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Photos of Chinese Sweatshop Used By Microsoft
MongooseCN has a follow-up to last week's Chinese Sweatshop story. He says "The image Microsoft doesn't want you to see: Too tired to stay awake. These Chinese workers earn just 34p an hour (about 52 cents in US dollars), work 15-hour shifts, and deal with other abuses to package US-made products."
I think the difference here is, while you were doing this:
1) You made 0.52USD in a fraction of an hour
2) You could have quit and found another programming job, most likely within a drivable distance from where you live.
-Will P.
Unless they are being forced to work in this factory as literal slaves, the fact that they're doing it probably means it's the best option available. By all means lean on the factory to improve conditions, but before taking the business elsewhere for the sake of the employees, find out what the employees would do otherwise. Work in an even worse factory? Become prostitutes? Starve?
Step into a huge movement. Don't Tread In Me.
I know we always want to bash Microsoft here at Slashdot, but did the submitter fail to notice Foxconn (Apple's supplier), Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Acer, Logitech and Asus all use this same manufacturing house? 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.
I've toured several Asian factories and this is the reality of Asian work life. People live in factory dormatories, work 6 VERY long days a week, and sleep at their desks when they get tired. We can pretend that we're shocked, but we all know that goods from Asia are dirt cheap and yet we never seem to ask "WHY"? Is this willful blindness? Until we start imposing tariffs based on unequal labour standards, this will never change.
This reminds me of the time I worked in a Sony TV manufacturing plant for 4 months. No heating or air conditioning, dirty restrooms, 12 hour shift where I'd gladly nap during my 10 and 30 minute breaks. The cafeteria basically only had snacks. Monotonous work. No sitting or resting outside of your breaks. Oh wait, this was in San Diego, California. Guess what, manual labor jobs suck? Congratulations! Of course I'm sure it's worse where OSHA isn't breathing down a company's neck, but is this really news? Did anyone expect Microsoft to *not* have these kinds of places?
+5 insightful. Just read the friggin' article:
'I know I can choose not to work overtime, but if I don't work overtime then I am stuck with only 770 Chinese yuan (£72.77p) per month in basic wages,' the worker said.
'This is not nearly enough to support a family. My parents are farmers without jobs. They also do not have pensions.
'I also need to worry about getting married, which requires a lot of money. Therefore, I still push myself to continue working in spite of my exhaustion.
Regardless of the working conditions, these people are there because they have needs and desires the same as the rest of us. They work there because there is no other work available, or the work that is available is even worse. That's the state that the majority of the world is in, and it won't be changed by any number of idealistic fools opining about the immorality of large corporations.
It’s funny how you conveniently failed to mention that this practice wasn’t ONLY conducted by Microsoft, and that HP, Dell, Asus, and many other hardware manufacturers outsource to the same company, and that out of all those companies, only Microsoft is taking action to investigate the reports.
They are not allowed to talk or listen to music, are forced to eat substandard meals from the factory cafeterias, have no bathroom breaks during their shifts and must clean the toilets as discipline, according to the NLC.
I've been to the KYE factory (not for MS, for other clients) and while that is the official rule, you'll see every 3rd or 4th worker with a headset plugged into their phone, blasting out the latest Chinese pop tunes. There are rules, and there are "rules"; you do know that in China the car is supposed to yield for the pedestrian? Well, follow that rule and you'll die.
As far as meals, yeah, they suck. It's Chinese food cafeteria style. The cafeterias at Sundstrand when I worked there (18 years ago) sucked too with poor versions of mass-produced food. Guess what: cafeteria style food usually sucks. This isn't your modern Microsoft of Apple dining experience with independent restaurants bidding and competing to sell $9 lunches.
Bathroom breaks? Saw plenty go to the bathroom at KYE, Vtech, Compal, and other big places. Of course, you had to arrange for someone to cover your spot for 3-5 minutes, because that production line keeps going. They don't stop a 200 person line so one can take a leak. Typically they space breaks out so that your fellow workers can pick up the pace for a short burst to cover for you. And you do likewise.
The workers also sleep on site, in factory dormitories, with 14 workers to a room. They must buy their own mattresses and bedding, or else sleep on 28in-wide plywood boards. They 'shower' with a sponge and a bucket.
Dormitories are common in Southern China, especially in Dongguan and Shenzhen. Not so much in Ningbo, or Hangzhou, Suzhou, or other places. You know why? Because a cheap 1 bedroom apartment starts at 500 RMB a month; when you're making 800 RMB a month you can't live off-site. So you live in a dorm with a dozen others.
As far as beds, ever travel in China? Ever stay at a non-Crown Plaza/Sofitel/Hilton hotel, but a 4 or 5 star Chinese hotel? Great amenities, as good as the best in the US, but the beds - like freaking rocks with half a dozen sheets over them for padding. That's how beds are in China, literally a box spring or solid wood platform. It's what people have IN THEIR HOMES, even those that can afford a soft, Western mattress. There's a belief that a really firm bed will keep your spine straight and tall.
As far as sponge baths, welcome to Asia. You'll find that throughout Asia, not just in dorms, but even in mid and upper end homes. For example, I have a rather wealthy friend in Thailand, who lives outside of Chaiyaphum. Yes, she lived in the US for a decade, recently moved back home. Big beautiful new house, modern plumbing, AC, Internet, satellite TV, great place. And a big BUCKET with water, a smaller pan of water, and a washcloth for bathing. Nice modern toilet with a built-in bidet but a SPONGE BATH. When asked why, the answer is 'that is how we do it'.
And many of the workers, because they are young women, are regularly sexually harassed, the NLC claimed.
Yes, that does happen, and it's terrible. Many places in Asia still consider women as second-class; assholes love that kind of place. Happens all over, in fact...
The organisation said that one worker was even fined for losing his finger while operating a hole punch press.
Ummm... Yeah. Anything more than innuendo on that one? I've been in forging facilities with open pits for steel coils, wide-open 400 ton flywheel presses, etc. Nowhere near OSHA compliant (not unlike manufacturing facilities in the US and EU about 60-70 years ago). I've even seen an accident or two. Workers are shuffled off and cared for, and another is brought in to keep the machine running. One time the operator really screwed up and because of his bone-headed move (trying to
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
In Ohio, the minimum wage is $7.30. This means that someone working 40 hours/week would earn roughly $14,600 a year. Our GDP per capita is about $48,000, so someone earning minimum wage is getting about 30% of the average. In china, GDP per capita is $3,266. Someone earning 50 cents/hour, working 40 hours a week, earns $1,000 US a year. Hey, look at that, right about 30%. So, these factory workers are basically earning the equivalent minimum wage in china (*if* scaling based on GDP is appropriate). This is to say nothing about actual cost of living, or the actual working conditions, but dollar for dollar if we expect someone in the US to work for $7.30 an hour when the average is much higher, we should have no problem expecting someone in China to work for $.50 an hour considering what everyone else makes.
Yes, why blame Microsoft? The root cause of these working conditions falls squarely on the Chinese government and Chinese culture.
No, it's not just a matter of napping after work. It is seriously inhumane treatment.
The mostly female workers, aged 18 to 25, work from 7.45am to 10.55pm, sometimes with 1,000 workers crammed into one 105ft by 105ft room.
They are not allowed to talk or listen to music, are forced to eat substandard meals from the factory cafeterias, have no bathroom breaks during their shifts and must clean the toilets as discipline, according to the NLC.
My wife works for the British NHS - the following is a comparison.
She is regularly rostered in for 12.5 hour shifts, but is required to stay until the patient she is handling has been dealt with - if she takes on an A&E case 30 minutes before she is scheduled to finish, that case can take up to 4 hours to conclude, and she is not allowed to leave until then. She is still required to turn up for the next shift on time.
She is not allowed to take extended breaks, short comfort breaks are all she is permitted and any meals she takes are routinely interrupted - the longest she has had to eat a meal in the past 6 months is 20 minutes uninterrupted.
She is regularly pressured by the Trust to declare that she has not worked past her legal limit, even though they both know that she was rostered on to work way past that limit.
She has to pay money to a private, non-government body to be able to practice in the UK - she cannot practice without GMC membership.
She cannot become GMC qualified without being trained by the government - there is no alternative to the government workplace for doctors in the UK.
She does not get to plan her holidays, she gets told when she is on holiday, sometimes without any notice (she was told she was on holiday last week on the friday before).
And she gets paid less than the night security staff.
Oh, and shes responsible for the lives of her patients during all of this - any mistakes she makes and that's potentially her livelihood out of the window. Tiredness and overwork is not an excuse, but neither is refusing to work the NHS roster.
My point? The western world has its own little sweat shops and no one gives a damn.
Quick! Someone tell the Communist Chinese government about this, I mean doesn't the whole idea of communism exist to "PROTECT THE WORKER" from crap like this in the first place, I'll bet Mao himself is spinning in his grave over this one.....
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
Idealists can run easily run a corporation at a profit. Fools can not. I've got a Buddhist friend who owns a medium sized bakery business that specifically employs ex-cons, runaways, homeless folks, and so forth. He operates it at a small, reasonable profit. He isn't rich, but he is comfortable. Stock portfolios containing only socially responsible, environmentally friendly corporations have been around for at least three decades, and they have done well enough that people keep investing in them.
The idea that you can't be an idealist and make a profit is an idea promulgated by selfish bastards who don't give a rat's ass about the well being of others. It's a cop out, nothing more. Just admit that you aren't an idealist and you don't care about others; you don't need to put idealists down just because you aren't one.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton