Anyone can Have One (except the factory workers).

 

[SlCKB0Y]

.
And by the way, that's about 40% of what I make in the U.S., I have all of Apples latest products, I pay my rent on time, and I save money, and their cost of living isn't nearly as high.

You make 1k a month!?