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Brazil Sues Samsung Over Worker Conditions

Posted by samzenpus on from the no-work dept.

First time accepted submitter konohitowa writes "The Financial Times is reporting that the Brazilian government has filed a lawsuit against Samsung for working conditions that put workers' health at risk (both through repetitive motion injuries as well as excessive consecutive work days). Samsung has 'promised to conduct a thorough review and fully co-operate with the Brazilian authorities once it receives details of the complaint.'"

60 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. And then... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Samsung has 'promised to conduct a thorough review and fully co-operate with the Brazilian authorities once it receives details of the complaint.'"

    And then they will move the plant to Mexico.

    1. Re:And then... by erroneus · · Score: 1

      yes... built by robots.

      I think this is more about everyone scrambling to squeeze more money from their incoming streams as the global financial crises are continuing.

  2. Get this crap out of here. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why would /. allow a submission that uses a source that requires registration or a premium account to view?

    1. Re:Get this crap out of here. by girlintraining · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Why would /. allow a submission that uses a source that requires registration or a premium account to view?

      Possibly because Slashdot is now owned by a company that requires registration and a premium account for many of its websites. Naturally, they aren't going to see much of a problem with that.

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    2. Re:Get this crap out of here. by antdude · · Score: 1

      "/.ers sue /. for using non-free sources". ;)

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    3. Re:Get this crap out of here. by mercnet · · Score: 1

      Probably because the source paid Slashdot to post it in hopes of getting subscribers to sign up. I am going to guess the conversion rate is 0%.

  3. Enough by oldhack · · Score: 3, Funny

    Samsux is going too far imitating Apple. Get a grip.

    --
    Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
    1. Re:Enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You mean a signal blocking grip?

    2. Re:Enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Huh? You realise this is actually samsung's employees we're talking about here.

      In Samsung's case, it's Samsung directly making the decisions about how they're treated.
      In Apple's case, Apple specifies one thing in the contract for how they're treated, the 3rd party (sometimes) does another thing.

      Apple are actively trying to stop this kind of thing, Samsung it appears are complicit in it.

    3. Re:Enough by gnasher719 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Samsux is going too far imitating Apple. Get a grip.

      Excuse me, but how is Samsung imitating Apple here? Apple has audits everywhere checking working conditions at the factories of their contractors and subcontractors, and fixes problems when they are found. This here is Samsung's own factory.

    4. Re:Enough by sl4shd0rk · · Score: 1

      Apple has audits everywhere

      Yep. And everyone knows that a company investigating itself is the most fair and thorough way to inspect a facility for human rights violations.

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      Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
    5. Re:Enough by torkus · · Score: 1

      fixes problems when they come under public scrutiny.

      FTFY

      I don't know why people expect anything different from the big corporations that make our fun geek toys than they do from other big business. It's always about profit margins.

      --
      You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
    6. Re:Enough by rwise2112 · · Score: 1

      It's paraphrased, but here's a source NY Times

      --

      "For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
  4. Free Link by tlhIngan · · Score: 4

    A copy of the story from The Verge.

    Interestingly, Samsung paid out $200,000 in 2011 to Brazil for working conditions as well.

    And China Labour Watch also has citations to Samsung.

    1. Re:Free Link by girlintraining · · Score: 1

      And China Labour Watch also has citations to Samsung.

      It says something when a private group that watches a country known for literally working its citizens to death in sweat shops, building giant dams using substandard concrete and technology that will one day result in a major ecological disaster... and saying nothing when one of the major employers started installing suicide nets on its properties to catch workers who were throwing themselves out of windows... says you have a problem with working conditions in your factories.

      This is rather like Osama Bin Laden getting on the radio and says another religious extremist group has gone too far... well, I mean, if we dug him up out of the ocean, reanimated him, and his zombie self said that... *cough*

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    2. Re:Free Link by fredprado · · Score: 1

      It only says that the government of the country in question, like all governments, does not prioritize what is important, and goes after random targets, as the political wind blows.

      Samsung does nothing in China differently from other companies. More likely than not someone forgot to pay that month's bribe.

      In Brazil (and in US) things are considerably better regarding working conditions, but the idea of random government targets for audits and fines and their relation to bribes (or lack thereof) still apply.

  5. hopeful by roc97007 · · Score: 1

    It's this kind of article that makes me hopeful for the human race. That the answer to corporate solvency isn't necessarily to find some third world country where you can work your employees seven days a week for bottlecaps.

    Or, if that is the answer, you deserve to fail.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  6. Re:mexico drug wars is bad for makeing phones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    and then you get the next hot phone from the same guy who sells drugs all under the table.

    Yeah that's nice, that subtle racism you are showing.

    Protip: lots of Mexicans are regular people, not gang members or drug cartel lords. Many Mexicans have a work ethic that I straight up admire in fact.

    I'm not upset or offended. The answer to your kind of ignorance is knowledge.

  7. working conditions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    In South Korea, work ethic is highly valued and people actually take pride in consecutive work days. Even a job as laid back as teaching usually requires 6 10 hour days a week. It's a ridiculous "hurry up and get it done but work all the damn time anyways" culture.

    1. Re:working conditions by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

      Then Samsung should build the phones there...

      --
      #DeleteChrome
  8. Android white knights: Assemble! by smash · · Score: 1

    Boycott samsung, amiright?

    --
    I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
  9. Re:I happen to know how Samsung builds products by icebike · · Score: 1

    I happen to know how Samsung builds products. And RSI is actually not an issue. This is a payoff fishing expedition from Brazil needing currency, now that they've closed down external bank transfers in US dollars, and shut down a large sector of their economy. Rather than admit their mistake and undo it, they are now looking to get their money a different way.

    Strange, but Apple (contractors Pegatron and Honhai) have faced the same charges in other countries.
    Could it be that Samsung manufactures phones so dramatically differently that all Brazil can do shake Samsung down for a couple hundred thousand?

    --
    Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
  10. Is this really news? by DavidClarkeHR · · Score: 2

    A copy of the story from The Verge.

    Interestingly, Samsung paid out $200,000 in 2011 to Brazil for working conditions as well.

    And China Labour Watch also has citations to Samsung.

    I'm not familiar with the US law, but the Ministry of Labour in Canada will take a company to court if they believe the company to be violating worker safety laws.

    In other words, it's great to see that Brazil is enforcing labour laws... but not particularly surprising. As countries move to establish and enforce workers rights (and move away from manufacturing our junk), more lawsuits will occur.

    It's how workers rights are enforced, and it isn't news in a developed country ... (and brazil is far more developed than many people think).

    --
    - Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
  11. Great idea by Billly+Gates · · Score: 2

    I am sure that Foxconn would still be more than happy to open their new rumored plant in Brazil and help one of the most impoverished countries in the world better themselves after this!

    --
    http://saveie6.com/
    1. Re:Great idea by gustgr · · Score: 1

      one of the most impoverished countries in the world better themselves after this!

      This is not really the case, at least in a large part of the country, specially in the Southern regions (São Paulo and below). I live in São Paulo right now (that's the state, not the city!), in a medium size town (pop. 250,000), have a regular job and my quality of life is not very much different than when I lived in Germany for some years, quite a while ago. The main problems are public services, specially health services (but I, like half of Brazilian population, have a private health insurance) and public transportation (we have pretty decent buses, but they can't be compared to Germany's rail system), even though we pay way too much taxes. Our GDP as of 2011 as US$ 2.48 trillion (6th in the world, higher than India, Russia and Mexico), and the tax revenue was 35% of that. So our government gets a metric fucktonne of money.

      In some states, most of them in Northern and Northeastern regions, poverty is a whole different business. It looks like two countries, as a matter of fact. Even in terms of ethnicity, with Northern states having a very mixed racial makeup (due to slavery), and Southern states having a majority of whites of Italian, German, Spaniard and Portuguese origins (there was a large government program to make the population whiter in these regions, about 100-150 years ago).

    2. Re:Great idea by gustgr · · Score: 1

      Do you believe that the origin of all North and Northeast population is identical (and in that case Bahia's)?

      Of course not. That's why I said that there is a very mixed racial makeup. Slavery was one factor, but not the only one. There are regions in Northeastern states, such as in Paraíba or Pernambuco, where there are a lot of whites with Dutch and Portuguese background. In North and Mid-West regions there was a greater mix with native populations. It is impossible to say that it is the same, and I never said that.

      What I said is that Southern states, and São Paulo, have a different ethnic profile.The focus of white immigrants during the XIX and XX centuries were mostly São Paulo and Southern states, and to a lesser degree other Southeastern states. This changed the ethnic makeup of these regions quite drastically, e.g., http://jornaldebrasilia.com.br/site/imagens/blogs/mapa_racial.jpg. And this is a fact, whether you like it or not.

    3. Re:Great idea by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The main problems are public services, specially health services (but I, like half of Brazilian population, have a private health insurance) and public transportation

      Not endemic crime? Because the inability to own anything because someone will steal it is a real turnoff. I was looking into moving there, and it doesn't seem like a really good idea with the frequent hostage kidnappings etc.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  12. Blame the foreigners by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

    How much of this is an actual complaint and how much of it is blaming the foreigners? I'm sure if Brazil looked around they could find hundreds of domestic companies who were much worse. What's the political situation in Brazil right now, is the government hurting for cash or is an election coming up?

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    1. Re:Blame the foreigners by gustgr · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Actually, it is much harder for a domestic company (specially if it is not very large) to get away with this kind of behavior.

      Brazil has very strict work laws, up to the point that even nannies and house cleaners are jobs under strict regulation. This case with Samsung is indeed very worrying, however it is not as common in companies as most people would expect in Brazil. We have hundreds of unions who have very resonant voices in politics.

      Work conditions abuses in Brazil come mostly in two flavors:

      i) Rural work in farms, specially up North. It is not uncommon to have people working under slavery regime in some farms, and some of the scandals involve even politicians who are also big farmers. The workers are usually very poor people who are deluded into getting a job in a farm and getting rich. Their travel costs are covered by the farmer, and so is living cost and food, and they stay in an eternal debt without ever leaving. They end up working 18 hours shifts for food, with no sanitary conditions, etc. This is taken seriously in Brazil, but more often than not the responsible for this are rich people, so they get away with fines and never see the inside of a jail cell.

      ii) Manual labor done by foreigners, in particular by South Americans. In Sao Paulo city there are 200,000 Bolivians, 80% of them are illegal, and most of them work with sewing. They work under very poor conditions and earn very little. Since most of them are illegal, and most of them are in debt with people who helped them to get here, they are afraid to seek the police.

      But in companies this is not the case. Even to me this news about Samsung came as a shock.

  13. Re:mexico drug wars is bad for makeing phones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    And lots of Mexicans are all different races, so I'm not really sure who the racist is here.

    Just adding more knowledge.

  14. Re:I happen to know how Samsung builds products by tlambert · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I happen to know how Samsung builds products. And RSI is actually not an issue. This is a payoff fishing expedition from Brazil needing currency, now that they've closed down external bank transfers in US dollars, and shut down a large sector of their economy. Rather than admit their mistake and undo it, they are now looking to get their money a different way.

    Strange, but Apple (contractors Pegatron and Honhai) have faced the same charges in other countries.
    Could it be that Samsung manufactures phones so dramatically differently that all Brazil can do shake Samsung down for a couple hundred thousand?

    I'm under NDA on the exact process; they consider it proprietary. It's very weird, but in the limit, it makes a lot of sense, even if it adds some overhead that a traditional RSI-prone process would not have.

    It's either a fishing expedition on the payola, as I said earlier, or it's a fishing expedition on the assembly process. I think they could have just hired an independent auditor to ask about it, sign the same NDA, the auditor would have just said "Oh." and told them to drop the RSI claim.

    They may still have claims on the ergonomic furniture and the breaks, assuming workers in other manufacturing plants in Brazil get more breaks and, say, Herman Miller or other highly ergonomic chairs. It looks like they've already agreed to a modification of the work hours, specifically regarding mandatory overtime.

    Here's an article on the lawsuit not behind a pay-wall, since the original link in the summary is generally unreadable:
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323455104579012712866922406.html
    Note that they actually own up to the overtime policy and agree to change it.

    PS: If you do a more than trivial look at the earlier China Labor Watch complaint, you'll see the same overtime issue, but that the basic labor rights issues were (eventually) admitted to be limited to the two third party suppliers, rather than the Samsung plants themselves.

  15. Re:mexico drug wars is bad for makeing phones by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

    Oh, okay, so the bigotry is totally okay if it's against a multiracial group. Got it!

    When that multiracial group is the one known as "Americans", we see it on Slashdot quite often - so it must be okay!

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  16. Re:mexico drug wars is bad for makeing phones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I dunno about all that now... But every single mexican i have ever met working construction for 10 years could get me weed.

  17. Apple use Samsung components by tuppe666 · · Score: 1

    Only Apple mistreats their factory workers. This is clearly FUD spread by people with an anti-Android agenda

    Apple famously (still) use Samsung components...and Samsung although they are very successful in the telephone market, also produce windows phones, Bada phones..and will soon do Tizen phones. Ironically Samsung is not as big in smartphones as it once was. Growth from Samsung has been flat compared to companies like LG and Sony (and other brands) taking up the slack in Apples declining market share.

    1. Re:Apple use Samsung components by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      Wow, you actually managed to turn a "Samsung mistreats their workers" into an "Apple supplier mistreats workers" story. And you weren't ironic in the least.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    2. Re:Apple use Samsung components by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      Umm, samsung is still the biggest. Apple was around 14% a couple of days ago. In third or fourth place If I remember correctly.

      In second. Selling over 2.5 times as many as the third.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  18. Moto X - 2000 American Workers by tuppe666 · · Score: 1

    Boycott samsung, amiright?

    Absolutely, Although you are obviously not sick enough to use lives of people to push an Apple products that have used child labour...and famously use Samsung components in their(not your) produces.

    The bottom line is if you where Genuine you would be looking into buying(and promoting) a Android Motorola X as Google reopened a manufacturing plants to assemble them in America employing training and treating with dignity 2000 employees.

    1. Re:Moto X - 2000 American Workers by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 2

      http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57559324/group-says-it-found-child-workers-at-samsung-supplier-factory/
      http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/apr/25/samsung-tin-mines-indonesia-child-labour
      http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/news/new-448.html - Samsung’s Audits Ineffective, More Child Workers Uncovered
      http://www.change.org/petitions/samsung-stop-exploiting-child-laborers

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  19. Revolt of the iSlaves by tuppe666 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Samsux is going too far imitating Apple. Get a grip.

    Over work pressure over the iPhone 5

    http://www.gongchao.org/en/islaves-struggles/revolt-of-the-islaves

    "In the evening of September 23, a riot broke out in Foxconn's factory complex in Taiyuan, Shanxi. 2.000 Foxconn workers took part in the riot, many thousands looked on, and 40 people got injured. The rioters smashed shop-windows, set fires on the street, over-turned police cars and demolished company fences. 5.000 police were sent in but did not bring the situation under control until the early morning hours."

    1. Re:Revolt of the iSlaves by kthreadd · · Score: 1

      I guess Foxconn should have hired more employees to handle the demand. But it sounds like they just wanted more profit.

    2. Re:Revolt of the iSlaves by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 3, Informative

      http://libcom.org/news/samsung-workers-mexico-hunger-strike-solidarity-needed-16072011
      http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/news/new-455.html

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    3. Re:Revolt of the iSlaves by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Hey Robert Rankin aka Tuppe666! The UK (and Slashdot)'s #1 Google shill!

      What wonders will you tell us about Google today? How is their privacy invasion bettering our lives? How can we benefit from putting all our data in their cloud!

      Please tell us Robert!

  20. Quick everyone! by Joining+Yet+Again · · Score: 1

    Find an excuse for the behaviour! It doesn't matter about the particular individual human beings that are suffering, because you have to look at some twisted bigger picture!

    Unless it's a white American or European, then a single harm is a tragedy.

  21. Re:mexico drug wars is bad for makeing phones by thej1nx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Criticizing American government is racism? If you are talking about the stereotype of Americans being ignorant dumb-asses, well that does exists, but is largely due to your allowing the said politicians to be in power, and yet having delusional beliefs about yourself to be a democracy. Normally the world wouldn't care btw, except for your insane laws and policies being exported out to rest of us as well eventually via treaties.

  22. Hold the Boat! by Psychotria · · Score: 2

    So, the Brazilian government is doing something positive to improve the conditions of workers and all people on here can do is complain? Wow.

    Samsung’s Manaus factory, which has 6,000 employees, instructed workers to perform triple the amount of movements considered safe under ergonomic studies, prosecutors said.

    So, umm, that's ok?

    ... while one [employee] worked 27 straight days without a day off ...

    This is ok as well? I admit this one is a bit less clear cut because it doesn't say how many hours the employee worked each day, but... seriously.

    You're all (ok, most) saying -- essentially -- "fuck Brazil" and that this is not right. What the FUCK?

    You know what I say? Slashdot these days is populated by pre-pubescent fucktards. Seriously, get over your entitlement shit and grow a brain. If this was happening in "USA: Fuck Yeah" you'd all have the opposite opinion. Arrgh.

    1. Re:Hold the Boat! by 21mhz · · Score: 1

      Search for "Samsung" and you'd be surprised by the spate of negative stories featuring Samsung recently. You'd think somebody is on a campaign to tarnish them... but then, why do they keep getting exposed cheating on benchmarks, funding astroturfers, and screwing workers over in poorer countries.

      --
      My exception safety is -fno-exceptions.
    2. Re:Hold the Boat! by puto · · Score: 1

      Actually as someone of South American heritage, it is more likely to be payola than anything. I have lived on and off doing projects in Colombia since 1989 as well as working for a company that a branch in Brazil. Brazil is very protective of labor community, but more than likely it is the Brazilian middle managers who get bonuses based on output, who are cracking the whip. In Colombia the work week is 48 hours, and usually six days a week. But here is a typical day in the life of a latin american worker. 2 hour lunches, 3 half hour breaks, and maybe 2 hours just loafing while catching up on gossip. My last job in Colombia I worked 2 days a week in the office, and the rest from home. The reason being according to my Colombian boss was that since I was born and raised in the US, that my work was done in 2 days, and he did not want the rest of the company to feel hostile toward me because while his employees were good, the work ethic from US would make them feel inferior. I was called in in 2001 to a meeting with MS, they were going to open a factory in my town. They were going to use it to print and package DVDs, documentation, and warehouse stuff. They were going to pay the employees 3 times the min wage. 2 weeks after the meeting I had drink with the MS guys, they told me it was a no go. What happened was the governor wanted payola, and the local well to dos who made their money off of giant coffee farms and slave labor, did not want anyone in town paying a good wage, because it as cause social unrest and they did not want to raise their underpaid workers salaries. 1,000 high paying jobs were lost. Not to mention the help to the community ms would have brought and it would have attracted other big business. As a tri-citizen(USA, Panama, and Colombian) I always try to champion my people, but Latin America has a lot of work to do.

      --
      The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
    3. Re:Hold the Boat! by puto · · Score: 1

      1. Payola is a term for the US which record companies used to pay stations to play certain artists and songs. Probably not a common word in an ESL classroom since it is a word from the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. You assumed it was a spanish word more than likely because of the a on the end. I never said it is was a Portuguese. If i would have said it in spanish it would have been mordida. A bite, akin to an italian saying he needs to dip his beak 2. Brazil is not all of latin america. I have worked in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico, and Chile, and they were pretty much the same. 2. I said Latin America as a whole. Sorry Brazil lets it's workers get treated that way, but it happens in all of latin america. But I doubt you have ever had to work one of those factor jobs have you? 3. I was allowed to work three days a week from home, because(again maybe you do not understand english as well as you think you do) as my post said, I was efficient. My current job in the US as a tech manager is that I have to average 16 customer solutions a day. I average 30. The post was not racist.

      --
      The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
    4. Re:Hold the Boat! by volmtech · · Score: 1

      When I was working I often worked four weeks without a day off. I worked weekends at side jobs for extra money. Should someone have stopped me? Why yes, I am on disability, how did you know?

  23. Re:I happen to know how Samsung builds products by Psychotria · · Score: 1

    US dollars? Who gives a shit about US dollars? The US is a bully and a liar and the sooner their economy fails the better.

  24. Re:I happen to know how Samsung builds products by Psychotria · · Score: 1

    NDA? Are you scared because of that? Just spill your guts. Unless you're a coward in which case you won't.

  25. Not a two horse race. by tuppe666 · · Score: 1

    What?! Samsung are the only ones growing - they've just had a great quarter, again. LG is a distant 3rd place with 5% of the smartphone market.

    Sent from my iPhone.

    http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS24257413 These are the latest figures from IDC they actually break out Android shipments. They show Samsung growing less than the overall market from 44.4% to 39.1% (the iPhone dropped from 16.6% to 13.2%). Its not a two horse race however the market leaders want to paint it, and as time goes on even less of one.

  26. Re:mexico drug wars is bad for makeing phones by kthreadd · · Score: 1

    When that multiracial group is the one known as "Americans", we see it on Slashdot quite often - so it must be okay!

    No it's not OK just because you often see it on Slashdot.

  27. Re:mexico drug wars is bad for makeing phones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm not racist, I'm just scared of the dark.

  28. Re:I happen to know how Samsung builds products by gnasher719 · · Score: 4, Informative

    How can an NDA cover "work methods" and "work conditions"? Are you seriously that stupid?

    An NDA can cover anything. If you hire me to organise your kid's birthday party, you can ask me sign an NDA so I don't tell anyone about it, and if I sign, I'm bound by the NDA.

    Often NDAs cover trade secrets. In that case breach of the NDA might be criminal, not just a breach of contract. Work methods could be trade secrets, work conditions probably are not, and your kid's birthday party isn't a trade secret.

  29. Re:I happen to know how Samsung builds products by Sockatume · · Score: 1

    Enlighten us with your secret knowledge of Samsung's manufacturing processes, upon which your whole argument is predicated.

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
  30. Pennywise pound foolish concerns by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    The corrupt nature of a 3rd world's government, being kickback-oriented, has grotesquely harmed a lot more workers. Save your outrage for where it belongs instead of following in lockstep with some western politicians memeview of what should concern you.

    Hint: The reason Brazil, with the population and resources of the US, isn't wealthy with everybody with a two car garage and much longer lifespans isn't because of western companies invading with factories -- it's because they don't.

    Clogging them with factories as described wold cause wealth and longevity to skyrocket. You are tackling a tiny issue while General Zod flies around breaking 3 necks a second.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  31. Re:mexico drug wars is bad for makeing phones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I dunno about all that now... But every single mexican i have ever met working construction for 10 years could get me weed.

    Every single construction worker I've known could.

  32. The real story by macdaddy357 · · Score: 1

    Samsung forgot to pay their bribes to the Brazilian authorities.

    --
    How ya like dat?
  33. To appease the workers by Provocateur · · Score: 1

    ...they were given tickets to Carnival.

    Carnival Cruise Lines, that is....

    --
    WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.