how foxconn treat their workers in china

[raavan]

[FR/EN]ABC usine Foxconn Apple - Full HQ - Documentary Nightline ABC iFactory Apple Foxconn - YouTube

 

[Fanling Monk]

Foxconn promised overall changes the way they operate their factories and raise the minimum wage of $400 a month. Just keep an eye on them and move on.

 

[fly2012]

It is good to keep an eye on them, due to public pressure, they raised worker's salary by 16% - 25% last week. On the other hand, they do hire closed to 1 million workers, a lot of them unskilled. That greatly helps to reduce unemployment rate.

 

[NirmalKrish]

Former iPhone Factory Workers Call for Reform in Open Letter

Credit: SumOfUs)
(CBS) - Apple's public relations problem isn't going away anytime soon. A petition posted by a pair of factory workers who claim to be poisoned by a chemical used to clean iPhones is gaining momentum.


The poison they're talking about is from a chemical called n-hexane, which is used to clean iPhone screens. And the factory in question this time is another Apple manufacturer - Wintek.


The two workers, Gou Rui-qiang and Jia Jing-chuan, hope to get the attention of Apple investors ahead of a shareholders' meeting today. In the most recent count, the petition posted on SumOfUs has gained nearly 84,000 signatures.


You don't know us but you have seen our work. Until recently, we worked long hours assembling Apple's iPhone touch screens in Suzhou, China.


In early 2010, it was independently confirmed that 137 workers, including us, were poisoned by a chemical called n-hexane which was used to clean iPhone screens. N-hexane is known to cause eye, skin and respiratory tract irritation, and leads to persistant nerve damage. Apple admitted to gross labour rights violations more than a year later.

If more people know about what we went through, Apple will feel pressured to change so other workers don't have to suffer like we did.


We have been pressuring Apple, and its new CEO Tim Cook, for years to compensate those of us who were injured working for them, and demanding reform of working conditions at their Chinese factories so that their workers don't suffer like we do. Now we need your help as customers or potential customers of Apple.


We need your help to send a message to Apple the day before their shareholder meeting. We want to see a strict corporate social responsibility and reform of the audit system to prevent similar tragedies in the future. He will listen to you as current or potential consumers.


Nearly 84,000 people have signed the petition so far -- for that, we thank you! We believe it'd be symbolically powerful if 100,000 people signed the petition before SumOfUs delivers it to Tim Cook on Thursday at their shareholder meeting. We're really close to that goal, but we need you to share our request with your friends to get over the edge.


It has been over two years since many of us were hospitalized and treated but our debilitating symptoms continue. Rui-Qiang still can't find work because he can no longer stand for the long hours most jobs require. Jing-Chuan has to spend nearly $100 a month on health supplements.


But with all of us working together to pressure Apple to change, we can make sure what happened to us doesn't happen to others too.

The open letter comes on the heels of an ABC Nightline visit to the Foxconn facility that manufactures Apple products. The unprecedented glimpse inside of Foxconn revealed a complex situation. While the working conditions at the factory aren't good, working at Foxconn is still a better option than the poverty of China's rural communities.


Apple isn't the only company that uses Foxconn. Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, Samsung and Hewlett-Packard are some of the biggest companies in the worlds - they also manufacture products at Foxconn.

In that visit to Foxconn, Nighline's anchor Bill Weir asked a young woman who works on iPhones, "For all the people in America who buy one of these, what do you want them to know about you?"

"I want them to know me," the young woman said. "I want them to know we put a lot of effort in this product so when they use this please use it with care."

Apple iPhone factory workers' petition begs for reform - Tech Talk - CBS News


MAN I FEEL SORRY FOR THEM, a safe working environment and good pay is the least they can do. In fact it’s a mandatory requirement for any company. This is very sad to hear and looking at my iPhone it just makes me wonder if I had in some way contributed to this. I hope things change for the better very soon and rapid changes are made to working conditions, for the welfare of the workers there.

 

[Jade]

This is simply bonded labour.

 

[Götterdämmerung]

This is simply bonded labour.

How is that bonded labour? The workers can leave the factory whenever they want, unlike in India where millions are still suffering under the hereditary bondage system.

 

[Sonyuke_Songpaisan]

I have a friend working in foxcconn. He told me that the situation is not as bad as we think. BTW he is an development engineer not an operator there. I heard some of the operators in Foxconn need to stand 12 hours a day for working.

 

[S10]

While the working environment sucks, nobody is forcing them to work there. In fact, thousands are still eager to work at that place since it pays better than elsewhere. It's not like they were chained up. Foxconn actually has a very high turnover rate. Since they employ over 500 thousand people, there's bound to be suicides just from statistics alone.

 

[Fanling Monk]

While the working environment sucks, nobody is forcing them to work there. In fact, thousands are still eager to work at that place since it pays better than elsewhere. It's not like they were chained up. Foxconn actually has a very high turnover rate. Since they employ over 500 thousand people, there's bound to be suicides just from statistics alone.

The suicides in Foxconn is on par with the national norm. It was blown up by the western medias in a propaganda term called 'selective reporting'. Hey, they can easily write about a young lady being so thankful for working there too. Of course, they'll say that's not their jobs.

 

[Deno]

I had a discussion on this subject with ''below freezing'' and ''fly2012'' they gave me enough information about this factory. They actually improved their working conditions and has one of the highest paying unskilled labour jobs in China...

And there were enough thread about this subject I can't understand why you find it neccacery ro open a new thread about this while you could easily post this into those threads...

 

[raavan]

I had a discussion on this subject with ''below freezing'' and ''fly2012'' they gave me enough information about this factory. They actually improved their working conditions and has one of the highest paying unskilled labour jobs in China...

And there were enough thread about this subject I can't understand why you find it neccacery ro open a new thread about this while you could easily post this into those threads...

still the situation has to be pretty bad for them to have suicide nets...

 

[Jade]

How is that bonded labour? The workers can leave the factory whenever they want, unlike in India where millions are still suffering under the hereditary bondage system.

Stop the Bull$hit. Where did you get that the millions are suffering in India? Unlike in India, where bonded labour is unlawful, in China, your government encourages companies like Foxconn to practise bonded labour openly. We know how China has acquired its wealth -through the blood and sweat of the bonded workers working in companies such as Foxconn

 

[qwerrty]

Stop the Bull$hit. Where did you get that the millions are suffering in India? Unlike in India, where bonded labour is unlawful, in China, your government encourages companies like Foxconn to practise bonded labour openly. We know how China has acquired its wealth -through the blood and sweat of the bonded workers working in companies such as Foxconn

and this is how india aquired its wealth.

Child labour in India

The problem of child labour exploitation is a major challenge to the progress of developing countries. Children work at the cost of their right to education which leaves them permanently trapped in the poverty cycle, sadly without the education and literacy required for better-paying jobs. This is particularly serious in India as it tops the list with the highest number of child labourers in the world. The 2001 national census of India estimated the total number of child labour, aged 5–14, to be at 17 million.[1] Out of the 12.6 million, 0.12 million engages in hazardous job. However, according to informal labour force statistics, the problem seems to be more severe than reflected. Child labour is estimated to be as large as 60 million in India, as many children are "hidden workers" working in homes or in the underground economy.[2] In the long run, this phenomenon will evolve to be both a social and an economic problem as economic disparities widen between the poor and educationally backward states and that of the faster-growing states. India has the highest number of labourers in the world under 14 years of age.[3]

Although the Constitution of India guarantees free and compulsory education to children between the age of 6 to 14 and prohibits employment of children younger than 14 in 18 hazardous occupations and 65 hazardous processes,[4][5] child labour is prevalent in almost all informal sectors of the Indian economy.[6] Companies including Gap,[7] Primark,[8] Monsanto[9] and others have been criticised for using child labour in either their operations in India or by their suppliers in India.

Bonded child labour in India

The worst form of child labours would probably be bonded labour.[citation needed] It refers to children who are “sold” by their parents for a petty sum, a loan or to pay off debts.[16] A form of long run employer-slave relationship is formed when these children are tied to this debt bondage to work for their employers for a time period that could be stretched to a lifetime, and usually it is for a minimal or no wages.[17] There has been no universally accepted number of bonded child labourers in India, but one estimate in 2000 shows that there were 15 million child labourers who were bonded.[18] Bonded child labour is practiced widely across many parts of rural India and across multiple industries.

Though bondage is illegal in India and initiatives have been taken to stop bonded child labours, little has been achieved. Both Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 and Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986, have done little to help the bonded child labourers as the employers tend to use the loopholes and ambiguity in the act to their advantage. Also, there was a lack of will from the government to enforce the acts.[19] Despite having large number of bonded labourers identified, very few employers got prosecuted and even fewer got convicted.[20] According to the Ministry of Labour’s figures, between 2000 and 2002 in all of India, there were only around 1800 bonded labourers being identified and released; and another around 17300 bonded labourers rehabilitated. However, there was no data showing how many children labourers are among those being freed.[20]

References

^ a b c "National Child Labour project". Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India. Retrieved 2011-09-12.
^ "Children In India- The statistics". Friends of Salaam Baalak Trust UK (FoSBT). Retrieved 2011-09-20.
^ "India- The big picture". UNICEF. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
^ Child Labour
^ http://labour.nic.in/cwl/ListHazardous.htm

 

[Desi Guy]

I think Indians here need to stop with useless whining. There are millions of Indians who are still
under poverty line.

Most of the Indians who respond to posts here ,can afford to pay their Internet bills ,are obviously
financially well off.

Think about a average Rickshaw driver in India who cannot even make 3000 rs( 60 $) in a month .

If Someone like him can make a minimum of (20000 rs) 400 $ on unskilled labor ,then I would say that's a pretty good deal , at least it puts food on the your table.

 

[Lonely Hermit]

I think Indians here need to stop with useless whining. There are millions of Indians who are still
under poverty line.

Most of the Indians who respond to posts here ,can afford to pay their Internet bills ,are obviously
financially well off.

Think about a average Rickshaw driver in India who cannot even make 3000 rs( 60 $) in a month .

If Someone like him can make a minimum of (20000 rs) 400 $ on unskilled labor ,then I would say that's a pretty good deal , at least it puts food on the your table.

I agree with you mate child labour is a serious issue, but the chinese do need to improve their labour law.