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Foxconn Says Vocational Students Aren't Being 'Forced' To Work
jones_supa writes "Foxconn has responded to the criticism regarding Chinese internship students being forced to work for them. In a statement to Washington Post, Foxconn said that its 'short-term internship program' is in line with Chinese labor laws and that interns comprise 2.7% of its labor force in China. Schools, not Foxconn, recruit students into the programs, the company said, and the programs are supervised by local government authorities and teachers assigned to monitor the students' work. Foxconn has also set up a hotline for interns and outlined procedures that allow them to resign from the program."
Related, an anonymous reader pointed at an undercover report on working conditions at Foxconn.
Unfortunately, we're going to have to kick you out of this school and send you back to your impoverished village. You know, budget cuts and such.
Now, does anyone else here wish to resign from our completely voluntary short-term internship program? Does anyone else wish to not do their part for glorious China? Does anyone else wish to speak to the press?
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
the programs are supervised by local government authorities and teachers assigned to monitor the students' work
So, I'm not sure that statement means "They are watching us so we treat students well" or "They are watching the students to make sure they don't get funny ideas".
Come on, this is the same company which wanted to address the high number of suicides by hanging nets around buildings until the PR disaster struck.
To think that the Chinese are using interns for free labor! How dare they copy a business technique used by US industries such as publishing and entertainment???
His response is the FoxConn isn't forcing anyone to work and that it complies with local Chinese law. He said nothing to rebut the criticism that the students are being forced to work. He's got his political speech down, talking about all the unrelated aspects rather than addressing the key point that students are being forced to work.
So from your response you can draw the following conclusions. The students ARE being forced to work, the people doing the forcing are the schools and local government officials, Foxconn is likely involved in pressuring or enticing these entities to do the forcing but isn't actually rounding the people up at gun point themselves.
Yea, not so nice when you take it out of the political speech.
... but they will if they know what's good for them.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Each new phone will contain the beating heart of a Chinese student. Get one today!
Why don't we pick on Nike's chinese sweat shops for a change. Because they're not a tech company? They do make Nike+ accessories for use with the iPod, afterall.
Come on, let's pick on Nike for a change??????
The /. groupthink appears to be that hiring high school students (to help them fulfill their graduation requirements) is a bad thing.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
The title so brings the nostalgic memories of 80s, when the first thing you do as a freshman is join glorious rows of collective farmers for two three weeks at the border between Moscow and Tula regions.
The farm was actually set up this way. They had only managers and the role of measly workers were always performed by Moscow students.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
40 years ago the super-major purchases that an affluent family might make in China, would be a bicycle, a radio, and a desk.
Today (thanks to assembly shops like Foxconn) the standard of living has been raised so that those lucky enough to get employment at a place like Foxconn, can often buy a car, a computer, and a TV.
Every major city in China is building hundreds (and I'm not kidding, HUNDREDS, it is astonishing) of skyscrapers on its edges to accomodate rural, farm poor folks who are moving to the city to get jobs at place like Foxconn.
That doesn't mean that everything is always on the level or that Foxconn is pure at heart. Far from it, corruption is widespread and so many of the jobs are incredibly dangerous. But construction work is far and away the most dangerous work environment in China today.
That guy behind them with the gun is just a coincidence
TED Talk: Leslie T. Chang: The voices of China's workers
In the ongoing debate about globalization, what's been missing is the voices of workers -- the millions of people who migrate to factories in China and other emerging countries to make goods sold all over the world. Reporter Leslie T. Chang sought out women who work in one of China's booming megacities, and tells their stories.
Not vocational school students they are college students who are taking non vocational classes.
LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE!
I'm old, not dead. Well that's my 2 cents worth, your mileage may vary. I say what I think, not what you want to hear.
American plantation owners didn't enslave Africans, they just bought slaves. Just like Foxconn is procuring slaves from the Chinese government/schools.
I wish I was able to get an internship during college.
So these interns get paid, right?
If so (even if its the entry level wage) Foxconn isn't getting free or cheap labor. Often it takes a few months to bring employees up to speed even on moderately skilled jobs. So they are probably losing some money (or at best, breaking even) on this deal.
Back when I started my engineering career at a utility, the company I started at had a training program where they would run new employees (professional and management types) through each division in the company. One or two days in meter reading, accounting and other similar departments. A few weeks in jobs more closely related to my eventual position. I even spent a few weeks working with line crews (on de-energized stuff). Best damned experience I could have gotten for the industry. Of course, they paid me the engineering entry level wage. And they didn't expect any real productivity out of me.
Interesting note about that productivity: When I went out with an underground crew, installing systems in new subdivisions (basically dragging cable through open trenches), I just put on some work clothes and jumped in. Later, the foreman told me that some engineers in the training program just sat in their cars, reading a newspaper and napping for a few weeks. Later on, it turned out that the newspaper reading engineers ended up becoming the company fuck-ups.
Same thing later on working at Boeing. We had some engineers who refused to go out into the factory and look at the systems they were involved with. Again, these turned out to be the useless screw-ups (or son-in-laws of some VP).
Its all about the enthusiasm and interest in the industry. Sure, it can be abused. But if you are not willing to do the work (and experience some of the drudgery) of the job, you probably need to seek employment elsewhere. Also, I'd think really hard about hiring any white collar professional who hasn't done some sort of physical labor in their past. Some of the best life training (even for the nerd set) is to work alongside some traditional blue collar workers who take pride in their professions. Working with line crews (both in training and as an engineer) sure puts the uber-macho attitude many engineers and IT professionals have into (hilarious) perspective.
Have gnu, will travel.
Hard day for loyal western customers that would rather um... pay more for their gadgets than exploit young workers. In the mean time we may find it useful to review the Slashdot poster rationalizations collected from recent responses to similar stories.
Apple/Foxconn worker and environmental exploitation rationalization worksheet
Check all that apply
[ ] Making iPhones in a Chinese factory is better than being a Chinese peasant
[ ] iPhones/Pads would cost too much if I had to pay my fellow citizens to make them
[ ] iPhones/Pads would cost too much given environmental regulations I vehemently insist on for myself
[ ] All the other manufacturers are doing it too
[ ] Some/Many/Most Chinese workers appreciate 70 hour weeks and breathing my aluminum dust
[ ] It's not Apple, it's Foxconn
[ ] It's not Apple, it's the Chinese government
[ ] It's just capitalism at work
[ ] It's just communism at work
[ ] Apple's disposable workers are paid better than non-Apple disposable workers
[ ] Apple's auditors didn't find any serious issues
[ ] Some day the Chinese will be too wealthy to exploit
[ ] Your Android is Foxconn too
[ ] You're an Apple hater using Apple as a scapegoat
[ ] I also work 60/80/100/120 hour weeks at my IT job
[ ] Apple designers are in the US
[ ] The US did the same thing to the British
[ ] The US had slaves once too
[ ] The US has prison labor today
[ ] It's up to the Chinese to stand up to their oppressive government
[ ] There are lines of willing workers outside Foxconn factories
[ ] If any company were to stop the exploitation, I really think it'll be Apple
[ ] Your free Linux runs on Chinese hardware too
[ ] Foxconn workers think they have it great, so it's ok!
[ ] Foxconn worker suicides are lower than Chicago's murder rate
[ ] We can't pollute the whole world!
[ ] Half of all US households have an Apple product
[ ] If we don't exploit them they'll never develop
Lurking at the bottom of the gravity well, getting old
from S1E11 animated series episode:
boss:
"Everybody who donates will get one of these colorful, stylish I-get-to-keep-my-job T-shirts. Of course participation is completely 100% voluntary."
Well... they're not forced which is somewhat correct... heavily coersed is more like it. Someone could not be "forcing" me to die, but the other option is extremely painful torture. Either way, I'd be fucked.
The fact of the matter is that we do and will always need soldiers, garbage men, and fast food lackeys.
because they won't go in one until they're 18+. If great ideas need implementation then factories are very important learning tools.
It is extremely important for break out potential and producing actually useful members of society.
Another place you should take your kids if you get the chance is court. Fight a parking ticket or some other minor legal skirmish and bring the kids along. Sure it will be a bit demoralizing for them to see their parents "lose" but it will keep them from being scared of the courts, give them a tiny insight into why the courts are how they are (very important because it allows them to get inside the legal mind. If they don't make an effort to understand legality and societal commitment they'll likely develop anti-social notions).
Also factories help people understand finance, why am I able to afford a lighter that would take me 8 months to build for what amounts to 10 minutes of effort at my job? Am I paying too much for the lighter even so? How long would it take to assemble(materials/parts) and build?
Studetns should be paid nominal wages however, otherwise part of the lesson is lost. And school should be acknowledged as a full time job, and one of the few where a youth's income ratio (time x X) is the same or better than an adults.
Well, I suppose it is "short term" if they commit suicide but it's quite rude of them to phrase it that way.
You sheeple need to stop being complacent with this behavior and start taking actions!
Demand from your companies that they provide products manufactured in responsible and fair conditions!
Demand from your Government that they reevaluate their international trade agreements so that it does not reward this type of inhumane behavior!
For products you cannot live without, buy them in second hand markets so the companies like Apple can not profit from this horrible abuse of human labor!
---
Sent from my iPhone 5
So, how long until sabotaged devices or devices with notes stating how bad the conditions are start showing up?
President Obama:
Having now been privy to the deplorable human rights abuses in countries such as China, we need to throw wide open the immigration floodgates.
These hard working Chinese youth must be rescued into outdated facilities that now exist here in the US, and be paid union ransom wages.
By companies that we taxpayer rescued from bankruptcies with money that you borrowed from the Chinese.
Mr. Obama, tear down these sweatshops.
I am an employer in China. I also employ interns. Students are not allowed to work without permission of the schools themselves. When Foxconn moved into our area, we suddenly had a lot of interns quit. We care about our employees - average length of service for our staff is over 5 years, which is like a million years in a western country - we want to know whey they are unhappy or want to leave us.
What we found out was simply that Foxconn came to town and immediately started paying bribes to everyone to get what they wanted. The school administrators were bought off and THEY forced the students to go to work for Foxconn. Luckily, I was able to get the mayor to intervene and the problem ceased for my company. But others still suffered because of Foxconn. A letter to Steve Jobs on this topic went, unsurprisingly, unanswered.
Foxconn has a terrible reputation here and we now have got most of our staff back from them. Their turnover rates are very high and they survive mostly off of tying their workforce to housing incentives. More or less all Taiwanese and Hong Kong companies tend to treat mainland Chinese workers like dirt and they get by with it through bribing local government officials, thereby causing lots of problems for honest companies and driving corruption to even worse levels here.
"Foxconn said that its 'short-term internship program' is in line with Chinese labor laws"
AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (*spittle*)