Apple has faced similar criticisms in the past in regards to the factories where iPods (or major components) are assembled. A large number of major components for Apple laptops and desktops are manufactuered in China, and it's not entirely clear that those factories have wages or conditions that are necessarily better than average.
It is, in large part, a problem that is not addressed by the Chinese government. Global corporations then take advantage of the low cost of production and turn a blind eye to the conditions under which their products are being made. As long as the product comes in under budget with solid profit margins, it's best not to look too closely at the inner workings.
China needs to address these issues. Human rights advocacy groups can point fingers and name names, but that won't necessarily solve the problem.
Certain NY law firms (there are good ones too) treat their document reviewers like this. 12+ hour days in a basement with no windows, no talking, timed bathroom breaks, and generally treating the staff like 6th graders -- despite having an advanced degree and license to practice law.
OK, OK, I admit it, it's totally true. Encroached upon by piles of used kleenex. Hidden under half-empty food wrappers. Keycaps grubbier than if they had been handled by jam-handed kids. Yes, never fully seeing the light of day, my keyboard does exist in appalling conditions.
There, I've said it! And I feel so much better to having confessed to being a slob of disgusting propor
Oh. Wait.
*hehehe*
Sorry, misread the headline.
Please ignore.
* gleefully discovers an overlooked crust of a Ding Dong *
@SilenceisGolden: Then they must "hold it" and continue to work, or risk losing half a week's wages (more more) if they choose to break the rules and go to the restroom.
@SilenceisGolden: WOW. When your uneducated, uninformed sheep like anti-apple fanboi hate-sauce drives you to read Apple into the article, you know your MS world is sad.
Unless you meant to type "Wasn't" on the list, then you are alright.
Apple has been embroiled in their own sweatshop drama, in regards to the manufacture of their iPods (and potentially other Apple hardware). Don't get holier than thou just because you bought, or like, a product.
I understand that these people have to work to survive, but they still have the choice to NOT work. What's worse for them? Not working in a third world country and begging for food or working under less-than-first-world conditions in a factory?
@Dane Bendixen: There is nobody to beg food from... if they don't submit themselves to this sort of "work" then they simply starve to death. Calling it a choice is like telling a person in the desert who is dying of extreme thirst that it's ridiculous to drink their own urine when they could simply wait and see if a Dasani salesperson passes by.
When faced with the certain death of themselves and loved ones, they'll begin to accept anything; the greed of others runs rampant to take advantage of the socially and politically disdvantaged populace.
@BeautifulAgony: But people have lived for thousands of years without sweatshop employment. I don't think it's a choice between live and death, just poverty and worse poverty.
@Hello Mister Walrus: That's a gross oversimplification of the situation that doesn't properly counter BeautifulAgony's post, I think. This is just a quick post too, but I'm sure that in the past, when sweatshops didn't exist, alternative methods of living in relatively poor conditions might have allowed one to live. But right now, in 2009, perhaps those alternatives have been wiped out, in part due to the economic schemes that have given rise to the existence of sweatshops?
@BeautifulAgony: Really? Do you think this is the one single factory in all of China? Were the people all dead before this factory popped into existence? How do you think Africans survive without these factories?
The fact of the matter is these people can go home with money in their pockets. This factory has helped people, and I bet if you asked them if they would rather have the factory or not, the vast majority would say they like the factory.
Besides this, if you look at the standards of living in countries like China, Brazil, and others that factories go to, you'll see a steady incline. These people are not being taken advantage of: some of these people travel miles because they want the job, not because they are forced into it. And even if they are, that's not the companies' doings; its the communist government who doesn't want the motherland looking bad from their horrible mistreatment of human rights.
@rimshot515: Providing the alternative of joblessness and starving to death doesn't make inhumane treatment a justifiable option.
There are ample opportunities for the Chinese government to step in and rectify these situations, but they choose not to draw attention to appalling conditions or acknowledge the injustice of them.
Also, your ad hominem attackon what I think, is incongruous with my previous post. The problem is that as available farmable land diminishes, the people who formerly lived by subsistence farming are edged out.
Saying this factory is beneficial and helping people is akin to saying that a rapist of a virgin has helped her out, and that further, if he murders her, he's easing her painful memories. It's inhumane; these workers live by intolerably strict rules and are treated like animals and given less than living wages in return. They do it because the choice to not work is too painful.
If you truly feel the way your post indicates, I have very little opinion of your worth as a human being. I can only hope that if you have children that they are able to get away from you as quickly as possible. Your mentality is an indication of a psychosis that perpetuates this sort of cruelty.
Also, re: capitalism: Yes, it's working just great. We certainly don't have underpaid workers, stifling taxes, a large (and growing) number of unemployed, and record defecit, and misappropriated funds.
All I know is that Steve Jobs himself kisses each one on its way off the assembly line. His .. ahem .. limited availability of late is the reason prices have gone up.
But seriously, the saddest thing about this article is not the conditions in which these people work. They are all in those factories more or less by choice, meaning that the alternative to working in those factories is worse. This story is not about inhumane treatment of workers by factory owners. It is about the pitiful state of impoverishment that these people live in, with or without the factories.
02/10/09
Hooray China, for exploiting your massive population.
02/10/09
The workers should rise up this Friday, chicken foot in hand and claw out the eyes of their oppressors...
02/10/09
It is, in large part, a problem that is not addressed by the Chinese government. Global corporations then take advantage of the low cost of production and turn a blind eye to the conditions under which their products are being made. As long as the product comes in under budget with solid profit margins, it's best not to look too closely at the inner workings.
China needs to address these issues. Human rights advocacy groups can point fingers and name names, but that won't necessarily solve the problem.
02/10/09
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02/10/09
Or do they need another committee for that?
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There, I've said it! And I feel so much better to having confessed to being a slob of disgusting propor
Oh. Wait.
*hehehe*
Sorry, misread the headline.
Please ignore.
* gleefully discovers an overlooked crust of a Ding Dong *
Uh...move along, nothing here to see.
02/10/09
GET A MAC AND SAVE THE PEOPLE OF CHINA !!
02/10/09
[i.gizmodo.com]
02/10/09
02/10/09
It explains why one time I got a keyboard that spelled out "life sucks" in a the top row.
Notice how Apple was included on the list...
02/10/09
02/10/09
Unless you meant to type "Wasn't" on the list, then you are alright.
02/10/09
02/10/09
Explains how I got this keyboard:
... I hope.
Full: [www.mintred.com]
02/10/09
ALL because i forgot a "n't" geeez! talk about going ape shit...
Who's the crazy fanboy asshole now??!
02/10/09
Apple has been embroiled in their own sweatshop drama, in regards to the manufacture of their iPods (and potentially other Apple hardware). Don't get holier than thou just because you bought, or like, a product.
02/10/09
02/10/09
When faced with the certain death of themselves and loved ones, they'll begin to accept anything; the greed of others runs rampant to take advantage of the socially and politically disdvantaged populace.
02/10/09
02/10/09
02/10/09
Aye. You can't feed a population of 500M on subsistence farming alone in the land mass of China, let alone 1.2B.
02/10/09
The fact of the matter is these people can go home with money in their pockets. This factory has helped people, and I bet if you asked them if they would rather have the factory or not, the vast majority would say they like the factory.
Besides this, if you look at the standards of living in countries like China, Brazil, and others that factories go to, you'll see a steady incline. These people are not being taken advantage of: some of these people travel miles because they want the job, not because they are forced into it. And even if they are, that's not the companies' doings; its the communist government who doesn't want the motherland looking bad from their horrible mistreatment of human rights.
Capitalism: it works, bitches.
02/10/09
There are ample opportunities for the Chinese government to step in and rectify these situations, but they choose not to draw attention to appalling conditions or acknowledge the injustice of them.
Also, your ad hominem attackon what I think, is incongruous with my previous post. The problem is that as available farmable land diminishes, the people who formerly lived by subsistence farming are edged out.
Saying this factory is beneficial and helping people is akin to saying that a rapist of a virgin has helped her out, and that further, if he murders her, he's easing her painful memories. It's inhumane; these workers live by intolerably strict rules and are treated like animals and given less than living wages in return. They do it because the choice to not work is too painful.
If you truly feel the way your post indicates, I have very little opinion of your worth as a human being. I can only hope that if you have children that they are able to get away from you as quickly as possible. Your mentality is an indication of a psychosis that perpetuates this sort of cruelty.
Also, re: capitalism: Yes, it's working just great. We certainly don't have underpaid workers, stifling taxes, a large (and growing) number of unemployed, and record defecit, and misappropriated funds.
02/10/09
How or who makes apple parts ?
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02/10/09
All I know is that Steve Jobs himself kisses each one on its way off the assembly line. His .. ahem .. limited availability of late is the reason prices have gone up.
02/10/09
02/10/09
02/10/09