fair trade electronics and the foxconn suicides (1 Viewer)

[ann post]

was reading this type of stuff lastnight:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/foremski/...ronics-would-you-buy-a-fair-trade-iphone/1358

The suicides at Foxconn have highlighted the issue of highly stressful working conditions in the global electronics industry. Foxconn has responded with psychologists, punch bags, swimming pools, and asking employees to promise not to kill themselves.

But these moves do nothing to change the actual working conditions. Suicide numbers are a big red herring because even if they go down, huge numbers of workers will still suffer from low wages, long hours, and many other tough and unhealthy working conditions.

A recent BBC documentary series, “Blood, Sweat and Luxuries” took six young British consumers and placed them exotic locations working in the same jobs as locals, and having to survive on the same wages.

It’s an eye opening series because it showed the horrible work conditions that billions of people face daily, every week, for years, and decades. These were strong, healthy, young British adults, yet they would pass out from the back breaking work, suffer panic attacks, and many other maladies, after just a few hours on the job.


They carried huge amounts of dirt in Ghana’s gold fields; they processed leather in stinking abattoirs in Ethiopia; they dug deep holes in coffee plantations; and they had to work in an electronics factory in the Philippines where workers prepared tiny components for disk drives, processing one component every 3 seconds.

If they even took a moment to glance up from their tasks, or be distracted, they would fall behind in their quota and have their wages docked. It was incredible how much work had to be done for so little money by so many people. And the reason they were paid so little is that the electronics factory had to accept tiny profit margins in order to win its contracts.

All the large tech companies such as Apple, Nokia, Dell, etc have agreements with their suppliers that they do not employ children, and that they will abide by certain standards to protect workers. But it’s not clear how these are monitored, enforced, or how much in common they share across the electronics industry.

What is common across the electronics industry is a relentless focus on reducing manufacturing costs, and the largest manufacturing cost is labor; which is why employees are pushed to work faster, while maintaining high quality work, and at the lowest wages acceptable.

We reap the benefits in the form of cheap digital gadgets, gizmos, and computers. We have absolutely no idea about all the blood, sweat, and human suffering that went into creating our digital devices.

For the six young Brits that took part in that five week program, the experience was life changing. On their return they made big changes in their life styles, some changed their diets, and they all changed their buying habits. Some raised money and collected clothes and books for the families they met during their stay. And they found a new respect for Fair Trade goods.

One of them said that she used to dismiss Fair Trade coffee as some kind of marketing ploy, a trendy fashion. Now she doesn’t, and is happy to pay extra because she knows it does make a difference in the lives of many people.

Would you buy a Fair Trade iPhone or Android smartphone? Would you buy a Fair Trade Dell or HP PC if there were such choices? And how much extra would you be willing to pay?

And more importantly, what would it take for you to be assured that the Fair Trade premium was making a difference in the lives of electronics workers?

It wasn’t that long ago when PCs typically cost $5,000 and lots of people paid it willingly. These days you can pick up powerful notebooks for under $1000, and netbooks for under $400. And a $100 smartphone is more powerful than PCs from just a few years ago.

Surely, we should be able to afford to pay a Fair Trade premium on electronics without too much suffering on our part.

And hopefully, the global media attention on the Foxconn suicides will result in improved working conditions for millions of electronics workers, and Fair Trade electronics goods will become commonplace.

and then the foxconn wiki.

 

[ann post]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/af...ocId=CNG.206e9da30bbd9b6afd57691fa13ac2fe.571

Foxconn engineer jumps to death in China: media
(AFP) – 11 hours ago
SHANGHAI — A factory worker apparently jumped to her death after an incident at Taiwan's high-tech giant Foxconn, which has been plagued by a spate of suicides and labour problems, according to state media.
Taipei-based Foxconn on Friday said the 25-year-old engineer died last week after falling from her brother's home in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen, where the firm runs a massive complex, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The unnamed employee, who had worked for Foxconn since 2005, had "been on sick leave" at the time of her death after factory officials rebuked her for an unspecified reason and said she would lose her job, Hong Kong media reported.
Foxconn was not immediately available for comment when contacted by AFP.
Labour rights activists have blamed a string of suicides at Foxconn on tough working conditions, highlighting the difficulties millions of factory workers face across China.
At least 13 employees at Foxconn -- the world's largest maker of computer components, which produces goods for Apple, Sony and Nokia -- died in similar circumstances last year, the official Global Times reported.
Following a number of suicides, Foxconn raised wages by nearly 70 percent at its China plants.
The death was the latest in a series of incidents involving Foxconn to make headlines in China.
A female worker at a Foxconn plant in Beijing was stabbed to death this week by her boyfriend, who had been a colleague, the Beijing News reported on Thursday, citing police and employees.
On January 6, a fight erupted between two groups of workers at a complex with 22,000 employees in the southwestern city of Chengdu, leaving two injured, Xinhua reported.

 

[ann post]

this article is from last year, it is not news as such, but shocking in its own way:

Foxconn Showing Employee’s Last Words, Stops Compensation


After Apple’s iPhone 4 announcement, Foxconn held their annual shareholders meeting in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and CEO Terry Gou has proclaim some interesting details on the suicide tragedy. He told the Taiwan press and shareholders, the company have evidence that some employee killed themselves is because of the financial payoff, thus Foxconn will end the suicide compensation. Guo was also frustrated that the media had created a bad social image on him…


Gou Tai-ming listening to the comments from the shareholder. Photo from AFP
Guo Tai-ming said the company might go for a divestment, to move the main production line back to Taiwan, and use more machines-work for producing. He emphasized that commit suicide is a social responsibility, a corporate could not afford too much social responsibilities. Therefore, he will decide to sell the company’s dormitory to the local government, they will in-charged it, and Foxconn will rent the dormitory from the government instead.

During the meeting, Gou published a real last words from one of the employees, the last words clearly stated that the reason for his suicide is about the compensation, and this will act as a return to his family. Foxconn stated that the employee who has written this letter of last words, was rescued by the company before his suicide attempt. We have a video news report, and the highlights of it

see
http://www.infoworld.com/t/outsourc...ers-did-it-the-money-883?page=0,0&source=rss_
for video

Highlights:

while one of the shareholders asks about the suicide incident, Gou shows an employee’s last words to the public.
a real handwriting letter and a retype words document were shown.
the content stated : ” Mum, you always tell me to die, now I will jump down from Foxconn. I really have to go, you don’t have to feel sad, Foxconn will pay some money, and as your son, this is the only way to return you.”
the employee is not dead, he was rescued by the company.
Foxconn admit they have turned out to encourage the suicides due to the high compensation.
Gou read out a survey from a Suicide Association who carried out an investigation on his company, the victims from the 12 suicide attempts, 3 of them were mental illness and other 8 who have emotional disorder.
news report said that Guo’s action is to restore confidence from the shareholders.

see also:

http://www.infoworld.com/t/outsourc...ers-did-it-the-money-883?page=0,0&source=rss_

 

[ann post]

DIGITIMES, Taipei [Friday 21 January 2011]

Apple has added Foxconn Electronics, Foxlink, Gold Circuit Electronics (GCE) and Epistar as component suppliers for the iPhone 5 smartphone, scheduled for launch during summer at the earliest, according to a Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) report.

Foxconn will become the iPhone 5's new earphone supplier. Japan's Foster was the previous supplier, but a strengthening yen has spurred Apple to look for more cost-effective sources, the report said, noting that related orders are estimated at NT$5 billion (US$171.7 million). Foxlink will produce earphone jack sockets for the iPhone 5.

Environmental groups in China have criticized Apple for a lack of regard for its Chinese suppliers, blaming the Cupertino company for poor environmental and work safety standards.

Reuters reported this week that the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE) published a critical report on the Apple supply chain, accusing the company of only caring about the "price and quality" of its products.

"We've found that Apple isn't honoring its commitment in ensuring its supply chain's work safety and environmental responsibility and giving dignity and respect to the workers," Ma Jun of IPE told Reuters.

"In some ways they drive the suppliers to cut corners to win their contracts."

In response, Apple said that its own supplier responsibility reports "document the progress of our extensive auditing program since 2006."

A spate of suicides at Foxconn's campus in Shenzhen last year were blamed on working conditions but Apple strongly denied this.

The use of N-hexane at a plant in Suzhou, a toxic substance banned in many countries, caused controversy in January 2010 and IPE claimed that at least 47 workers in the factory, which makes LCD screens, fell ill.

my continuing search for fair trade electronics now brings up one company, who manufacture usb memory sticks and hubs in vietnam. you cant actually buy a fair trade computer, tv, mobile phone etc so second hand would be the only option at present.
anyways, makers of ethical usb sticks and hubs:
http://www.unitedpepper.org/index-8aboutus.html

 

[ann post]

Foxconn in australia:

“The management doesn’t allow people to speak out, to mingle with each other. Before, every person on the line had a chair. But the management have since removed the chairs and told us that we are process workers, and can’t expect to sit down. They give us targets of 60 units per day, which is impossible to achieve. One worker can do up to 44 units, maximum. The management says that if we achieve the target of 60 units, then they will give us a chair.”

The long-time Foxteq worker discussed some of the problems facing the workers, in common with their Foxconn brothers and sisters in China and India.

“In Australia nobody is interested in Foxteq—the government, the unions, no one. There are people who have been working at Foxteq for 10-15 years and they are still casuals; they still don’t get any benefits from Foxconn. Their jobs are still not guaranteed. In fact, sometimes they work only four hours and then have to go home. The union has told us to join up and they’ll fight for our case, but I think the unions are for the employers, not for the workers.”

original source:

http://www.nosweat.org.uk/story/2011/03/12/i-sweat-disgusting-conditions-foxconn’s-sydney-plant

 

[fobster]

Thought-provoking. Employment regulations in these countries appear to be non-existant and big business is only too willing to exploit these circumstances.

Unless there is an international boycott that has a material impact on the likes of Apple and Dell, the general work practices in these factories will undoutedly continue. As you point out the product offering of companies such as United Pepper offering a sustainable alternative is currently quite limited and therefore makes boycotting the big tech companies that bit more challenging as it appears to me they are all taking advantage.

 

[washingcattle]

So they do exist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Asian_trade_union_stubs

Clicking at random I'm finding it very difficult to find anything resembling a manifesto. If we export only one thing to Asia let it be a decent Trade Unionist just once.

 

[Mormon Nailer]

I think the suicides are a bit of a red herring.
You are dealing with a facility with hundreds of thousands of employees
Of course there are going to be quite a few suicides each year.

 

[washingcattle]

Mormon Nailer. The Lucy Nagle of thumped.

"Don't think of it as a suicide, think of it as an opening, a new exciting oppertuinity in our mail room."

 

[Mormon Nailer]

I'm not saying conditions there aren't absolutely horrific, they are. But wired and arstechnica running breathless articles about "another" suicide in Foxxconn, when you are talking about a population of 300K people is pretty meaningless.

 

[washingcattle]

"It is Foxxconns position that the unnamed employee of Foxxconn was in fact dead long before she joined the Foxxconn family, Though we at Foxxconn did all we could to resusitate the individual through many glorious team building outings and individual empowerment seminars, ultimately even the loving atmosphere of Foxxconn couldn't bring a beat to the ladies withered heart and eventually her need to lurk in the after world outweighed the magnetic lure of Foxxconns shining light of personal growth."

I meant Lindsey Naegle.

 

[Mormon Nailer]

OK
That make more sense
I guess there's no need for me to follow Lucy Nagle on twitter anymore so.

I was wondering why I was being compared to an interior designer.

 

[Mormon Nailer]

Where would my Lynx Africa shower gel go in this picture?

 

[тхеодоре кацзынски]

lynx africa?pssssh,come on mormon.

 

[ann post]

I think the suicides are a bit of a red herring.
You are dealing with a facility with hundreds of thousands of employees
Of course there are going to be quite a few suicides each year.

I have been reading quite obsessively about foxconn and similat for a while now - you are right - the suicides are not above average chinese levels, but apparently chinese suicide rates are some of the highest in the world. Suicides aside, the worker accounts don't exactly emit rays of joy. I hadn't found anything new or interesting to add to the thread since the worker interviews.
The population of foxconn total i believe is more like 800k spread over a few countries, and they arent any better or worse than their competition. There were two or three other companies with similar product bases that came up in the general reading as well. foxconn are hon hai enterprise, the dont just make brand name.
I'm much more interested these days in the absolute void i found when trying to find fair trade electronics. With food/auto and many other mainstream products there is an option, with electrics its largely non existent. local refurb, charity store, high end hand built is all that is to offer besides the previous mentioned company.

 

[Mormon Nailer]

lynx africa?pssssh,come on mormon.

Lynx a splash of Old Spice and a squirt of Brut in the sox and jocks and I'm ready for Saturday night.

 

[тхеодоре кацзынски]

Class all the way.
(sorry for jacking your thread ann,ill leave now)

 

[ann post]

Where would my Lynx Africa shower gel go in this picture?

I'd kinda suspect all that stuff is largely automated, i imagine technicians standing over vats with masks on, then bottles moving down gulleys at a tremendous rate.

Class all the way.
(sorry for jacking your thread ann,ill leave now)

naw its grand, hang about - nobody cared about this thread 24 hours ago.

 

[fobster]

I have been reading quite obsessively about foxconn and similat for a while now - you are right - the suicides are not above average chinese levels, but apparently chinese suicide rates are some of the highest in the world. Suicides aside, the worker accounts don't exactly emit rays of joy... they arent any better or worse than their competition.

That's the problem all these businesses are clearly exploiting their workers, the suicides at Foxconn just gave these news/opinion websites something to run with.


P.S I wasn't sure if this was originally a thread or a monologue. Carry on.

 

[ann post]

fobster - it got my attention anyways, i dont think i ever considered once where my computer came from prior to those articles.

the thread was me collecting articles basically, i'd rather it was thread but there seems to be some sort of fear surrounding it so far. we'll see.