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http://www.nlcnet.org/reports?id=0034

Enjoy. Granted its Microsoft ;) But this is pretty much universal there. Remember Nike employing children? or Kathy Lee's clothes being made by children? etc.

regarding the finger incident:

"A worker from Shanxi Province had his index finger chopped off while operating a hole punch press machine while working on an internet camera. Management did rush him to the hospital for emergency treatment. However, after an investigation, management determined that the worker had disobeyed regulations related to operating the punch press machine, so the worker was fined 200 RMB ($29.26) and fired! The foreman and section chief in that department were also fined. Management then rehired the injured worker as a security guard." (http://www.nlcnet.org/reports?id=0034)

That's almost better than the treatment I received the two times I was injured here in the States. If you get injured here, the companies want you out the door and off their books as fast as they can.

Why would it say "Apple" when no Apple sourced products come from the factory in question? Sure Foxconn buys from them and Apple (among many other companies) buys from Foxconn, but Apple has also been auditing all the factories that source their products after they discovered this type of thing going on a few years ago. Here is the list of companies outsourcing from KYE and their contact info. By all means contact them and express your intent not to purchase their crap. Please do not, however, conflate them with one of the few companies that is actually taking the issue seriously (for a few years at least). It makes me quite angry that companies like Apple get bad press when they do the right thing (like all the bad press Apple got when they discovered abuses while auditing a supplier) as if there was no difference between that and a human rights organization discovering these things when the company ignored the abuse or did not bother to even check.

How about: "Photos of Chinese Sweatshop Used By US Tech Companies" I guess that just doesn't have the same bite? At least it's more accurate.

No it doesn't have the same bite. By calling out a specific company, more bad press is drawn to that company and it is more likely they will act to manage the PR disaster. An article that just says US companies in general are doing something does not leave a specific name in people's minds and makes customers less likely to act for change. The headline is completely accurate, just not as informative as you'd like. But then, you don't seem too interested in accuracy if you decided to smear Apple without even finding out if that was true, presumably because of some prejudice on your part.

Exactly. Nothing new here from previous post, except you get a bit of 'Daily Mail' sensationalism.
Appropriate, since people are now (unfavourably) comparing /. to the Daily Mail...
http://crashedpips.com/2010/03/slashdot-the-daily-mail-of-the-tech-world/

Better to read the NLC's original report, (which is actually even more damming, since it contains more detail):
http://www.nlcnet.org/reports?id=0034 - April 13

In the interests of balance:
http://blogs.technet.com/microsoft_blog/archive/2010/04/15/working-to-ensure-the-fair-treatment-of-workers-in-our-manufacturing-and-supply-chain.aspx

http://www.nlcnet.org/campaigns/archive/chinarepor t/walmart.shtml

Yes because any famous person who uses some type of charity for publicity is a saint

I do believe I know of a manufacturing group who'se only customer is Wal-Mart in China, but don't have the english name or URL. I'll keep searching.

For people who don't believe Wal-Mart has such companies, this Fast Company article alludes to it too

"Eventually Wal-Mart became Lovable's biggest customer. "Wal-Mart has a big pencil," says Garson. "They have such awesome purchasing power that they write their own ticket. If they don't like your prices, they'll go vertical and do it themselves--or they'll find someone that will meet their terms.""

Why is this insightful? HP is not an American company. They are a multinational, with R&D sites around the world. Carly doesn't want anything to keep her from moving her engineering to India or China, but she still wants American taxpayers to give her R&D tax subsidies.

I don't think we should make outsourcing illegal, but we should make sure that we eliminate any active tax advantages to outsourcing, as well as any advantages coused by lack of environmental protection or worker rights. Workers voluntarily working for less is one thing. However, a lot of clothing sold in the US is made in countries where asking for better wages or working conditions literally gets you shot at.

That's if you include reliance on donations to keep your job (an employer used to paying $2.13 an hour is not suddenly going to drop their pants and pay you thrice that if business levels). I personally don't count those, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

What donations? They are REQUIRED BY LAW to pay at least $6.75. Let me explain this to you again since you didn't get it the first time. They can pay $6.75, or pay $2.13 to workers who make the majority of their income in tips. If the tips plus the $2.13 do not equal $6.75 per hour, the employer is REQUIRED BY LAW to pay the difference. You can not make less than $6.75 either way. Not legally. Employers are not 'used to' paying $2.13. They've always had to operate this way.

Then the typical Chinese company operates outside the law.

They often do. Chinese labor laws, while on the books, are for the most part not enforced. Here's another article, from the Washington Post.. (Mirrored elsewhere, the Post charges money for archived stories beyond 2 weeks).

How about these? Do they look "poorly rewritten" to you?

Reason #1 | Reason #2 | Reason #3

Now that the software is free, all we need now are cheaper iPods, production-wise. $500 for 5GB? You've got to be kidding me!

Apple could save a fortune on labor expenses if they followed Walmart's Production Strategy, and probably have competitive prices.

I'd pay $100 for an iPod, but not $500 -- all they have to do to get me to buy one is cut labor expenses.

but the point is, Wal-Mart has made conditions worse.
Shops where peple made 31 cents an hour, now make 13 cents an hour.

I just want to see the workers treated like human beings. The cost of living is wildly different in 3rd world conutries, I recognize that, but I also recognize that working below the level needed for basic sustenance is wrong.
I suggest you go to NLC, read there "about NLC" page, then do a search for wal-mart.
I do not believe globalization in and of itself is evil, but I feel the way its being put forth will allow people to get abused, that is evil.

'their globalisation tactics'

Thats is a poor statement for someone to make, and I can see why it would confuse somebody.

What they are referring to is wal-marts tactic to "lower the bar" for overseas companies.
Manufactures of wal-mart goods get paid less, and work more then any other manufacture in order to get wal-mart prices. this forces other large companies to do the same or go out of business, some companies have chose to go out of business. This is the big reason on why Kmart has gone under.
Wal-mart also red lines the books of people they buy from, forcing them to cut "uneeded fat". Like health care.
Wal-mart treats its employees like dirt. You have to be there 2 years before your eligable for health care, then it costs so much most of there emplyees can not afford it.
Wal-Mart says it has more full time employees the any other retailer, but they consider 28 hour full time.
For ever 2 people wal-mart hires, three are put out of work in the local community.
I probably didn't present this very well, for that, I'm sorry.
go to NLC and search for Wal-mart, Or any company. Please read the about NLC page so thye can explain what there about.

I choose microsoft, too.

Walmart uses sweatshops and I personally don't feel like supporting slavery.

China in NO WAY could afford to enter open-source development where there is no income associated with the expense of software development. The western Linux community has disposable income.

• American labor laws
  
• Bunch of other notes
  
• Catholic-Labor Network
  
• Another article...
  
• A CNN article (there, proof from "mass media" good enough for you?
  
• Uh, just do a search on google... there's too much proof!