Foxconn Admits Violating Labor Laws with Underage Interns

Status
Not open for further replies.

wemakeourfuture

Distinguished
Dec 20, 2011
601
0
18,980
[citation][nom]spentshells[/nom]This is who apple does business with. I can see now why the stock is so high.[/citation]

You do realize their list of clients include: Samsung, Microsoft, Sony, Intel, HP, Dell, Cisco, Amazon, Motorola, Toshiba, Nintendo, etc.

Why are you just naming Apple, that's pathetic. Blame all of them or none.

You're sounding like an anti-Apple Stan.
 

valcron

Distinguished
Apr 28, 2002
155
0
18,680
This is who the majority of the IT field does business with. Not defending Apple but they get focused on way to much compared to other companies. You would think no one but Apple did business with Foxconn
 
So what... they will pay a fine and run along with it. Its not like the owners of the company are gonna be trialed for this anyway... (im not trying to make it sound like it should not matter, just stating the fact that it dosent 8( ).
 

stingstang

Distinguished
May 11, 2009
1,160
0
19,310
I'm willing to bet the radio show was taken off shortly after this erupted. Also, "Today in class kids, we're going to learn the most important lesson for us Chinese. Factory work! Everyone on the bus!"
 

rantoc

Distinguished
Dec 17, 2009
1,859
1
19,780
[citation][nom]valcron[/nom]This is who the majority of the IT field does business with. Not defending Apple but they get focused on way to much compared to other companies. You would think no one but Apple did business with Foxconn[/citation]

Many companies does indeed have business with Foxconn but I can fully understand why Apple is seen as the biggest offender, the reason is quite simple - They have the margins to make the change happen while many other company's are locked in quite fierce competition and don't enjoy the same margins. They would have a harder time to adjust unless their competitors also adjust.

See it like drug businesses, should the cops go after the regular dealer or the big time fish who makes the most out of peoples misery (much like in this case) ?
 

Gundam288

Distinguished
Sep 23, 2011
281
0
18,790
[citation][nom]deadlockedworld[/nom]China has labor laws?[/citation]
More than likely they are just on the books and rarely enforced.

I think Foxconn is admitting to it because rumors were flying around and they know that it might catch up to them. It's better for them to face the music early than later + other charges that could sink Foxconn all together.

I've had a MoBo or 2 from Foxconn. It was decent and I will say that it lasted over 3 times longer than the Asus that was going to replace it and it's still working to this day.

They may be "cheap" but even with cheap products sometimes you can find a winner if you are lucky.
 

slabbo

Distinguished
Feb 11, 2009
457
0
18,780
Age 14-15 should be allowed to work if they want to. We are babying everyone nowadays. Back then kids aged 10 and up worked on more dangerous farms all the time to help out, and this was even their own father and mother telling them to. It was good thing to help them earn some extra money for the summer so they can buy that bike or baseball cards. I don't see why interns can't be 14+, they don't do jack shit anyway. I would have loved to check out and work at a electronics factory to see how all our stuff is made when I was 14. We live in a really really sissified world now.
 

slabbo

Distinguished
Feb 11, 2009
457
0
18,780
also in the USA you can work at age 14 with a work permit. My niece even wanted to find a job at the age of 12, but can't. She just wanted to make some extra money.
 

willard

Distinguished
Nov 12, 2010
2,346
0
19,960
The company told CNet in a statement that was conducting an investigation into how the underage workers came to work at Foxconn.
No investigation needed, I think we all know what happened.

Exec 1: Damn, we're going to have trouble meeting the iPhone 5 shipment because we got rid of all our child labor earlier this year.
Exec 2: Why don't we just hire the kids back?
Exec 1: Good idea, make sure we can deny it though if it comes back to us.
...
Exec 1: Oh no! It looks like our underage workers are about to be discovered again!
Exec 2: Quick, throw the school under the bus and deny everything!
Exec 1: Good thing we already finished production of the iPhone 5. Child labor to the rescue yet again!

Fun fact, if Apple spent ten times more to manufacture the iPhone 5 in the US (in reality it's more like twice as much), their margins would only drop from 356% to 273%. Apple could be ludicrously profitable manufacturing the iPhone 5 anywhere in the world. They (and others, who have already been listed) choose to use a company well known for labor violations not in order to remain profitable, but to line their pockets with even more money.

Ethics, absent in business since 6,000 B.C.
 

willard

Distinguished
Nov 12, 2010
2,346
0
19,960
[citation][nom]slabbo[/nom]Age 14-15 should be allowed to work if they want to. We are babying everyone nowadays. Back then kids aged 10 and up worked on more dangerous farms all the time to help out, and this was even their own father and mother telling them to.[/citation]
And children were frequently killed and maimed at the workplace. I'd like to point out that "back then" radium was prescribed as a wonder drug (it is extremely lethal in small doses), cocaine and methamphetamines were considered good for your health and we lined our homes with asbestos. We did a lot of really stupid things "back then," child labor included.

It was good thing to help them earn some extra money for the summer so they can buy that bike or baseball cards.
Why don't you go read this article and tell me that child labor is a good thing. I'm sure the money those kids saved up was a great comfort to the families of all the dead children.

Paper route at 14, fine by me. Industrial manufacturing at 14 (you know, what Foxconn does), absolutely not under any circumstances.

We live in a really really sissified world now.
Yeah, so sissified that we decided we didn't want to see any more children who lost limbs in machinery or suffer from crippling repetitive stress injuries before they start high school. So sissified that we decided to stop letting companies exploit the insanely low wages they can pay children. So sissified that we decided maybe companies shouldn't be allowed to make massive profits on the backs of children.
 

frombehind

Honorable
Feb 18, 2012
351
0
10,810
[citation][nom]slabbo[/nom]Age 14-15 should be allowed to work if they want to. We are babying everyone nowadays. Back then kids aged 10 and up worked on more dangerous farms all the time to help out, and this was even their own father and mother telling them to. It was good thing to help them earn some extra money for the summer so they can buy that bike or baseball cards. I don't see why interns can't be 14+, they don't do jack shit anyway. I would have loved to check out and work at a electronics factory to see how all our stuff is made when I was 14. We live in a really really sissified world now.[/citation]
I live in America and I worked the summer in a grocery store when I was 14 and 15 in order to help with the family budget... Whats wrong with Chinese kids working to help put food on the table? I seriously doubt they were dragged off in chains and held in cages and then whipped if they didn't meet their "quota"
 

deadlockedworld

Distinguished
[citation][nom]frombehind[/nom]I live in America and I worked the summer in a grocery store when I was 14 and 15 in order to help with the family budget... Whats wrong with Chinese kids working to help put food on the table? I seriously doubt they were dragged off in chains and held in cages and then whipped if they didn't meet their "quota"[/citation]

There is a big different between part time work after school and full time work that diminishes or takes the place of school -- thats what child labor laws should be protecting against.
 

slabbo

Distinguished
Feb 11, 2009
457
0
18,780
[citation][nom]willard[/nom]And children were frequently killed and maimed at the workplace. I'd like to point out that "back then" radium was prescribed as a wonder drug (it is extremely lethal in small doses), cocaine and methamphetamines were considered good for your health and we lined our homes with asbestos. We did a lot of really stupid things "back then," child labor included.Why don't you go read this article and tell me that child labor is a good thing. I'm sure the money those kids saved up was a great comfort to the families of all the dead children.Paper route at 14, fine by me. Industrial manufacturing at 14 (you know, what Foxconn does), absolutely not under any circumstances.Yeah, so sissified that we decided we didn't want to see any more children who lost limbs in machinery or suffer from crippling repetitive stress injuries before they start high school. So sissified that we decided to stop letting companies exploit the insanely low wages they can pay children. So sissified that we decided maybe companies shouldn't be allowed to make massive profits on the backs of children.[/citation]
hypocrisy, in the US you can work at age 14 you know that right? And don't automatically assume they are doing dangerous work and or left unsupervised? They are assigned to them from a school so you bet your ass they have an eye on them. This is a huge well run factory, you think they let anyone waltz in and start pushing buttons? You have no idea what they actually do there, have you ever been into a semiconductor or manufacturing plant? It's no where compared to coal mining that you linked. LOL you go into a clean room, change into a smock, and get dusted off because any spec of dust can ruin a whole line.
 

TeraMedia

Distinguished
Jan 26, 2006
904
1
18,990
I can't believe that Apple isn't completely POUNCING on this PR opportunity. If their product profitability is really that high, they could switch their manufacturing approach and paint themselves as the poster-boys of "Made in America" products. Rather than getting blasted for supporting vendors such as Foxconn (which, by the way, is not supported equally by its customers; and Apple is known to be one of the worst of those for it), they could be praised for keeping dollars at home.

FWIW, I pretty much agree with everything @Willard has said thus far.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.