Slashdot Mirror
Behind the Scenes With Samsung's Factory Workers
itwbennett writes "The young women working at Samsung's factory in Tianjin, China like their jobs about as much as factory workers anywhere. The work is boring and tiring, but it pays ok and there are perks (like air conditioning in the dorms), says 19-year-old Zhao Caixia. One 23-year-old woman, who assembles 200-300 camera lenses a day, told the IDG News Service's Michael Kan: 'You just keep doing the same thing over and over. There is nothing really to like, but nothing to really dislike either.' Labor rights group China Labor Watch tells a different story (PDF). One day after Samsung said it would audit its suppliers in China, the group reported cases of excessive overtime (exceeding 100 hours per month) and exhausting working conditions, with employees being made to stand for up to 12 hours for a single shift."
I was a Samsung factory worker till I took an arrow to the knee
even in my company 12 hour shifts are common, in the hearland of the USA ... boo who for the Asians?
I worked construction for a few summers after high school -- 12 hour shifts weren't uncommon (on my feet the whole time), and I took all the overtime I could get, sometimes putting in 80 hours or more of overtime a month (six 10 hour days/week), If I didn't have to drive up to 90 minutes each way to the job site on the other side of the state, I probably would have put in more overtime. When I was lucky, I'd get to drive an escort vehicle for a wide-load truck on my way to or from the job site so I'd rack up a couple hours of work while driving to work).
It was hard work, but I still found time to party with friends on the weekends, and the work paid most of my first two years of college.
Isn't it odd that now when Samsung gets attacked these heartwarming stories pop up, but when Foxconn (or rather Apple) was attacked for better working conditions, there was silence.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.