ISlave - Foxxconn Concentration Camp

[Minki]

The next time you think about treating yourself to a new iphone, ipod or ipad....spare a thought for the enslaved workers at Foxxconn in Guangdong, China.

 

Fourteen 17-25 year olds dead and four people critically injured whilst attempting suicide as a direct result of working under one of the most horrific totalitarian regimes in modern manufacturing history.

[Classic Rock]

What is your source for this?

[chem1st]

Please compare the working population of foxxconn to the population of people working in food manufacture in the UK for example. And quote the suicide rate in suicides per 100000 per year.

 

That said, it would be nice to see workers gaining more reward for their work.

[shortcrust]

Chem1st is right in questioning the meaning behind these figures. 300,000 to 400,000 people work there. The suicide rate in the UK in 2009 was 5.2 per 100,000. This means you might expect to have as many as 21 suicides each year for the same number of UK people. Take into consideration the fact that many of these young people are far from home and without support networks and the picture starts to looks a bit different from that painted by the OP.

 

Pays to look a little closer, Minki. Especially if you're planning to try to make people feel guilty about stuff like this.

Edited April 4, 2011 by shortcrust

[anywebsite]

China also has a higher suicide rate than the UK, so Foxconn employees are less likely to commit suicide than the general population. Foxconn have also tried to take steps to lower the rate.

[Darth Vader]

Chem1st is right in questioning the meaning behind these figures. 300,000 to 400,000 people work there. The suicide rate in the UK in 2009 was 5.2 per 100,000. This means you might expect to have as many as 21 suicides each year for the same number of UK people. Take into consideration the fact that many of these young people are far from home and without support networks and the picture starts to looks a bit different from that painted by the OP.

 

Pays to look a little close, Minki. Especially if you're planning to try to make people feel guilty about stuff like this.

 

The OP is right in drawing attention to this. Workers on 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week, for 200 quid a month, and not allowed to speak to the person working next to them.

[anywebsite]

Foxconn's doubling of workers' wages has already started to affect other companies. The personal computer firms and made-to-order electronic makers have shown concern over the salary hikes and have started to actively look for coping strategies.

 

According to National Business Daily, some electronics makers have had to raise employees' basic monthly wages because their workers' strikes stopped production after Foxconn made the announcement to increase wages Sunday.

 

http://www.china.org.cn/business/2010-06/09/content_20219350.htm

 

That's the story from last year when they more than doubled basic wages to around £200/month. That's not a bad wage for an unskilled assembly worker on a production line in China, comparatively.

 

You're a year out of date with this story, conditions have improved & the suicide rate has fallen below it's already low level.

 

Obviously pay & conditions aren't up to western standards, but it's China, they're still a developing country. The conditions aren't any worse at Foxconn than at many other Chinese companies.

 

If you boycott them (turn amish or something, they make a lot of electronics) then it'll slow their development as a country & the workers will be stuck on poor pay in bad conditions for longer.

Edited April 4, 2011 by anywebsite

[shortcrust]

Obviously pay & conditions aren't up to western standards, but it's China, they're still a developing country. The conditions aren't any worse at Foxconn than at many other Chinese companies.

 

They're actually better than most companies in Shenzhen. They're overwhelmed by applicants for vacant positions.

 

Most of the articles written about the place read like propaganda that would make the Chinese government blush. Six day weeks are the norm in China and 12 hour days are commonplace, but that context is never given. When you actually sift through for the workers' views, you find complaints about the work being boring, and not being able to talk to people during their shifts. None of that comes close to warranting the term 'concentration camp'.

Edited April 4, 2011 by shortcrust

[DeathAxe]

I don't buy into the Steve Jobs reality distortion field to begin with, so I don't think about the workers at foxconn :-)

[anywebsite]

Foxconn don't only make Apple products, they make a lot of electronics for lots of other brands too, they're quite a hard company to avoid.