I started working in the 1980s at a grocery store in the U.S. when I was 13. And many, many others start working at younger ages in the U.S. (both regular jobs and under the table work).
It may be technically against the law in China, but unless this was a sweatshop type of situation where they were working them around the clock, there is really no "newsworthy" story here.
I started working around 12 or maybe 13 with a paper route - and yes it was work.
Worked at my church/school at 13 doing odd jobs such as painting, cleaning, changing light ballasts, raking leaves etc.
Started working my first "real" job about a month before my 14th birthday at a local Drug Store chain, at $3.60 an hour - sweeping floors, stocking shelves, etc. Started just one night a week and weekends and worked my way up to Pharmacy Tech and Assistant Manager over the years. Saved enough by 16 to buy my first car, a 1964 Pontiac GTO, which I still have almost 30 years later.
What you did is work. This is called an internship. Typically internships are not paid or the people are given an allowance to pay for food/shelter. The deal is that they get free labour and the people get experience. I realize that where you grew up, it was legal to work at a younger age but I don't think you had to eat and sleep in a factory and that your parents sent you away because they could not afford to feed you. Try to think of the situation from their perspective. You, like I, probably grew up in a very different environment than what some of these workers did. Your paper route (like mine) probably only took 1 hour to do. A bit different than working 12 hours shifts for weeks on end. Congrats on buying your car at 16 though, I had a few friends do that and it was not easy to save that kind of money.
This comment is made towards this site in general and not at you lilgto64. I often joke with my friends that if Apple were to murder 3 people for no reason, the strong Apple loyalists on this site (you know who you are) would defend Apple by saying "Those people deserved it because Apple knows best". Every technology company has their share of extreme fans and while I sometimes have a chuckle at over some of the innane comments in the Android forums, I come here to just how snobby and condescending humans can be. In fact, I point my friends to this site sometimes for a good laugh because the views are so extreme and one sided that you would think it was a skit for SNL.
Comments
It may be technically against the law in China, but unless this was a sweatshop type of situation where they were working them around the clock, there is really no "newsworthy" story here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rabbit_Coach
And now I can hear the roar of the approaching herd of trolls.
nope, will pass this one out
Foxconn's excuse is that all Chinese people look 10 years younger than actual age. They can't tell the difference either.
In CA, there is a sliding scale that determines how many hours a teenager may work legally based on age. Older you are, more hours you can work.
Reference: http://youngworkers.org/teens/index.html#hours
12 hour factory shifts are not allowed.
Disgraceful, now the bloggers are gonna be wanting answers from every single company that Foxconn make devices for.
Amazon, Acer, H&P, Nintendo, Sony etc will all be berated for their use of such a company.
Oh no hang on, I'm getting confused.
This will all be Apple's fault, naturally.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lilgto64
I started working around 12 or maybe 13 with a paper route - and yes it was work.
Worked at my church/school at 13 doing odd jobs such as painting, cleaning, changing light ballasts, raking leaves etc.
Started working my first "real" job about a month before my 14th birthday at a local Drug Store chain, at $3.60 an hour - sweeping floors, stocking shelves, etc. Started just one night a week and weekends and worked my way up to Pharmacy Tech and Assistant Manager over the years. Saved enough by 16 to buy my first car, a 1964 Pontiac GTO, which I still have almost 30 years later.
What you did is work. This is called an internship. Typically internships are not paid or the people are given an allowance to pay for food/shelter. The deal is that they get free labour and the people get experience. I realize that where you grew up, it was legal to work at a younger age but I don't think you had to eat and sleep in a factory and that your parents sent you away because they could not afford to feed you. Try to think of the situation from their perspective. You, like I, probably grew up in a very different environment than what some of these workers did. Your paper route (like mine) probably only took 1 hour to do. A bit different than working 12 hours shifts for weeks on end. Congrats on buying your car at 16 though, I had a few friends do that and it was not easy to save that kind of money.
This comment is made towards this site in general and not at you lilgto64. I often joke with my friends that if Apple were to murder 3 people for no reason, the strong Apple loyalists on this site (you know who you are) would defend Apple by saying "Those people deserved it because Apple knows best". Every technology company has their share of extreme fans and while I sometimes have a chuckle at over some of the innane comments in the Android forums, I come here to just how snobby and condescending humans can be. In fact, I point my friends to this site sometimes for a good laugh because the views are so extreme and one sided that you would think it was a skit for SNL.
It apparently does do assembly for some other PeeeCeee vendor.