21–30 of 84 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Please note that the myth of a high rate of suicides at Apple's factories has been proven to be an invention.
Given how many times it's been said and how sensible the question is, would you have a source for that?
I went to Shenzhen and worked for Egoman, a Chinese company that made the first batch of Raspberry Pis, before that manufacturing got moved to Wales. The dormitories look typical. I arranged to stay in one through a different friend; mine wasn't arranged by the company. Now I'm in Taiwan, and life is better here. Factories are newer and cleaner, and working hours are more sane. Chinese factories often set long shifts…
Why do people agree to work in such conditions? Please don't be offended by my question, but my impression was that literacy is very high in China, and everyone gets basic education. Are the workers not aware of how they're being exploited? Are they happy with what they do? What's the turnover like?
"Exploitation" is a subjective and loaded term, but the labour market in Shenzhen and the broader Guangdong region is extremely competitive. There is a general shortage of labour and those workers are highly mobile; as a result, wages are increasing rapidly in all major cities. Low-skilled, low-margin industries like textiles have been largely priced out of the Chinese labour market, with all but the most sophisticated production moving to lower-wage economies.
I won't pretend that China is a utopia, but it's doing a very good job of improving the living standards of ordinary people.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They recently announced they are going to build a huge $10Billion plant in Wisconsin to build LCD screens. (likely related to their Sharp acquisition)
Only if they get the massive tax breaks they are demanding.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given how many times it's been said and how sensible the question is, would you have a source for that?
It's simple maths. In the worst year for suicides, Foxconn had 14 deaths out of 930,000 workers. Divide one by the other and you get a remarkably low suicide rate by any standard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides
You need to take it one step further; you should compare it to the suicide rate of healthy, employed young adults. If (for example) the suicide rate is higher than employed adults, but comparable to unemployed, it would show a serious problem at the factory.
In many industrialized countries suicide rates are not spread equally across all demographic groups.
The only thing that I can add is an anecdote. Around 2000, I worked at a startup that was streamlining the globalization logistics for large manufacturers. One aspect of our software was a qualitative and quantitative rating system for factories in low-cost countries. One of our largest challenges was coming up with reliable scoring metrics that couldn't be gamed by the factories. Because Of this, we eventually had t…
Please note that the myth of a high rate of suicides at Apple's factories has been proven to be an invention.
Why do we put up with "oh, it's the same everywhere, so it's not a problem" when they are directly responsible for creating this environment?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given how many times it's been said and how sensible the question is, would you have a source for that?
It's simple maths. In the worst year for suicides, Foxconn had 14 deaths out of 930,000 workers. Divide one by the other and you get a remarkably low suicide rate by any standard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides
Then, "Foxconn CEO, Terry Gou, had large nets installed outside many of the buildings to catch falling bodies. The company hired counsellors and workers were made to sign pledges stating they would not attempt to kill themselves."
"In 2012, 150 workers gathered on a rooftop and threatened to jump. They were promised improvements and talked down by management; they had, essentially, wielded the threat of killing themselves as a bargaining tool. In 2016, a smaller group did it again. Just a month before we spoke, Xu says, seven or eight workers gathered on a rooftop and threatened to jump unless they were paid the wages they were due, which had apparently been withheld. Eventually, Xu says, Foxconn agreed to pay the wages and the workers were talked down."
"The body-catching nets are still there."
I went to Shenzhen and worked for Egoman, a Chinese company that made the first batch of Raspberry Pis, before that manufacturing got moved to Wales. The dormitories look typical. I arranged to stay in one through a different friend; mine wasn't arranged by the company. Now I'm in Taiwan, and life is better here. Factories are newer and cleaner, and working hours are more sane. Chinese factories often set long shifts…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They recently announced they are going to build a huge $10Billion plant in Wisconsin to build LCD screens. (likely related to their Sharp acquisition)
Only if they get the massive tax breaks they are demanding.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Only if they get the massive tax breaks they are demanding.
a small slice of pie is better than all of a non-existent pie because the pie relocated to another state or country
It's worth pointing out that Wisconsin is giving billions to a company where working conditions so bad that workers have been killing themselves there since 2010: "It wouldn’t be Foxconn without people dying."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
a small slice of pie is better than all of a non-existent pie because the pie relocated to another state or country
With the 3BN tax-dollar giveaway, Wisconsin will not receive any positive pie returns from Foxconn until 2043. Assuming Foxconn doesn't move on to another location in 2042. It's worth pointing out that Wisconsin is giving billions to a company where working conditions so bad that workers have been killing themselves there since 2010: "It wouldn’t be Foxconn without people dying."
It will be interesting to watch to breakdown in China as tens of millions of angry citizens lose their jobs to automation. Combined with the demographic abomination they created with their 1 child policy I predict China will collapse eventually.
Also it's not a straight tax giveaway upfront, they have to hit incentives over time.