CNN has been running stories about Apple and Foxconn for the lead on their international edition for most of the past week. Finally, they got an actual employee (a college student on winter break doing temp work in assembly) to talk and what she says is probably damning enough to bring both companies down.
Work, work, work. That is her life, she says. She regularly clocks up to 60 hours a week and says that she works many more to get precious overtime pay.
"It's so boring, I can't bear it anymore. Everyday was like: I get off from work, and I go to bed. I get up in the morning, and I go to work. It became my daily routine and I almost felt like I was some kind of animal," she says.
Beastly! Working extra hours for overtime pay and she needs to have a daily routine like an animal! I call for a full boycott!
Clearly this all happened after the death of Steve Jobs, because as we've been incessantly reminded, he was a great man.
"That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy.
It is our job to see that it stays there." - George Orwell
Work, work, work. That is her life, she says. She regularly clocks up to 60 hours a week and says that she works many more to get precious overtime pay.
"It's so boring, I can't bear it anymore. Everyday was like: I get off from work, and I go to bed. I get up in the morning, and I go to work. It became my daily routine and I almost felt like I was some kind of animal," she says.
Assuming a 45 round trip commute to work + 30 minutes to eat dinner every weeknight... that's still 9.75 hours of free time. 7 hours of sleep is perfectly reasonable. And 2.75 for everything else. Plus weekends.
Yeah it sucks but there are millions of people everywhere in the world doing the exact same thing.
BucketHead wrote:I wonder why Foxconn has put up nets around their building due to the rash of suicides if the only problem is a couple extra working hours.
The Chinese must be weak. Probably the rice not allowing their genes to express
It isn't rice, it is the insulin response to the rice.
"Start slowly, then ease off". Tortuga Golden Striders Running Club, Pensacola 1984.
"But even snake wrestling beats life in the cube, for me at least. In measured doses."-Lex
If people actually gave a shit, they would be protesting over the conditions that the miners in central Africa, who are often targets of machete attacks, face while trying to dig up and deliver the rare-earth metals that all smartphones use. But, since they aren't directly linked to an iconic American company, it just isn't fashionable to call attention to their plight.
bigpeach wrote:If people actually gave a shit, they would be protesting over the conditions that the miners in central Africa, who are often targets of machete attacks, face while trying to dig up and deliver the rare-earth metals that all smartphones use. But, since they aren't directly linked to an iconic American company, it just isn't fashionable to call attention to their plight.
Americans are in a better position to influence Apple/Foxconn than they are African mining companies.
One of the downsides of the Internet is that it allows like-minded people to form communities, and sometimes those communities are stupid.
It is almost 1400 EST, I have been at work and working since 0700 yesterday. I am about to go to the gym, then grocery shop then finish up a slide presentation for a lecture tomorrow. . I laugh at your pussy 60 hour work week.
If people actually gave a shit, they would be protesting over the conditions that the miners in central Africa, who are often targets of machete attacks, face while trying to dig up and deliver the rare-earth metals that all smartphones use. But, since they aren't directly linked to an iconic American company, it just isn't fashionable to call attention to their plight
Wait until we start mining Afghanistan. Those working conditions should be a "blast".
"I am the author of my own misfortune, I don't need a ghost writer" - Ian Dury
Work, work, work. That is her life, she says. She regularly clocks up to 60 hours a week and says that she works many more to get precious overtime pay.
"It's so boring, I can't bear it anymore. Everyday was like: I get off from work, and I go to bed. I get up in the morning, and I go to work. It became my daily routine and I almost felt like I was some kind of animal," she says.
Assuming a 45 round trip commute to work + 30 minutes to eat dinner every weeknight... that's still 9.75 hours of free time. 7 hours of sleep is perfectly reasonable. And 2.75 for everything else. Plus weekends.
Yeah it sucks but there are millions of people everywhere in the world doing the exact same thing.
No commute - they have dorms built for workers, as is fairly standard in China.
Still, she has only around ten hours to sleep each night! And, she wasn't entertained!
I am jealous of the overtime though.
WildGorillaMan wrote:Enthusiasm combined with no skill whatsoever can sometimes carry the day.
Who wouldn't be stoked with $300 a month! These chinkos are just complainers.
"That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy.
It is our job to see that it stays there." - George Orwell
Fat Cat wrote:Who wouldn't be stoked with $300 a month! These chinkos are just complainers.
If you have no expenses for food, housing or insurance in southern China, that is good money. Public servants will degrees make perhaps 50% more than that.
BucketHead wrote:I wonder why Foxconn has put up nets around their building due to the rash of suicides if the only problem is a couple extra working hours.
All but one happened after Foxconn offered life insurance policies. Not sure if that has anything to do with it but suicide in China isn't really that uncommon to see - I remember being in a taxi one evening and having the driver drive around a body in the road that was under an underpass. He commented "jumper".
WildGorillaMan wrote:Enthusiasm combined with no skill whatsoever can sometimes carry the day.
Fat Cat wrote:Who wouldn't be stoked with $300 a month! These chinkos are just complainers.
If you have no expenses for food, housing or insurance in southern China, that is good money. Public servants will degrees make perhaps 50% more than that.
BucketHead wrote:I wonder why Foxconn has put up nets around their building due to the rash of suicides if the only problem is a couple extra working hours.
All but one happened after Foxconn offered life insurance policies. Not sure if that has anything to do with it but suicide in China isn't really that uncommon to see - I remember being in a taxi one evening and having the driver drive around a body in the road that was under an underpass. He commented "jumper".
I don't know where to start, and you can pretty much save your breath with any response. Yes they save on food, housing, insurance, retirement, mobility, adequate medical care, leisure, higher education, freedom. Incredible savings, really. And also, life insurance typically does not include suicide as an option.
"That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy.
It is our job to see that it stays there." - George Orwell
Fat Cat wrote:Who wouldn't be stoked with $300 a month! These chinkos are just complainers.
If you have no expenses for food, housing or insurance in southern China, that is good money. Public servants will degrees make perhaps 50% more than that.
BucketHead wrote:I wonder why Foxconn has put up nets around their building due to the rash of suicides if the only problem is a couple extra working hours.
All but one happened after Foxconn offered life insurance policies. Not sure if that has anything to do with it but suicide in China isn't really that uncommon to see - I remember being in a taxi one evening and having the driver drive around a body in the road that was under an underpass. He commented "jumper".
I don't know where to start, and you can pretty much save your breath with any response. Yes they save on food, housing, insurance, retirement, mobility, adequate medical care, leisure, higher education, freedom. Incredible savings, really. And also, life insurance typically does not include suicide as an option.
Wahwahwah.
Foxconn pays more than market rate across the board.
In New York, if you don't make $100k a year, you don't have a place to live. In Utah, $100k per year has you living well. $10k per year in China is living decently, outside of perhaps Shanghai. For an 18-year old making some cash on break from university, it's good day.
Foxconn paid out 400K RMB to families of jumpers and a 30K pension for life to the parents. They have been criticized for doing so as all but 1 or 2 of the suicides occurred following the policy change.
WildGorillaMan wrote:Enthusiasm combined with no skill whatsoever can sometimes carry the day.
We're not talking about making $10k a year, we're talking about making $3600. Aside from your math error, your research is poor. $100k would be twice the median income in New York state, hardly homeless. It's clear you don't give a fuck about these people, so I'm not sure why you're trying to defend Foxconn, but even Apple's own audit of Foxconn found that many of their workers were grossly underpaid (as little as $42 a month for assembling iPhones).
EDIT: Assembling iPods, not iPhones. My bad. Also, the factory workers often DO pay for their food and housing, not relying on the laughable magnanimity of Foxconn.
"That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy.
It is our job to see that it stays there." - George Orwell
The work apple employees do is all by hand. They are constantly monitored to figure out who the slowest employee is, and they push them harder. The work is tedious and repetitive, and the workers are kept on until their repetitive use injuries make them too slow to work, and they are fired. If they try to from a union, they are killed.
Fat Cat wrote:We're not talking about making $10k a year, we're talking about making $3600. Aside from your math error, your research is poor. $100k would be twice the median income in New York state, hardly homeless. It's clear you don't give a fuck about these people, so I'm not sure why you're trying to defend Foxconn, but even Apple's own audit of Foxconn found that many of their workers were grossly underpaid (as little as $42 a month for assembling iPhones).
EDIT: Assembling iPods, not iPhones. My bad. Also, the factory workers often DO pay for their food and housing, not relying on the laughable magnanimity of Foxconn.
Not defending Foxconn-- but $3600 feeds an extended family in China. This has to be considered.
"Liberalism is arbitrarily selective in its choice of whose dignity to champion." Adrian Vermeule
davidc wrote:The work apple employees do is all by hand. They are constantly monitored to figure out who the slowest employee is, and they push them harder. The work is tedious and repetitive, and the workers are kept on until their repetitive use injuries make them too slow to work, and they are fired. If they try to from a union, they are killed.
LOL at anyone with the time to post here, mocking someone in China working in those conditions. The ironical should hit you in the face with the force of Odin's war hammer. But you still type the snark. This is why the West is fucked. Because it doesn't care about anything past the next burger, beer and cheap running shoe. There's a hard rain gonna fall.
