The article is a big pile of sensationalist fluff. Even if Apple was not involved Foxconn would still have the same sort of security measures in place. And, it is probably more than likely that Foxconn is probably paying off the police department to provide "special treatment". You need to read more news on China and the power that money has here. It is something that the government is actually trying to correct and has actually gone on an "anti-corruption" campaign. Every night there are commercials on TV encouraging people to report acts of corruption.
The fish head comment I made was "tongue in cheek". But honestly, they are actually quite tasty.
The "human rights violations claims" that you are calling out have nothing to do with the treatment of factory and migrant workers. They have to do with maintaining control of autonomous regions, and the rights of free speech.
However, if you want to get onto the treatment of Chinese migrant workers and whether it is ethical or not I can go into detail on that subject. Please feel free to ask me all you like. I work at a factory where all but about 20 people do not live on campus. I have meetings with them everyday, I work with them on quality issues, and I eat in the same cafeteria with them (yep, that's right the lowly migrant workers). We all walk up and scoop our meal from the same big ass bucket of rice and the same buckets of vegetables that they bring out for them at lunch. After I am done eating I wash my dishes in the same out door sink that they use and I go back to work. The rest of them run back to the dormitory and sleep for the remainder of their hour and a half lunch break.
The dorms are not air conditioned, nor do they have heat. But, then again neither does my apartment. Over the CNY holiday it has been in the 50's and I have found it quite unpleasant. But, then again the majority of the people in Guangdong province live this way. It has been a fact of life here for the last 5000 years that they can remember, just ask them.
At my company we have guards and we have walls surrounding the factory. China is filled with poor people unfortunately and it is a simple fact of life that there are a few select people that will steal anything that is not locked down or guarded. However, the guards do protect the company from industrial espionage as well. The guards are not there to keep the factory workers locked in or anything ridiculous like that. But I can tell you that if a stranger were to come up and start getting obnoxious or trying to do things that were not "normal" they would probably get into some sort of altercation. You really cannot count on local police either. It is just a fact of life here, it is just something that you would have to witness first hand.
Is it pleasant? No, I guess when I first came here it wasn't and I found it some what hard to digest. However, now that I have witnessed it firsthand and got to know the people and understand the relationships that they have with the company I can honestly tell you that they are not mistreated or have had their human rights violated in anyway.
With all this being said you can look at China and the current situation and take the approach that you are not going to do any sort of business with China. If everyone were to have this mindset and approach things would never change or improve here. China is a vital part of the world ecomony and we will all be dependent on their success in the future. Stonewalling the Chinese or telling them how they are going to do things will never work. Things will change on their own as people amass more money. I am witnessing it firsthand.
You have to remember that westerners are trying to cram 130 years of industrial development (and everything else) into the last 20 or so years here in China (I know it is closer to 30 but things started taking off in the last 20). Along with that you have the growing pains of people learning to use disposable products and dispose of them properly, learning how to drive on a highway when they are barely capable of forming a line for a train ride. It is really quite chaotic and sometimes quite frustrating. But, on the other hand I have met some of the kindest and genuine people since I have been here.
I think that probably the best thing you could do for your narrow mind is to sell all of your Apple products and buy a plane ticket over here. Stay here for a month or two and see what really goes on. Then you can go home and run your mouth about how bad things are over here.
BRAVO! This is probably the most honest and truth post I've read in this thread so far. Here you have someone is has BEEN there and DONE that, and can tell you the truth about the industrialisation that's occuring in China.
I myself have also been to China back in '07. I am also Chinese but having grown up in Australia, I was stunned by the cultural shock I experienced. Everything is almost a free-for-all; the pace of growth is dizzying. Factories are everywhere and companies are ever tightening their control of their businesses.
Corruption is also a big problem here, except from the traditional Chinese point of view, it is a way of life. If you have money, you can use the 'back-door' to whatever you want. Family connections and favours are the true back bone of how things 'get done'. It's very much '...it's who you know' in China.
When I visited my girlfriend's relative's company, they thought they were expecting a caucasian man. They even had a 'company meeting' about how they were going to deal with a westerner walking around their offices. It must've been the cultural differences they were expecting to face but when they saw me, the let out a collective sigh of relief and totally ignored me and went on their business.
But to the
mygoldens, I just have to say you are extremely narrow minded. Not in a negative way, but meaning you are just ignorant. If you don't condone or want to support the way your Apple was built, then you need to look at everything you are currently wearing and chances are, 100% will be made in China or some other country which have 'sweat-factories'. You may as well walk around naked if you feel so strongly about it.
Whenever there are documentaries about labour abuse in China's factories, companies who buy from them 'conduct' inspections to tell us that they're adhering to their policies - but this is a load of crap. Just as they did at the company I visited, they were actually trying to make themselves 'LOOK' acceptable to westerners. They do exactly the same with these 'inspections'. It's all a facade.
In a culture where people buy $100 pair of jeans and the company pays the Chinese companies $10 to make them, you have to wonder really why capitalism is so good and where all these problems come from. We need to take a good look at ourselves. It's not just Apple or any other company that purchases from China. It's the consumer.
