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One could view this as outstanding, well timed PR on foxconn's part potentially with apples prodding.
 
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GuyiOSncognito said:
Because it's Apple-related news? Surely that's reason enough.

I find it strange that Foxconn (& Apple) are singled-out so much. It's not as if China had a great record of employee rights before Foxconn started supplying Apple.

It's because it's one of only a few products that supply cannot meet demand with and Apple makes LUXURY items - no matter how you spin it, we can all live without iWhatevers.

Are human lives worth you having a white iPhone 4S? You tell me, then live with your conscience.

The production of every product in history has cost lives. The question that has to be asked is whether the production of one product costs more misery than it should and more than the alternative would.
 
I didn't know "Slaves" had to line-up/apply for jobs...

Sounds like these people want the jobs and are HOPING they even get one of the positions....so lets stop with the slave labor stuff.
 
The production of every product in history has cost lives. The question that has to be asked is whether the production of one product costs more misery than it should and more than the alternative would.


You're giving lobbyists more credit than they deserve. "Has cost lives" is poor diction at best. These people have less than our standard working conditions. That being said, they have jobs, which is a good thing. I buy my iPhone with no feeling of regret as someone has to build the thing and Samsung produces iPhone parts in the US of A.
 
you know, its not that fair only to single out Apple for poor working conditions. Foxconn supplies other companies. And stop trying to think for the people, as you can see that the people are willing to work. Its not a prison. They DO have the right to throw in the towel. So stop whining, as I guess we just see jealous people around the world because of their success
 
Because in communist China, I am sure there is a transparent method of reporting the atrocities that happen day in and day out at these plants. These people don't know any better and think a better life awaits them when historically speaking, the only thing waiting for them as a Foxconn employee is death.

No doubt that work rules/conditions in China are not up to the standards of the Western World but please -- death does not await all Foxconn employees or even a small fraction of them. With all the media attention at Foxconn, I'd venture to guess conditions are actually *better* most other factories in China.

The people lined up there need the money for basic necessities we take for granted--yet they still save more than most U.S. citizens.
 
Foxconn jobs: Start on the ground floor, work your way up, jump, end up on the ground floor.
 
Foxconn and Apple have come under increasing scrutiny over the treatment of employees

Since when was Foxconn a subsidiary of Apple? And aren't there many other companies that use Foxconn for assembling products? Seems to me that people are just sensationalizing Apple's role to boost clicks and views.

Fact is, all industrialized nations go through this when you have a large labor force moving from rural areas into manufacturing and/or processing. You have people willing to work for cheap in "appalling" conditions.
 
Where are all Apple employes that force Chinese people into slave labour in the picture?

The slave drivers are in Taiwan. Foxconn's headquarters is in New Taipei City, Taiwan.

So why doesn't Foxconn employ Taiwanese workers in Taiwan? Because mainland
Chinese labor is cheaper and more plentiful. Pure economics.
 
The saddest thing about this is the posts by people here who have NO CLUE about anything at Foxconn whatsoever, and only spew the liberal talking points.

I've been there. Seen the working conditions. Spoken with employees.

It's nothing like the bleeding heart hypocrites who send in their articles and commentary would have you believe.

Nothing.

Get over it.

China is a manufacturing giant, with conditions that are not only good for workers today, but are improving all the time.

You want to build product in the US again? You could learn something from a visit to China.

Agree, I used to work in Japan in the '80s. The conditions at some of the factories I saw were spartan. I would guess a few Americans would like some of those jobs now.
 
The working conditions are so bad and there are still thousands lining up for a job....

Has a single person in this forum been to visit one of these factories? No? So how do you know its bad? Because a newspaper article you didn't even read told you so, and you heard it from someone else, like a web site?

I'm just guessing, but I suspect the average Chinese citizen is perfectly capable of figuring out their own lives. If they're trying to get a job there, it's likely because the life inside is better than the one outside, irregardless of your hopeless and un-informed moralizing.
 
Perfect picture of exploitation.
Apple knows full well how desperate people are for jobs. The desperate and poor will take any work to keep their families alive. It's funny how the blind followers say despicable things like "slaves don't line up." I truly hope you never have to ever work at a place you "chose" to work at only because there was very little to chose from to begin with.
I hope the lid blows off on Foxconn and I hope anyone having to do anything with it gets exposed for it. I will never buy another Apple product, that's for damn sure.
 
False advertising...

These guys think they are going to BUY an iPhone 4S. Watch out for the club in the back of the head, you might wake up in one of those Foxconn "Dormitories" :eek:
 
It's because it's one of only a few products that supply cannot meet demand with and Apple makes LUXURY items - no matter how you spin it, we can all live without iWhatevers.

Are human lives worth you having a white iPhone 4S? You tell me, then live with your conscience.

IF one is truly committed that China is allowing citizens to be used by corporate entities all over the world, the most effective action is to answer with one's wallet. Don't buy ANY product from China, not only electronics, but clothing, drug store goods, toy stores, shoe stores (Ugg, for example), auto manufacturers who use parts from China and on and on. Simply passing judgement and telling everyone else they are not 'human rights activists' on a technological site is a bit like peeing in the ocean.
We did research in an econ class about wages and working conditions at these tech giants and found conditions/wages often much much higher than elsewhere, better medical care than rural farmers had, and the suicide rate was lower than for China.
Somehow, giving Apple (or any firm) the challenge to convert China's economic system is almost as foolish as waging war based on things that just aren't true.
 
Perfect picture of exploitation.
Apple knows full well how desperate people are for jobs. The desperate and poor will take any work to keep their families alive. It's funny how the blind followers say despicable things like "slaves don't line up." I truly hope you never have to ever work at a place you "chose" to work at only because there was very little to chose from to begin with.
I hope the lid blows off on Foxconn and I hope anyone having to do anything with it gets exposed for it. I will never buy another Apple product, that's for damn sure.

China knows that too by artificially controlling their economy and making people make ridiculously low wages. I blame China...
 
China is a manufacturing giant, with conditions that are not only good for workers today, but are improving all the time.

Here's a bigger question:

Do you think the working conditions of the average Chinese worker are better or worse than the average US factory worker in 1900?

They are no doubt much better. So then, should we have refused people to right to apply to jobs in the US 100 years ago?

And what about the rate of change?

Factory workers in the US in the 1930s were being beaten and killed by paid thugs. Remember? After 30 years, things had become *worse*.

Does anyone believe that's true in China today? That the average factory worker's conditions are worse today than they were in 1980?


Its amazing to me how quickly people will crap all over the things they hold to be statements of truth, like "freedom", when they're talking about someone else that they don't know.
 
The working conditions are so bad and there are still thousands lining up for a job... and they will all be hired. It seems that "something is better than nothing" in the race to the bottom.

At least they don't sit back on their duffs waiting for their government entitlement checks.
 
I'm just curious do those who are so appalled investigate every product they purchase in terms of where it's manufactured and what the working conditions are at those manufacturing plants? Do they only buy products that are manufactured under circumstances that meet their approval? I get why Apple is being singled out, but it does seem a bit unfair. If it bothers people so much stop buying Apple's products; stop buying everything else made in China or any other country where working conditions are less than ideal.
 
Perfect picture of exploitation.
Apple knows full well how desperate people are for jobs. The desperate and poor will take any work to keep their families alive. It's funny how the blind followers say despicable things like "slaves don't line up." I truly hope you never have to ever work at a place you "chose" to work at only because there was very little to chose from to begin with.
I hope the lid blows off on Foxconn and I hope anyone having to do anything with it gets exposed for it. I will never buy another Apple product, that's for damn sure.

Go for it. Dump all your Apple products and never buy anything from them again. While you're at it, get rid of all your electronics, because chances are wherever they were put together the working conditions are similar to Foxconn.

Do people not realize that people in our own country commit suicide, or die on the job because conditions are dangerous? It's not something that's limited to China. And Apple isn't to blame for it. Apple DOES NOT own Foxconn. Foxconn is a supplier, and honestly, I think Apple is doing pretty well at trying to improve conditions at a company that it doesn't even own. I doubt you'll find that level of caring from most other companies that are using Chinese labor.

As for your comment, "I truly hope you never have to ever work at a place you "chose" to work at only because there was very little to chose from to begin with." Yeah. I know tons of people in that position right now, in our own country. I'm extremely fortunate not to be one of them, but I'm directly related to a few people that are. There aren't many jobs to go around, so you pick up whatever work you can, because you need to survive. Again, not something that's limited to China; it's right here in our own country.
 
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