There has been global criticism of a Chinese factory making Apple products after a rash of suicides and complaints that workers are paid little and worked hard. Finally, Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. has acted: it has had workers sign that they would not kill themselves. It is a major breakthrough since overworked employees may be willing to take their lives but they would think twice before breaking a contract in China.
The Taiwanese company operates a huge factory complex in the southern city of Shenzhen. The company employs 300,000 people in the China’s Pearl River Delta. Foxconn has had eleven suicides recently.
By signing the pledge, workers agree not to commit suicide and to seek medical help, if necessary, in a mental or physical hospital. This is not the only reform, however. The company has begun to hang nets around factories to stop people from throwing themselves off buildings.
One possible spin for the pledge is that it creates a record that employees were aware of the availability of mental health assistance for liability purposes. However, workers have little ability to sue in China — which is why companies like Apple flock to the country for its low wages, health costs, and environmental costs. It is surprising that Apple has been relatively slow in responding and that the backlash against the company has been so muted given the earlier controversies involving Nike.
Presumably, Foxconn will also stop playing its soundtrack below for workers waiting to see health care specialists:
For the story, click here.
Byron
Blouise:
you can compare the cost of a beer there to here relative to salary and get a pretty good idea. If a beer here is 2% of a workers salary and it is 10% there, then there is a problem.
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No, you can’t because you can not get a reliable salary figure … that’s what the Bloomberg piece was all about.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics can formulate comparisons for approx. 30 nations … but not China because reliable figures don’t exist.
Not only are the hourly wage figures unreliable … figures for the number of hours worked per week are nonexistent.
According to my daughter’s neighbor, who just returned from a business trip to mainland China, even the price for a bottle of beer can fluctuate drastically from one street to the next, which is a major hassle for those American business men and women who are trying to prepare expense accounts …
Maaarrghk!:
I have heard the same. The Chinese are a great people and hopefully they will rise up and overthrow their repressive government.
Blouise:
you can compare the cost of a beer there to here relative to salary and get a pretty good idea. If a beer here is 2% of a workers salary and it is 10% there, then there is a problem.
As far as suicide goes, if I lived in a communist dictatorship I might think about jumping myself. Suicide rate was high in the Soviet Union as well if I remember correctly.
And don’t communist countries predetermined what an individual can do based on the needs of the state? If I were an artist or a writer or had a dream of owning a business and was forced to work in a factory I think one might tend to think about jumping.
Just another reason for the state to stay out of the affairs of individuals.
Byron
Blouise:
” … If the person making $0.5 in China is making the equivalent of what a factory worker makes here what is the difference? ….”
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The difference? … Well, they’re jumping out of factory windows committing suicide
and … how do you figure that 50 cents an hour there is equivalent to $28 here(Toyota and Honda factory non-union worker’s average hourly rate)
According to Bloomberg Businessweek even the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics “can’t compare Chinese and U.S. factory labor costs because reliable statistics from the Asian giant don’t exist. That makes it hard to assess China’s competitive strength.”
Byron.
It has always puzzled me why China has remained communist for so long. The Chinese are just such dab hands at business. How much debt does the US owe to China?
When I go to the Philippines almost every business there is run by Chinese. Here in the UK it is rare to find Chinese working for someone else – they much prefer to start up their own businesses and they seldom go bancrupt.
Natural capitalists.
Blouise:
how so? If the person making $0.5 in China is making the equivalent of what a factory worker makes here what is the difference? And if people are making money on dividends and stock price and reduced cost of goods how is that an exploitation of human beings?
So it would be better to shut the factories down so the workers make nothing, reduce the price of the stock and the dividends and charge more for consumer items so that the consumer now has to pay $20 for something they used to buy for $5? So who benefits in that scenario?
Maybe if the Chinese government wouldn’t set the wage rate and let the market determine the cost of labor in China it would be less exploitative.
pete
Blouise
we are talking about a country who charges the family for the bullit to exacute someone.
why couldn’t a company charge the family of a suicide for finding a new worker.
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Well, originally I was going to say:
Mount his/her head on a pole and then hire a new worker.
Which means they’d charge the family for the beheading, the pole, and the cost of hiring a replacement worker.
It’s what passes for Capitalism in China.
I am being glib and shouldn’t be.
Men and women in China are working long hours for anywhere from .40 to .60 cents per hour to provide American companies with huge profits and American consumers with very low priced merchandise. We are all involved in a very shameful exploitation of human beings.
Blouise
we are talking about a country who charges the family for the bullit to exacute someone.
why couldn’t a company charge the family of a suicide for finding a new worker.
Mike Appleton
My question is this: what is the legal remedy for the company should a worker breach the contract by killing himself?
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Hire another worker?
(I’m sorry but … I’m going to hit “submit” anyway)
My question is this: what is the legal remedy for the company should a worker breach the contract by killing himself?
Lottakatz:
The good sign is that the employees are starting to organize for additional wages and hopefully rights.
One of the reasons for the low wages is the Chinese government, a repressive entity in anyone’s book.
But the question remains, what is the average minimum wage for a laborer in China?
From Wiki:
“none, nationally; set locally according to standards laid out by the central government[4]”
“People’s Republic of China
Main article: Economy of the People’s Republic of China
The Ministry of Labor and Social Security set China’s first minimum wage law on 1 March 2004. The Regulations on Enterprises Minimum Wage was made to “ensure the basic needs of the worker and his family, to help improve workers’ performance and to promote fair competition between enterprises.” One monthly minimum wage was set for full-time workers, and one hourly minimum wage for part-time workers. Provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions are allowed to legislate for their own minimum wage separate from the national one.[16]
In February 2010, officials in Jiangsu province increased the minimum wage to 960 RMB (about US$140.62) per month, the same as Shanghai. China’s highest minimum wage is in Shenzhen (1000 RMB per month).
Guangdong Province increased its minimum wage on 1 September 2006 and was split into five categories. The highest is ¥780 per month or ¥4.66 (~US$0.68) an hour (in Guangzhou city). The lowest is ¥450 per month or ¥2.69 (~US$0.39) an hour.[17]”
So these factory workers are making more than the minimum wage by almost 1.7 times. I don’t know anything about how much that is in relation to the US but I know factory workers in Missouri making around $12-15/hour in Centralia. Which is a little bit more than that 1.7 factor but not much. I am not making excuses for the Chinese government and think those people are in desperate need of a good union organizer and a little collective bargaining.
But the fact remains that China is a repressive regime that has allowed some semblance of a free market so they can generate income to run their government and remain in power. That American businesses support this is a disappointment.
The growth of China as an economic power is an example of the power of capitalism, the sad thing is that it is in service to an evil political system to perpetuate that evil. Hopefully the small amount of economic freedom that the Chinese people have experienced will put an end to their current form of government.
Byron, that article link is almost a spin on the conditions at the KYE factory referenced in the Professors posting. The LA Times coverage has been slight and lightweight on the KYE factory relying in its recent articles on statements by Foxxconn (parent company) spokespersons almost exclusively and a couple of British experts and consultants that state in one article:
[after giving suicide rates for China] “Noting the figures, Dr. Hynek Pikhart, senior lecturer in epidemiology and public health at University College London, said that Foxconn’s rate is “not probably too high or unexpectedly high.” … “I guess one of the reasons why these got the news they did is that maybe these are workplace suicides,” he said.” DUHHHHH.
There is no indication that any statements were solicited from Apple or other big corporations that have work done there. I don’t trust their reporting on this instance or the larger issue. They’re doing too poor of a job of journalism to be trusted though they’ve done several articles. They’re spinning, by proximity and poor journalism the way our Most Favored Nation buddy treats its workers in the face of what should be a damning scandal getting some traction in the news.
A line reads: “About 600 of the employees were interns receiving credits for work experience as part of their school curriculum.” Same method of recruiting as KYE. Most of KYE’s workers are lured, while in school or right out of school, into jobs they are told will provide them with a good wage and bussed off into huge worker camps where they work 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week. I have no doubt this is standard practice for big assembly factories in China.
They get a bunk bed in a dorm with a bunch of other workers, have to pay for their food, have access to one toilet and sink, get fined for missing work- fined, not just lose their wages, fined for missing work and fired and fined if they’re injured on the job. They have brief periods of time when they are allowed to leave the work camp and suffer discipline if the are late returning. They are usually non-urban and are sending money home to their families and can’t afford to quit. Due to their isolation they are not aware of any alternative opportunities an urban environment MIGHT provide.
This is indentured servitude at best and job-based slavery in any enlightened country.
I read the link you provided and the only info provided in it is a wage of $281. a month for the Honda workers but I want to see a contract and read an article about the parts factory that details how many hours of work that is based on, which skill tiers it applies to and other working conditions. The link I provide regarding KYE states:
“Working up to 90 hours a week before the recession, including a staggering 50 hours of overtime, workers reported earning between 1300 to 1700 RMB per month. Depending upon their skill level and job category, workers were earning $43.90 to $57.40 a week, and $190.21 to $248.74 a month.”
There’s not much difference in wages for top tiered workers between the two plants; the devil will be in the details and frankly, 99% of journalists wouldn’t know what questions to ask about labor conditions if their lives depended on it and I suspect that’s not really their mission when it comes to labor issues. I recall reading about Korea as an emerging and emergent economic power over the years and it took about 20-25 years for their workers to start agitating in the streets for better working conditions so reading about a couple of plants in China gaining a toe-hold on bargaining power doesn’t impress me. Reading about a prospective change that fits an historical model which I acknowledge is, in the main, true (and have thought about regarding China often) doesn’t make me happy about it taking another generation. The article cited about Honda is of interest as an exception, not the rule IMO.
Suicide should not be the only effective bargaining chip you have to wring minimal concession’s from a despotic employer and your union should not be appointed by the boss.
The concept of “competition” touted by Corporate America and the politicians they own shouldn’t mean American labor having to compete with these virtual slave laborer’s and their brethren world-wide.
“I disagree, anyone who wishes to deny the right of an individual to the fruits of his labor is no friend of liberty, political or economic.” you say in your posting and we are in absolute agreement about that. Unfair competition in a world spanning market and production base is a means of oppression of the working class in developed countries and I’m sure some will see the raise secured at the Honda plant as a good omen just as they see the 0.20 cent an hour raise at the KYE Factory as resolving the problem and being a good reason to move along to the next story.
But anyone that sees a 0.20 an hour raise on a 0.40@ wage, bought with the blood of wretchedly desperate people, as a good sign are part of the problem. Better the workers have burned the plant down and eviscerated their managers- now that would be a good sign of progress for worker rights in China. IMO.
I posted this elsewhere a week or so ago but if you missed it, it’s a good read:
http://www.nlcnet.org/reports?id=0034&t=1
Maaarrghk:
just out of curiosity how is a communist regime capitalist? They may have given the nod to some market principles to make communism work but I hardly think you can call a repressive regime a capitalist system. But you can sure call a communist system repressive.
Th-th-th-that’s capitalism folks!
here is an interesting story about factory workers in China and how labor does have the ability to sell itself in a prosperous economy. Wages cannot stagnate when business is good. China, according to the story, is facing labor shortages. China is not a free market but it is interesting to see the same principles apply-when an economy is prosperous labor has the ability to charge more.
China has let the genie out of the bottle with economic freedom. With that freedom will come political freedom and with political suppression must come economic repression. We are experiencing the exact opposite of what China is, we are becoming less free as they are becoming more free. It is apparent in our political institutions and in the reduction of individual freedom with regard to our markets.
Some on this website suggest that more repression will encourage economic growth and have suggested that those who believe in free markets and individual rights are traitors. I disagree, anyone who wishes to deny the right of an individual to the fruits of his labor is no friend of liberty, political or economic.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/02/business/la-fi-china-labor-20100602
Because it’s way better than the swarm of Metal covers, I give you Ahmad Jamal:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAh4jISpeJc&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]
Coming soon to a store near you!
The iDead.
This is the sign of a systemically broken organization in re the plant. If their workers are this miserable? No amount of “pact swearing” is going to fix this particular problem. The first thing that needs to be replaced is management.
Dr. Turley:
Is there any legal reason that *our* government cannot legislate that any products sold in our country be produced in humane conditions inspected by *our* federal agents to be in compliance with OSHA? And stop imports of that product if they are not?
Performance is the key. Money is the madness.
“The company has begun to hang nets around factories to stop people from throwing themselves off buildings.” … What a god-awful picture I now have in my head.
This factory also makes Dell computers … I think the workers won a 33% increase in wages taking them up from forty some cents an hour to almost 60 cents an hour.