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300 factory workers for a manufacturing company in China that makes products for Apple, Microsoft and HP, among others, threatened to jump off their building unless they were given raises.
Everyone loves their iPhone, their XBox and their sleek HP printer, but very few of us understand how those things are produced - and the human misery that is generated in the process. Foxconn Technology Group is the world's largest technology contract manufacturer, producing high-end electronics and IT products for well-known brands. In China, the company employs tens of thousands of people, often in military-style factories and harsh working conditions at very low wages.
As a result of those types of working conditions, Foxconn employees have an extremely high rate of suicide. Some reports suggest that 17 Foxconn employees have committed suicide over the last 5 years, but there are some indications that the number may be grossly under-reported.
Some Foxconn factories in China are equipped with anti-suicide netting surrounding the building. That would seem to suggest that suicides are a much larger problem than the company would like the world to know.
This most recent incident might bring some much-needed attention to the ongoing problem of working conditions in China and the companies like Apple, Microsoft and others who choose to build their business models on this type of labor force.
What would happen if companies like Apple, Microsoft, Dell, HP and others brought their high-end manufacturing jobs home to the U.S.? The most likely answer is, "We'll never know." Relative to places like China, the cost of labor in the U.S. is through the roof. The U.S. standard of living is so high as to essentially make it impossible for companies like these to keep their jobs in this country. Doing so would mean that your new iPad 2 might cost about five or ten thousand dollars. But maybe that's not such a bad thing.
By Buzzle Staff and Agencies
Published: 1/11/2012
