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High Tech Misery In China

Posted by kdawson on from the dawn-of-the-industrial-age dept.

theodp writes "Think you've got a bad job? Think again. You could be making keyboards for IBM, Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo and HP at Meitai Plastic and Electronics, a Chinese hardware factory. Prompted by the release of High Tech Misery in China by a human-rights group, a self-regulating body set up by tech companies will conduct an audit of working conditions at the factory. In return for take-home pay of 41 cents per hour, workers reportedly sit on hard wooden stools for 12-hour shifts, seven days a week. Overtime is mandatory, with workers being given on average two days off per month. While on the production line, workers are not allowed to raise their hands or heads, are given 1.1 seconds to snap each key into place, and are encouraged to 'actively monitor each other' to see if any company rules are being transgressed. They are also monitored by guards. Workers are fined if they break the rules, locked in the factory for four days per week, and sleep in crowded dormitories. Okay, it's not all bad news — they're hiring."

3 of 876 comments (clear)

  1. A different side of the story by adam1101 · · Score: 5, Informative
    From the perspective of a journalist who spend some time with some of these workers: http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/book-qa-chinese-workers/

    I think Americans - and many urban Chinese, too - tend to see the factory workers as passive victims, motivated by poverty and desperation. Spending time with these young women taught me the opposite: They are resourceful and ambitious, full of plans to improve their lot and change their fates, willing to challenge their bosses and quit their jobs for better ones, and willing to take night classes to improve themselves. When you ask these migrant workers why they came to the city, they will tell you that their families are poor, but they also talk about the opportunity and adventure of urban life. They may have very little power in our eyes, but in their own they are the leading actors in their own dramas and not victims of circumstance.

  2. Re:Compared to doing what? by sith · · Score: 5, Informative

    Dunno about where this factory is, but everywhere I've been in China, 41 cents (3 yuan) doesn't buy you much...

  3. Re:No surprises here by Falconhell · · Score: 5, Informative

    How incredibly naive you are.

    The Austarlian banks have weathered the crisis without great trouble, no bailouts needed so far. Why? Because they were reregulated in the 90's, not allowed to make up silly investment viehicles that lead to disaster.

    Hate to bring reality to your shiny libertarian ideals, but as you should well know reality has a liberal bias.

    Good regulation would have prevented the problem as it did in Australia. No ammount of rationalization and false analogies you make will change that.

    Honestly, I cannot believe you really think reducing regulation would magically fix the banking crisis. Like the bankers will suddenly become honest.

    Jeezus!