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Foxconn Strike
PrairieGhost
Veteran
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/05/foxconn-apple-iphone-china-strike
'Geoffrey Crothall, a spokesman for the pressure group China Labor Bulletin, said at the time that Foxconn workers were becoming increasingly emboldened.
"They're more willing to stand up for their rights, to stand up to injustice," he said.'
'Geoffrey Crothall, a spokesman for the pressure group China Labor Bulletin, said at the time that Foxconn workers were becoming increasingly emboldened.
"They're more willing to stand up for their rights, to stand up to injustice," he said.'
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Comments
Ethical guide to computer brands.
The O.P. story is essentially an example of the good that union action and consumer/media pressure is doing in the world. Foxconn has promised (though not yet delivered) to double pay again.
This is, however, putting pressure on other factories, and the holistic effect on China's economy of one factory raising wages is complex.
What we need are universal labour standards - if anyone knows of an organisation that's promoting this kind of solution, I'd be grateful for the information. We shouldn't be able to legally buy goods made in conditions which would be illegal in our own, wealthy countries; the fact that we can now makes a mockery of the human rights our governments claim to uphold, and of our own claim that westerners live in 'civilised' countries.
For someone to make up to $350 a month working in crappy conditions building Iphones so that the person who bought one for $400 6 months ago can buy the latest and greatest one today for another $400, just is ridiculous. The excuse that "a job is better than no job" gets tiring, because the only time that is true is when you have to have the money to keep you and your family alive, and that's not good enough when you work around the clock (which takes you away from your family) for beans and no benefits. It's like being a hamster on a wheel and it devalues people and creates many health problems for them.
Require any corporations that want to do business in American states to follow that state's labour laws, including minimum/working wages. American companies that purchase items from foreign company's should provide independently originated proof of the foreign companies' compliance with these laws.
This is a really interesting exercise if you want an idea of how much you consume, just make sure you are honest
http://www.myfootprint.org/
Right now we are at 6 earths in our family, and we work hard to decrease it every year adding in what we can afford for resource saving things in our home and lives. Unfortunately, because of where we live, certain things that could help, are unavailable, or we can't afford them. But we do a little at a time to try to do our part.
Good for the Foxconn workers. What's interesting to me is how many people really believe that Apple's products are made in the USA just because of the high price. Nope, they're made in China just like everything else with Apple simply increasing their profit margin by the day.
http://www.unwiredview.com/2011/06/06/apple-ios-stats-200-million-devices-sold-25-million-ipads-14-billion-apps-downloaded-and-more/ Looking at manufacturing costs vs price, factoring in marketing, and considering that research and development is a relatively small overhead, 200 dollars per phone profit is a conservative estimate. (All of the articles I checked made higher estimates.)
Now what kind of a world would this be, if that 8 dollars manufacturing cost was, for reasons of common decency, bumped up to 100 dollars. Or 50 dollars. Hell, even a dollar more per phone, and let's add the other manufacturers too, Microsoft, Sony, Asus (my laptop) etc. Let's not single out Apple. They all use Foxconn factories.
Foxconn employs around 930,000 people. Just imagine how different the world would be, if 1 measly dollar per phone, laptop, tablet, was added to their lot in life.
This would look different, for a start:
And this:
And if that doesn't persuade, does anyone yet hear the sound of drums in the distance?
...
Something always gives, and when it does, you've got a whole lot of Sparticuses banging on your door, because what's to lose?
My computer, yes, was probably assembled at Foxconn, and I knew that before I bought it. It's not a luxury item for me though, and it enabled me to find my job in a public university in a poor region of China, where I'm going in a couple of weeks to teach English, which I hope will improve peoples' job prospects.
I'm going to be paid 600 dollars a month, which for me is plenty. I've taught for 300 dollars a month and was quite comfortable, but I don't have a family to support, unlike many sweatshop workers. And I'm practising Buddhism, which makes conditions less relevant to me.
But, and this is very important, the point here is not that we have to give everything up. The point is that universal labour regulations could double, triple the pay of sweatshop workers without breaking the current system. The point is that we are fed the lie that wages have to be low in order to keep goods cheap - this just isn't true, as the analysis in my previous post shows.
Please understand this: the savings made by paying the workers peanuts are not passed on to us, the consumers. The notion that they are is a myth.
Staff wages are just a fraction of the assembly cost of 8 dollars which is itself a tiny fraction of the price of an iphone.
There is nothing wrong with manufacturing competitive products and making profits. What's wrong is the endless drive to shave pennies from company overheads, at the expense of people who can't afford to eat more than noodles or sleep anywhere better than a factory dormitory, and who have no choice but to work or go back to their starving villages.
And this will not change without regulation, because newspapers cannot and will not research every company with a view to exposing their practises.
Even now, we're all concerned with Apple, because it makes a good headline, and because that individualistic hipster thing is a bit worn out now and ready for a fall. But in actual fact, Foxconn makes electronics for most of the major computer, smartphone and console brands.
Now, you say nothing will change. So how many slaves do you own these days?
Things change.
Poverty and lack of education are at the root of so many problems. Material stability is also helpful in allowing people to self-actualise, including studying and practising the Dhamma. It's difficult to end suffering in the wider sense if you're born struggling to end it in a specific sense i.e. trying to get a living wage.
Actually the house I live in was built by my father with wood logged locally. Most of the furniture in it was made either by my father or my grandfather (and in a few cases even my greatgrandfather who brought stuff with him from Finland.) Yes, we have electronics, but we do try to purchase them as responsibly as we can and in time we will have far fewer of them. We heat our home with wood that is logged from my uncle's property. 95% of my little boy's toys were made in the USA and purchased locally. I need particular shoes but I did research the company and came up with the best I could within the options available. My winter boots are made locally. So yes, we are willing to give up some of the comfort and convinience (I can never spell that right, lol) in order to try to give up a lot of the rabid consumerism. Once we are able to move to a smaller space (our house is about 1200 sq ft, with 5 people) we will, probably something more along the lines of 600-800sq feet with a garden large enough to sustain us most of the year. Sustaining our lives, will become our life, rather than sustaining the economy. So in short, yes, I am willing to give up all the crap that supposedly makes us happier, more comfortable, etc. Have I done it 100% yet? No, but we work towards it and try to make good choices instead of just pretending our consumerist life has no effect on the world around us.
And without regulation, it will continue.
The other half of the strategy, and this includes Buddhism, is to change the attitude that the harm we do only matters if we can see it with our own eyes. Buddhism (as practised in many places) is the worst religion of all in this respect, with the notion of psychological karma, and the idea that it's ok to eat meat but not to be a butcher or a hunter.