Hey AppleInsider, TODAY they will be roughly 55 suicides in the US. Maybe you can make a separate article on each one of those, instead of looking all the way to China for suicides, for the purpose of desperately trying to tie it to Apple. Foxconn employs like a million people and works for dozens of companies- a suicide isn't tantamount to Tim Cook murdering a worker as these stories often imply. Oh, and this person killed himself out of fear that they would be laid off. If it was up to the internet, all these workers WOULD be laid off so they can either all go commit suicide or starve to death, because obviously that would be preferable to the "evil" Foxconn.
First of all, I'd like to congratulate all of the Mike Daiseys of the world and other lying anti-Apple activists for a job well done! This poor worker no longer has to worry about being overworked and working under "terrible", "inhumane" and "sadistic" conditions anymore.
If we're lucky, thousands more will be laid off, and who knows how many of those will suddenly get the urge to jump from some roof? This is what the activists want after all. And maybe in the future, Apple will pull most manufacturing out of China completely. That'll also be awesome. If that were to happen, expect the roof jumping to increase tenfold at least!
Sounds like China trying to make Apple look bad again, unfortunately they are reusing old ways of trying to make Apple look bad.
Copying other things to make up bad news, next they'll be using footage from Top Gun in an attempt to make it look like they shot down an American plane.
See, despite all of the so called labour complaints they really do love their jobs & would rather die than lose the job
I know this subject matter is clearly taken lightly but people killing themselves is a serious problem. It's not something that people do on a whim and is not exclusive to China:
The issue previously was that workers were being overworked and underpaid. This new report says:
"For its part, Foxconn denied that it has encouraged employees to resign. That's in contrast to recent reports, which have claimed the company has not only reduced wages, but also begun charging employees for service that were once free."
The suggestion is they have reduced wages, started charging for services and been laying people off despite record profits:
It might seem odd that these people would be threatening to kill themselves over losing their jobs but it's the same problem. The workers obviously want to work a reasonable amount for a reasonable pay under reasonable conditions. If Foxconn has offered higher wages and can't sustain a high volume of workers then it's not Foxconn to blame but that there's nothing better in China to go to and that's another problem.
If the problems have arisen due to cutting orders, it could be because of the Wii U as it's made in Foxconn too. Nintendo has also been linked with the employment of underage workers:
It seems like the problem is that Foxconn is the best there is and the workers aren't being treated well so the only choice left is suicide. It's certainly not the manufacturers' faults but there needs to be some changes in the whole way that China operates their factories.
Money talks only for the American politicians? Are they helping BRIC countries in the IT business? Politicians are not acting economically for their countries anymore; they are looking to have money to support their campaign it does matter if millions are getting in the extreme poverty. For them, basic principles of import and export do not have a meaning in the development of a country above it; it is only the money support. We cannot understand clearly how in a strategic sector like the IT, politicians support outsourcing and offshore even in the Cool War and the BRIC countries against US interest. Does it mean that politician does care anymore of principles, our constitution, and ethic? It is difficult to answer because of the facts everybody feels today while the Politian attitude does not change currently but it is really different than in the pass. Mexican and American mafias are one of the groups that have taken more benefits of how easily American and Mexican politicians are receiving money; they know that their illegal and legal businesses are expanding easily and fastly giving them money. Where are our Agencies? We do not know, some of them are working definitely for China interest and no anymore for US interest especially in LATAM, where China had devastated American companies. While most of the population is suffering homeless situation, offshore, outsourcing, changes in the constitution, losing employments, companies disappearing while others start using again slavery, even losing their children to CPS because of extreme poverty, increasing the human traffic among the Free Trade countries we are part of it, among others. American are not competing any more in business, politicians are paid not to move any more in business situations. We have to reduce the government to increase the American IT business again in spite of the uncommon Chinese way of making business.
Are they helping BRIC countries in the IT business?
Apple is, at least.
While most of the population is suffering homeless situation, offshore, outsourcing, changes in the constitution, losing employments, companies disappearing while others start using again slavery, even losing their children to CPS because of extreme poverty, increasing the human traffic among the Free Trade countries we are part of it, among others.
Let me see if I understand this correctly. Foxconn recently reported all time high profits. Employees commit suicide because they are underpaid & may have to pay for goods or services that might have previously been given to them for free in the past? Foxconn makes products for a large number of other companies. And somehow apple is associated with the blame? Why not blame Foxconn, one of the other numerous companies getting products made there or hey, is it possible that maybe the employee is unstable? Just wish for once the media food chain could quit sensationalizing tragic events @ trying to turn that event into some sort of story that has no relevance to anything. Clearly Foxconn has problems that are that companies problems & no one else's.
Where did this "reporter" learn to do research for articles? It appears like he probably used the totally misleading hack piece by the NYTimes. This statement from the article is patently false: ".....Foxconn was prompted to install safety nets at its mega-factories years ago after a number of workers took to the roof and committed high-profile suicides in an effort to draw attention to working conditions and wages." There is absolutely no evidence that they committed suicide to "draw attention" to work conditions and wages! It was a handful of suicides in a short period of time - suicides often come in a series - by young adults who had moved far away to new cities leaving their support groups of family and friends behind for the first times in their lives. The reality is that even during that period, the Foxconn community of 400,000 workers still had a lower suicide rate for both China and the US as a whole, and even lower than for high school students in the US.
Not true, Apple has NO manufacturing jobs in the United States, Apple provides thousands of jobs on the United States. But Apple doesn't manufacture it own products, it outsources that. Most of the thing that go into Apple products are made here.
Also not true, as evidence has already shown that some of the new iMacs are assembled in California.
The problem (while price is not acknowledged but come on…) is lack of manufacturing skills in the US. How many people want to work in a factory these days? Our society moved towards service jobs and factory work is undesireable.
But really, as an American living in Japan I can tell you sometimes people here are sometimes emotionally out of control. For example, the animosity in China is ridiculous, beating a man's dog to death on the streets just because it's a Japanese breed. You also must remember that, although going through economic growth, many of the people working in Foxconn are coming there poor and needing to send money home to their families. There will always be a percentage of people who become mentally instable and push themselves through their pain because they feel they need the money for their families. And unfortunately someone might do this. You can't always blame the companies. If they are violating work regulations yes, but if people want to be working there and they are jumping off the roof because they can't get enough hours, then no one should be pointing fingers anywhere else than at the jumpers.
Comments
Hey AppleInsider, TODAY they will be roughly 55 suicides in the US. Maybe you can make a separate article on each one of those, instead of looking all the way to China for suicides, for the purpose of desperately trying to tie it to Apple. Foxconn employs like a million people and works for dozens of companies- a suicide isn't tantamount to Tim Cook murdering a worker as these stories often imply. Oh, and this person killed himself out of fear that they would be laid off. If it was up to the internet, all these workers WOULD be laid off so they can either all go commit suicide or starve to death, because obviously that would be preferable to the "evil" Foxconn.
"Works at Foxconn jumps from roof after Apple fails to launch magenta-colored Lightning cable."
This is bordering on Greenpeace/PETA style tactics to gain attention.
This is awesomely ironic!
First of all, I'd like to congratulate all of the Mike Daiseys of the world and other lying anti-Apple activists for a job well done! This poor worker no longer has to worry about being overworked and working under "terrible", "inhumane" and "sadistic" conditions anymore.
If we're lucky, thousands more will be laid off, and who knows how many of those will suddenly get the urge to jump from some roof? This is what the activists want after all. And maybe in the future, Apple will pull most manufacturing out of China completely. That'll also be awesome. If that were to happen, expect the roof jumping to increase tenfold at least!
Sounds like China trying to make Apple look bad again, unfortunately they are reusing old ways of trying to make Apple look bad.
Copying other things to make up bad news, next they'll be using footage from Top Gun in an attempt to make it look like they shot down an American plane.
I know this subject matter is clearly taken lightly but people killing themselves is a serious problem. It's not something that people do on a whim and is not exclusive to China:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2188519/Recession-blame-death-toll-1-000-suicides.html
The issue previously was that workers were being overworked and underpaid. This new report says:
"For its part, Foxconn denied that it has encouraged employees to resign. That's in contrast to recent reports, which have claimed the company has not only reduced wages, but also begun charging employees for service that were once free."
The suggestion is they have reduced wages, started charging for services and been laying people off despite record profits:
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/03/25/apple-product-refreshes-boost-foxconn-to-record-32b-profit
It might seem odd that these people would be threatening to kill themselves over losing their jobs but it's the same problem. The workers obviously want to work a reasonable amount for a reasonable pay under reasonable conditions. If Foxconn has offered higher wages and can't sustain a high volume of workers then it's not Foxconn to blame but that there's nothing better in China to go to and that's another problem.
If the problems have arisen due to cutting orders, it could be because of the Wii U as it's made in Foxconn too. Nintendo has also been linked with the employment of underage workers:
http://www.gamesradar.com/wii-u-manufacturer-foxconn-used-underage-workers/
I suppose they could be game testers though.
It seems like the problem is that Foxconn is the best there is and the workers aren't being treated well so the only choice left is suicide. It's certainly not the manufacturers' faults but there needs to be some changes in the whole way that China operates their factories.
Politicians are not acting economically for their countries anymore; they are looking to have money to support their campaign it does matter if millions are getting in the extreme poverty. For them, basic principles of import and export do not have a meaning in the development of a country above it; it is only the money support.
We cannot understand clearly how in a strategic sector like the IT, politicians support outsourcing and offshore even in the Cool War and the BRIC countries against US interest. Does it mean that politician does care anymore of principles, our constitution, and ethic? It is difficult to answer because of the facts everybody feels today while the Politian attitude does not change currently but it is really different than in the pass.
Mexican and American mafias are one of the groups that have taken more benefits of how easily American and Mexican politicians are receiving money; they know that their illegal and legal businesses are expanding easily and fastly giving them money. Where are our Agencies? We do not know, some of them are working definitely for China interest and no anymore for US interest especially in LATAM, where China had devastated American companies.
While most of the population is suffering homeless situation, offshore, outsourcing, changes in the constitution, losing employments, companies disappearing while others start using again slavery, even losing their children to CPS because of extreme poverty, increasing the human traffic among the Free Trade countries we are part of it, among others.
American are not competing any more in business, politicians are paid not to move any more in business situations. We have to reduce the government to increase the American IT business again in spite of the uncommon Chinese way of making business.
Originally Posted by Adalberto
Are they helping BRIC countries in the IT business?
Apple is, at least.
While most of the population is suffering homeless situation, offshore, outsourcing, changes in the constitution, losing employments, companies disappearing while others start using again slavery, even losing their children to CPS because of extreme poverty, increasing the human traffic among the Free Trade countries we are part of it, among others.
And this is somehow Apple's fault?
Where did this "reporter" learn to do research for articles? It appears like he probably used the totally misleading hack piece by the NYTimes. This statement from the article is patently false: ".....Foxconn was prompted to install safety nets at its mega-factories years ago after a number of workers took to the roof and committed high-profile suicides in an effort to draw attention to working conditions and wages." There is absolutely no evidence that they committed suicide to "draw attention" to work conditions and wages! It was a handful of suicides in a short period of time - suicides often come in a series - by young adults who had moved far away to new cities leaving their support groups of family and friends behind for the first times in their lives. The reality is that even during that period, the Foxconn community of 400,000 workers still had a lower suicide rate for both China and the US as a whole, and even lower than for high school students in the US.
Also not true, as evidence has already shown that some of the new iMacs are assembled in California.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/06/apple-manufacturing-usa-macs_n_2249613.html
http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/03/the-new-imac-designed-by-apple-in-california-assembled-in-usa/
The problem (while price is not acknowledged but come on…) is lack of manufacturing skills in the US. How many people want to work in a factory these days? Our society moved towards service jobs and factory work is undesireable.
But really, as an American living in Japan I can tell you sometimes people here are sometimes emotionally out of control. For example, the animosity in China is ridiculous, beating a man's dog to death on the streets just because it's a Japanese breed. You also must remember that, although going through economic growth, many of the people working in Foxconn are coming there poor and needing to send money home to their families. There will always be a percentage of people who become mentally instable and push themselves through their pain because they feel they need the money for their families. And unfortunately someone might do this. You can't always blame the companies. If they are violating work regulations yes, but if people want to be working there and they are jumping off the roof because they can't get enough hours, then no one should be pointing fingers anywhere else than at the jumpers.