There was a time . . . . .
when scenes like this were commonplace in the Western World. Back in the old days when countries like America and England had booming industrialization the conditions were no better, and probably much much worse that those at Foxconn. People still lined up to get a job because that was the kind of skill level you needed. You were not paid to go to college to learn your job, you learned it on the job as an apprentice.
There is a reason trade unions existed, and it was not just to get Free Viagra on the healthcare plans. It was because working conditions in industry were, and still are, tough.
Sure, we have moved on slightly from those days, but do not ever be fooled in to thinking that the Foxconn "conditions" as we shall call them, and depending on who you ask, do not exist in the United States and Europe, or elsewhere in the world. Life is often tough in the field of manufacturing and heavy industry, and mining.
Many many years ago, before I started my PhD, I worked at a company called Metal Box in Sutton-in-Ashfield near nottingham. To get the job I went to the factory and asked for a job. I then went to work in the morning for the day shift and evening for the night shift, stood at a machine stamping metal shapes out of huge sheets of printed steel that would soon become cookie tins and pill boxes, and pencil cases and so on. I stood there keeping my fingers away from the press until the 15 minute tea break was called and then I went back and stood there until "lunch." I remember getting a promotion to the machine that made hinges because I then got a seat. I also remember getting cuts from sharp edges a couple of times and the foreman (actually forewoman) yelling at me when I did not use the machine just right and the tool setter had to come out and re-align it. There is nothing quite like doing this kind of job and working night shifts to give you an appreciation for the fluffy life that many of us have now (and still complain about).
However, we have to remember that someone still needs to make stuff under these conditions to fill the gap left as we educate ourselves to better jobs. When I have had a bad day in my current job I think back to what my life could have been like if I were still working that job; particularly as they built a shopping center on the site where the factory used to be. Hmmm, isn't there a Kinks song along those lines?
If you want to think about another tough job with some of the hardest conditions, consider the role of migrant farm workers. Man, you got hand it to those men and women who move from farm to farm picking the things we stuff in our faces.
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