Quote:
Originally Posted by HansTWN
The China labor market is extremely competitive. You don't like your employer, money, benefits aren't good? Walk a few 100 yards to the next door and you will get a good deal there. Have you ever been on a factory floor? I have been in close to 1000. Yes, there is pressure, this is no picnic. Which is why workers are paid very well by local standards. Those who don't like it go into service industries. The environment in those modern factories in China is as good as in factories in the US. Working hours are strictly controlled (40 hours plus overtime, maximum 60 and heavy fines are being levied by the customers -- I can't confirm this personally for Apple, but for other major brands in various industries). Factories are spacious, clean, with many green and recreation areas for the workers. I have eaten in many workers' canteens. No, it is not up to Cupertino standards, but it is all quite pleasant. As far as a production environment can be. Factories like Foxconn have to be, to attract workers and customers.
|
The way you describe it it sounds like a Chicago economist's paradise. A naturally evolving market, plenty of work and enough cash if you're prepared to work hard. Sadly the reality is a little different. Folks in China work hard and grab as much overtime as possible because they have no other choice, as their salaries are not enough to feed their families and buy a status phone.
Its companies like Apple which actively encourage the cult like status of their silly little device, and it plays to their interests that China has become a capitalist economy where wealth determines your social status. Gee whatever happened the noble ideals of communism there?
Recently some newspapers got undercover agents in on the factories preparing for the iPhone 5 and found the conditions and stories of labor appalling in some cases. And it was even worse before until people called Apple out on it, who then forced Gou and his associates to make it look nice. I'm sorry but Gou and other industrialists do look upon the population as animals to be harnessed, they're getting very rich of it, and as usual with slaves, the workers do not have a real choice, particularly as in the case of Foxconn workers they have no education other than what Foxconn provides.
Gee great, now that Apple's ready to move onto poorer nations, they can just leave and set up camp somewhere else, effectively taking away all the jobs and money that have evolved around them. Let the Chinese get poor again, and then Apple will be back. Make no mistake, these capitalists play the global economy like the stock exchange, I was hoping that China could evolve above that. Already the signs are that China's economy is slowing.
The correct thing of course would be to pay workers the right amount, ban overtime, and charge the rich americans 10 dollars more for an iPhone. Gosh how terrible would that be? Or better yet, why not put Americans to work making their own devices, and promote the rise of other companies around the world to create a more balance and fair market, instead of suing competitors and accusing them of copying.