So this is pretty long, but this is an assignment for a college paper that I just finished and submitted. I never realized how desperate of a situation it truly was until I started researching it. Let me know what you think.
International Manufacturing of Technology at Foxconn
and the Work Environment
Flathead Valley Community College
Savanah Ontiveros
When we think of technology we think of the future. We think of the birth of a new global revolution. We enjoy this luxury, reaping its service for work, school and entertainment. We never stop to think from where it came or how it was put together. The factories that built the software, the hands that ever so carefully wired the systems, all to eventually be shipped off to countries like the U.S. and be received to our hands. We are never told about the mistreatment, unsafe environment, or unpaid overtime hours these workers experience. We are often lost to the realities of what truly occurs in these factories.
They are behind the scenes, these diligent workers. They are never spoken of, never seen, and if ever mentioned they are quickly forgotten. They reside in countries like China, in towns like Chengdu, Shenzhen and Chongqing. The majority of them come from small rural villages, seeking work and a means by which they can support their families.
In one interview given by Jenny Chan, Ngai Pun and Mark Seldon (2013) a senior human resources manager said, “over eighty-five percent of Foxconn's employees are rural migrant workers between sixteen and twenty-nine years old.” Most of them do not work with Foxconn by choice. Most of them have no other job openings available.
Foxconn easily recruits them by telling them about a promising trade with good prospect and competitive wages. They assure fair hours, and installment of safety precautions, as well as proper training. Upon such promises, according the research done by Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior or SACOM (2011), the workforce in Foxconn grew to one million in 2011.
“I come from a village to sell my labor at Foxconn, all I want is to improve the living conditions of my family," a twenty-four year-old worker expressed in an interview by SACOM (2011). These workers come with high hopes of making a better life. What they don’t realize is what lies beyond the public’s view, and into the heart of their newly acquired occupations.
One such troublesome issue is the misuse of chemicals without proper protection. The workers are not informed of these hazardous products, nor are trained to safely manage them. They are lucky to be given a mask to wear while they excessively use the chemicals everyday, SACOM claims (2011).
In addition, the workers are given long hours with few to no breaks in between. They are offered overtime, and eagerly accept it as the wages paid barely reach legal minimum. Without overtime hours, many claim they could never afford living expenses. Li Hui, a female worker in Chengdu expressed, "It was disheartening when I found that I was only paid less than CNY 1500 [approximately $240]. I had overtime work on several weekends, but the hours were not fully recorded on the payslip" (SACOM, 2011). This is another issue many have to deal with. Overtime is often underpaid if paid at all, not to mention requested even after legal limit.
SACOM’s (2011) study found the following: Article 41 of the Labor Law in China stipulates that overtime should not exceed three hours per day and thirty-six hours per month... In reality, except in low season, the production facilities in Shenzhen, Chengdu and Chongqing violated the thirty-six hours overtime work limit provided by law... In Chengdu, workers usually have eighty to a hundred hours overtime work on the top of a hundred and seventy-four regular hours per month.
If workers do not accept overtime, they are fired. Those who do stay must bare the military management practiced by several of the Foxconn facilities. Foxconn claims they keep to humane ethics and respectable treatment, but there are those who dare to admit otherwise. From humiliation, threats, and unsafe work environments these companies slave their employees to the point of suicide.
According to reports made by SACOM they claim, "We also revisited Foxconn's flagship plants in two industrial towns, Longhua and Guanlan in the Shenzhen, where employees are still housed in dormitories surrounding with anti-suicide nets”. Apparently, they are not only aware of these tendencies, but are making the efforts to prevent such by setting up "nets". You would think they would stop to wonder the reason for such tendencies in the first place.
The question for many, is how this has been kept hush hush for so long. As the word is spreading in these recent years, attention is slowly being drawn to how these prized products are manufactured. We in America admire companies like Apple, Dell, and HP, but these are the companies for which Foxconn supplies. "The code of conduct of Apple also states Apple is committed to ensure workers are treated with dignity" (SACOM, 2011). It is in their interest to improve the workplace in these factories, but one must wonder how efficient they are in following through.
A report made by Michelle Fitzsimmons (2013) states that “Apple posted a claim of $43.6 billion in revenue... and $11.6 billion in profit”. One would think such increase in income would result in better pay, and benefits for the miracle workers who put it all together. One must wonder if it is truly out of ignorance, or the turn of a blind eye, as to explain why Apple hasn't already aided in bettering the environment of the workplace across seas.
It's not a secret that companies like Apple have achieved an international market. Buyers world wide order their products at every available store, undeterred by the high prices marked on their labels. And as the demand for Apple increases, so do the fortunes of Foxconn. The only participants that do not benefit from this success are the very workers that fashion the electronics. For this reason SACOM is demanding companies like Apple to "raise [their] unit price to make a living wage feasible" for these employees. It is debatable, however, as to whether this will solve the dilemma faced by these workers. If these profitable gains and low wages are driven by greed, one must wonder if there is ever hope for them.
"We have some really great stuff coming in the fall and across all of 2014." Time Cook explains according to one article (Michelle Fitzsimmons, 2013). With "exciting new product categories" there is no doubt that sales will continue to reach globally into every nation.
Technology is a phenomenon to many of us, reaching beyond our understanding in how it works. Indeed, such electronic inventions are a masterpiece, as we all have geniuses like Isaac Newton to thank. Companies like Apple, Dell and HP will continue to grow as the competition rises. We will reap the benefits of masterminds as we sit back and wait for their upcoming products every year, improving our lives in ways like time-management, organization, and multitasking. We will continue to live daily forgetting who actually shaped these products within our hands. How much easier that would be than to approach reality, and realize what truly takes place behind the scenes.
Underpaid wages, excessive overtime, military management, unsafe use of chemicals, and suicide attempts are just a small revelation of the daily life of these workers. Their voice is not heard, and for many they dare not utter a word against their occupations. We will continue to enjoy the comforts of technology in America, and in other rising countries. We will continue to pay the high prices for our education, work and pure entertainment. They will continue to work long hours to put food on their families table.
Whoever said that life was not fair, was right indeed. For people like Karl Marx, “human societies progress through class struggle: a conflict between an ownership class that controls production and a dispossessed laboring class that provides the labor for production” (as cited by Wikipedia, last updated March 25, 2014). Such an unequal system is thought to be essential for the functioning of our globe. I disagree. I believe all peoples should be treated with the same respect, and with this newly acquired knowledge about Foxconn and its employees, I would hope we would spread the word of this grave mistreatment. Let us be their voice to the world.
Reference Page
Chan, J., Pun, N., & Seldon, M. (2013, August 12). The politics of global production: Apple, Foxconn
and China's new working class. The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 32, No. 2. Retrieved
Fitzsimmons, M. (2013, April 23). Apple says to look at fall, 2014 for 'amazing' product
developments. Retrieved from
SACOM (2011, May 6). Foxconn and Apple Fail to Fulfill Promises: Predicaments of Workers after the Suicides. Retrieved from http://sacom.hk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/2011-05-06_foxconn-and- apple-fail-to-fulfill-promises.pdf
Wikipedia (last edited 2014, March 25). Karl Marx. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx