Meet The Workers Who Make Your iPad:

[SHRED]

100 Hours Of Overtime, No-Suicide Pacts, Standing For 14 Hours A Day
By Zaid Jilani on May 10, 2011 at 12:45 pm



Back in March, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) astoundingly claimed that the iPad and iPhone are “built in the United States of America.” This news must have been a great surprise to the Chinese workers who work for Taiwanese-based manufacturing giant Foxconn, which is notorious for the poor conditions at its factories and the wave of suicides at its plants.

After much of the international media covered the abuses at Foxconn’s factories, the company, along with the major American corporations it supplies — like Apple and HP — announced that it would be reforming its practices.

Yet a new report from Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM), a Hong Kong-based advocacy and research group, finds that many of the practices that led more than a dozen workers committ suicide continue to live on. SACOM conducted a comprehensive study of practices at several Foxconn factories over the months of March and April and found that a number of shocking policies are in place. Here are some of the highlights of their study:

MORE:
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/10/workers-who-make-ipad/

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I understand people here are adoring Steven Jobs, especially now, but this slave labor is terrible.


-

[WAFS]

1. Is anything made by American workers any more? n/t

[gordianot]

2. Protest signs to maintain American jobs.

[OneGrassRoot]

16. And since Koch Industries controls the paper industries...

the wrong people are even profiting off of that.

:(

[paparush]

12. Bombs, guns, fighter planes, cruise missiles, land mines, crowd control devices, handcuffs

[WAFS]

13. I guess I should have been more specific.

Is anything USEFUL made in America any more?

[Brickbat]

23. Yes. But you have to look hard and make choices.

[WAFS]

25. I buy American when I can, even if it costs me a bit more.

That's one reason I won't shop at WalMart...can't find anything there not made in China.

[anneboleyn]

44. We always try to do the same -- and run into the problem with availability issues.

Have you found a good place to patronize that has American products available?

It is so frustrating. We shop at Target usually, and one encounters the same problem there -- maybe not to the same degree as Walmart, which is ridiculous with all of its cheap plastic crap, but still it is similar. We really want to support our American workers; we even buy American cars built here for that purpose, but it's hard to find American products these days since so many companies have abandoned our workers in order to exploit cheap labor abroad.

[Supersedeas]

21. guns and guns, some parts for foreign designed cars, and guns

[WAFS]

26. Actually, even a lot of guns are imports.

[hifiguy]

29. Expensive boutique products of various kinds

in the musical instrument and high-end home audio fields. I am sure there are some others but I am familiar with those particular fields. I can't think of one mass-market product that is primarily US-made anymore.

[onehandle]

31. All of our electronics are made in those same factories, no matter the brand. nt

[we can do it]

55. +1 Its Not Just Apple

[krispos42]

35. Bullshit. Lots and lots of bullshit

From Madison Avenue advertising to political campaign management to the corporate media narrative to the books written by RW pundits, we make a whole lotta of USDA-approved, 100% American Made bullshit.

[Supersedeas]

52. spoon-fed directly from the beltway

[krispos42]

56. Spoon-fed?

How about directly injected through the eyeballs 19 hours a day?

[Supersedeas]

57. yeah, that's probably more accurate....i stand corrected

[krispos42]

58. Oh yeah, it's bad. It's a friggin' wonder our kids' schools aren't painted over...

...with ads like the city buses or NASCAR cars are!


I remember a few months ago that KFC was offering to fix potholes for free... if they could paint a KFC logo on each patch!

[FreeJoe]

41. No decline

American manufacturing output hasn't declined. The number of people required to maintain that level out output has declined.

[Obamanaut]

45. Here's a link to American made products, so I guess the answer is 'yes'. ->

http://www.americansworking.com/index.html

[Liberal_in_LA]

48. paper, toilet paper, candy

[Firebrand Gary]

3. I have thoughts on this.

For years I have had the same argument until one day I had a conversation with a guy (whom I have literally nothing in common with politically) He said to me something I will never forget.

"China is building their country and economy as we speak. They are where the US was 80-100 years ago. While we might feel bad for their current working condition's right now, rest assured that will change as the time passes. As their cities rise and their quality of living increases, so will their employment and lifestyle preferences.

While you might feel guilty for China's labor conditions, to the contrary, they are happy to be earning a wage and not living directly on the river. "

[gordianot]

6. I heard that put another way.

I don't want your lunch but I want to make your lunch.

[leveymg]

8. I remember Amb. G.H.W. Bush said almost exactly the same thing. But, has all that U.S.

flow of capital to China been a good thing for America?

The proof is in the pudding. Permanent structural unemployment, and all that goes with it, in America.

[Firebrand Gary]

14. Well, we all have different thoughts on it.

However China has managed to pull hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.

[w4rma]

61. Do you really think these factory workers aren't in poverty? What BS. (nt)

[seabeyond]

15. yes... so appreciative as the fat cats put more in their pocket out of greed

a larger profit margin that they learn to expect only to pull out once the demand for wage is higher than they are willing to pay, fucking all those "appreciative" people to find only another desperate people to use.

yea

[Marblehead]

20. That is where they

want american workers, on the river...

[InvisibleTouch]

34. See, I have to agree with that.

Whenever I hear people up in arms about "sweatshop" conditions, I think about the luxury we have to make judgments from our armchairs and keyboards. I'm sure the working conditions are not the best (but that's true of many respectable jobs the world over), and the wages are miniscule by our standards - but the cost of living is much lower, too. And the workers are happy to have a job. The solution is not to close the factories - because then the people really are SOL - but to work from within to improve conditions over time.

The is completely separate from the fact that it would be better for *our* country if manufacturing returned to the U.S., but what's blocking that is the greed of the corporations who can get things built more cheaply overseas. I can't begrudge people in China et al. who take those jobs to make a living, though.

[hfojvt]

47. the suicides would tend to belie that argument

Certainly they would be happier with shorter days, higher pay and better working conditions. Why shouldn't we insist on that, even if it adds $10 to the price of an ipad or cuts corporate profits by $5 million (or .2%)?

[dkf]

4. In China, land of cheap labor, a push for robots

Foxconn, a Taiwanese contract manufacturer famous for making Apple iPads and iPhones, has the manufacturing world abuzz with its plans to deploy 1 million robots in its factories over the next three years.

It’s a big step for robotics, because the move would more than double the world population of industrial robots. Equally important, it’s happening in electronics, not in the automotive industry, which has been the stronghold for robots, and in China. Foxconn, a company that made its mark by using cheap labor from mainland China, is leading the charge of what I believe will be a huge move toward automation in Asia.

Foxconn may have its own reasons for making the first move. A rash of suicides among its workers in China last year brought intense international scrutiny. The adverse publicity, along with a push from Apple’s supplier social responsibility group, caused the company to raise wages and improve its workers’ living conditions.

But increasing wages and benefits has reduced profits. The second-quarter earnings of its parent company, Hon Hai Precision Industry, Ltd., were down 36 percent from what they were a year earlier and its stock has lost more than 40 percent of its value so far this year. Yet Foxconn is making far more Apple iPhones, iPads, and iPods than a year ago. One way to cut costs: robots.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/new-economy/2011/0824/In-China-land-of-cheap-labor-a-push-for-robots

[chelsea0011]

5. Honestly, this issue goes way beyond Jobs and Apple.

You can single out the IPad because Jobs is in the news today, but China has it's hands in nearly everything these days.

[Sherman A1]

9. Precisely

And I in no way condone or attempt to justify the like treatment of these or any worker, however, if this was the only case of such abuse in China (or perhaps even here at the Hershey Plant with the foreign students) it would most likely have been dealt with already. It is the entire culture of "do more with less" and profit/price driven capitalism that underlies the whole system.

[Logical]

17. Still no excuse. n-t

[IndyPragmatist]

7. It amazes me how people give Apple a free pass...

but freak out when any other company does the same thing. There are some people who put looking cool before their morals and beliefs. I don't want this to be another Apple vs PC battle, but I'm just amazed when I hear people talking about Apple as if they are some magical company that treats their workers amazingly and never does anything bad.

I guess its very similar to some rural people's loyalty to an automaker (maybe not as much anymore, but it used to be big). People would viciously defend their Ford or Chevy truck. Nothing you tell them, such as it was mostly made in Mexico, or that it has terrible consumer ratings, will matter. Emotion trumps logic almost always.

[Logical]

18. Apple has a cult following. n-t

[MADem]

19. Well, gee, they're "cool" and "hip" and they have an "elite following"

They're late middle aged guys dressed like teens, in hoodies and jeans. Peter Pans.

They aren't the great unwashed people, maybe a bit thick through the middle, wearing that cheap shirt the wife bought on sale at Marshall's, banging away on ten year old PCs with grubby keyboards. Bill Gates is the Designated Asshole, the people at Apple are Prius-driving free thinkers who are Oh-so-KEWL, "dude!!!"

It's all shit, they all want money, there's no damn difference except perhaps in the bottom line and profit margin. Oh, and you will pay way more for the Apple crap. That's the price of being KEWL, though!

They don't 'love' us, none of them. They just love what's in our wallets, and they WANT that.

It amazes me, too. People are so easily led.

[Pisces]

43. No, they are easy to use and you don't have to be a tech genus to set one up. This is where apple is

far supersedes the competition. My mother who is computer illiterate can navigate an apple. THey will dominate the future as elderly people are joining the computer revolution. The same goes for children who can easily navigate apples by the pictures.

You apple haters don't get that. It has very little to do with hipness for the majority of new apple users. That may have been what initially set apple apart, now it is all about ease of use.

[IndyPragmatist]

49. I disagree

The only reason the elderly aren't using computers very much now is because they didn't grow up with them. I agree that Macs are very easy to use, that is their appeal to most. However, computers are common nowadays and the elderly in 20 years will know how to operate a computer.

I completely disagree with the hipness part. Go check out the hundreds of people waiting in line for the newest Apple product every time one comes out. These are not technology novices, they want the newest piece of technology. Some of them want it because its new and they love technology, others want it because its new and they love the attention that it gets. How do you explain the Mac stickers on cars? Are those people doing it because they want people to know that they use computers and technology that is user friendly? No, they are doing it because they want people to know they are a Mac-person and they are cool. It's the same reason that people put any bumper sticker on their car, they want people to know what they support.

"You apple haters don't get that." This is why there are "apple haters"; because of people that go around acting as if they are superior because of their computer or phone. They ran an advertising campaign for years that was completely based on the premise of "Apple is cool, hip, and stylish. PCs are dull, boring, and for fat old men. Buy a Mac and be cool like us!"

[Pisces]

51. Those are a few mac owners that are trendy. The growth that is happening in mac is from new computer

users that love the easy set up and love how easy it is to use the computer. I would never put a bumper sticker on my car regarding my technology preference, however, I would never go back to a PC
after owning a mac. It syncs wirelessly with my iPhone and my 5 yr old has mastered it.

For me it is all about how easy it is to use and troubleshoot ( very rarely have i had to do anything to may mac) . Got one for my mother who I thought was hopeless regarding a computer and she
manages the mac with no problem, also easy to walk her through things.

People don't want to have to take a class to learn how to operate e-mail and the internet. I think this is what truly gives mac the edge. Now the flashy hipness of the products appeals to young users
you can't fault the company for being marketing geniuses ( packaging is everything). The true genius is how it works.

[Whisp]

46. no kidding! I as so disgusted with Apple I could puke!

and I have a mac, I like my mac but I fucking hate Jobs and his science fiction horror. Go get the same health care for your troubles that your workers have, you piece of corporate crap.

fuck!

[Obamanaut]

10. Is anyone planning on protesting this exploitation of workers by putting away their

existing iPad and iPhone or not buying one, and mounting a boycott?

No, because we like our stuff.

[Whisp]

50. it's not a matter of like

I think that is a very poor comment for the subject. if we were to discard all corporate made products we would all be sitting outside in our nakedness.

It is not a matter of like, it is a matter of a culture that snuck up and took us all.

There was a time, in my memory and many others here too I'm sure, that corporations were called companies and businesses and had pride in improving their workers lives and their countries success. Back then CEOs didn't make a billions times more than the lowest wage earner in their firm.

Then we were called citizens, not consumers. Then corporations were not legal people, it was people that ran the corp, like a captain steering a boat - calling the boat a person would have been laughable, and still is.

The realization of what is/was happening took a lot by surprise - because it was meant to be a surprise for us all. But to say if I don't like the way the corporate world works, I should throw out my computer is just plain stupid.

[physioex]

64. I cant speak for all Americans.....

But no thank you I wont be participating. I don't own an iPad, iPhone, and I have no plans to purchase any Apple products. Sickens me to see thousands working in horrid conditions not allowed to unionize while all the corporate cronies give themselves millions and the best health care.

Disclaimer: I do own an iPod given as a gift. But you are right, I might have lost because these products have become so ubiquitous.

[Selatius]

11. This is a problem with the United States in general. We essentially allowed de-industrialization.

Our trade policy was switched to favor out-sourcing of manufacturing over preserving, modernizing, and building up industrial production capacity inside the United States.

Mostly, I feel this switch was done for the purpose of global labor arbitrage, or simply put pitting poor workers against even poorer workers in a bid to boost profit margins by paying even lower wages to foreign workers vs. domestic workers.

[sfpcjock]

22. +1. It's basically slave labor, if they don't actually lock them in the buildings.

"I made it in China for 2o bucks with slave labor and had a $75 billion-dollar corporation pocket the difference on $14 billion in profits."



Maybe the next guy won't do this?

[Brickbat]

24. If it says "made in China," no matter what it is, then it's made by people in shitty conditions.

Full stop.

[physioex]

66. And unfortunately so has the quality. EOM

[Donnachaidh]

27. yet here on this board, there are foaming at the mouth Apple fans who applaud Jobs the slave master

And the entire title of the article is this:

"Meet The Workers Who Make Your iPad: 100 Hours Of Overtime, No-Suicide Pacts, Standing For 14 Hours A Day"

So for pennies a day, 100s of hours of overtime, standing in place for 14 hours (don't think they have the same breaks we do) -- we're supposed to spend hundreds of dollars on apple crap and then listen to how *progressive* the slavemaster is?

[OhioChick]

28. Let's not forget Foxconn's suicide nets....

Foxconn Installs Anti-Suicide Nets at Its Facilities



http://www.dailytech.com/Foxconn+Installs+AntiSuicide+Nets+at+Its+Facilities/article18877.htm

While I know that Foxconn produces for Dell, HP, Sony, Acer, Intel, Nintendo, Motorola, Cisco and others, Apple gets no free pass here.

With the mark up on their products, they could easily manufacture them here and still turn a significant profit if they wanted to separate their company from the rest.

And now it looks as if they've found someone cheaper than Foxconn:

Apple moving out of (mainland) China, dumps Foxconn as contracts expire.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/41293/apple-drops-foxconn-for-ipad-3


Apple chief executive Steve Jobs holds up the new MacBook Air at the MacWorld Conference in 2008 in San Francisco. Apple also does not reveal how many of its employees are based in the United States. Apple and Pfizer are part of a coalition of companies pushing for Congress to give them a tax break on money they have parked overseas, saying that any money brought back to this country would spur hiring.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/keeping-the-number-of-us-jobs-a-mystery/2011/08/08/gIQAFBA8UJ_gallery.html#photo=5

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=1793112

[ChromeFoundry]

38. All CEO's/Corporations that participate in these practices should not get free passes n/t

[onehandle]

30. Meet the workers that make ALL OF OUR TECHNOLOGY. How did you post this? Warm thoughts?

Your electronic device was made by those same workers.

[blogslut]

32. This can be said for every computer or smartphone made in the last decade

Crack open your desktop, laptop, mp3 player or cellphone and you will find parts, manufactured in China under slave labor conditions.

[MilesColtrane]

33. Where can I get me one of those Made in America computers you are posting with?

[grahamhgreen]

36. We don't need Obama pushing another "Free Trade" agreement! Call Your Rep!

[Major Hogwash]

37. In this economy, you take what you can get.

They really have a high unemployment problem in China these days.
So, competition for these jobs is stiff.

[Dreamer Tatum]

54. That is as pathetic an excuse as I have ever seen for anything. nt

[Pisces]

39. all of our electronics, hair dryers, etc are made the same way. Not just Jobs to blame.

[physioex]

65. Problem.....

We all agree exploitation is wrong. But what Jobs is doing maybe worse, consider the profit margins on a hair dryer and an iPad. Two wrongs don't make one right.

[lonestarnot]

40. K & fucking R!

[Romulox]

42. Gotta exploit *somebody*!

Lisa: "Nuke the whales?" You don't really believe that, do you?
Nelson: I dunno. Gotta nuke something.

[Dreamer Tatum]

53. Apple apologists are pathetic.

End of story.

[nadinbrzezinski]

59. Well here is some of the labor in Thailand

This is China,



For the record they don't just produce IPADs, also Samsung and Dell and others

Let me add the Philippines to the discussion



Oh look a photo from a protest in Seul



Here is my point... it is not Apple... it is the WHOLE DAMN PRODUCTION SYSTEM... instead of pointing fingers at ONE corporation, how about pointing fingers at THE SYSTEM?

That is the first step... and then we can start doing something about it.

[Romulox]

63. "But EVERYBODY'S doing it!" - Southern Gentleman, circa 1830. nt

[HipChick]

60. my Ipad was shipped to me directly from China

in 2 days....

I can't even get shipping that fast from the west coast..

[BoWanZi]

62. I know that kids in China make the Apple toys but I don't care, I still REALLY want an iPad/iMac

Oh how I really REALLY want them but alas, can't afford them for probably a long time.

I can't control how China uses/abuses their labor but if if my company doesn't make use of it, then it would be at a extreme disadvantage.