10 Suicides at Apple factory this year.

[Deozaan]

It's gotten so bad they have installed a net to catch the jumpers!

Since January this year 10 young workers have killed themselves by jumping from the roof of the factory building at Foxconn in southern China.

Jobs today described the worker's deaths as 'troubling' but insisted that the factory 'is not a sweatshop'.

[Carol Haynes]

When William Wilberforce tried to abolish the slave trade one of the arguments of the slave traders was that the slaves had better conditions than if they were free.

[Renegade]

Steve Jobs: 'Oh, that suicide factory? It's pretty nice. And oh yeah, f**k Adobe Flash too.' -- http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/mac/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=225300272&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_News

Simply unreal. The guy is just a real piece of work.

[tomos]

Simply unreal. The guy is just a real piece of work.

agreed, sounds like he had nothing to say about the actual problems there, & if he tagged the stuff about Flash on at the end
but OTOH, that article is really useless... [edit] I mean there's no detailed info in there about anything related to the situation or the press conference (was it even a press conference?) [/edit]

[Deozaan]

Steve Jobs: 'Oh, that suicide factory? It's pretty nice. And oh yeah, **** Adobe Flash too.'

I had initially included that part in the quote because I was thinking the same thing, but decided to remove it and let others discover that for themselves.

[Eóin]

We as consumers should have much, or all, of the guilt on our consciences too. We want cheap electronics and are all to happy to turn a blind eye to those exploited to bring the goods.

[Deozaan]

I can happily say I have no guilt about this. I don't support Apple and I don't want any of their "cheap" electronics.

And who said anyone is being exploited? The factory is "pretty nice" after all.

'You go in this place and it's a factory but, my gosh, they've got restaurants and movie theatres and hospitals and swimming pools. For a factory, it's pretty nice,' he said.

[Lashiec]

Unfortunately for you, Foxconn also works for other electronic companies, which you may have bought devices from in the past. And this is not the first time that Foxconn has been involved in investigations regarding how they treat their employees, although it's likely the working conditions aren't as bad as the ones reported on one of KYE Systems (a.k.a. Genius) factories.

[Deozaan]

In that case, it's certainly easy to "turn a blind eye" to something you didn't even know existed until just hours ago.

[Lashiec]

Sure thing

I simply wanted to dispel the assumption the media seems to have created, that just because the incidents happened at "Apple's factory", somehow they are the bad guys, though it could have happened with any other company Foxconn works for.

[Renegade]

In all fairness to Apple (as Lashiec points out), they are at the center of media attention, but this is just part of the inevitable bad publicity. They need to take some bad along with the good. While it is likely blown out of proportion for Apple, I will still take pleasure in seeing Apple tarnished by it (especially in light of their own policies -- it seems karmic).

[Carol Haynes]

Actually looking at the article again isn't it a Foxconn factory and don't they make motherboards for Windows, Linux systems etc. too? Why is Apply facing this alone?

It is the price exploited people pay because WE want cheap electronics.

[tomos]

I wonder will we see 'FairTrade' electronic equipment at any stage?
It would be nice to know at least that the workers get enough to live comfortably.

There is a very respected German magazine, Stiftung Warentest,  that tests things (anything and everything). They do it very methodically and scientifically and give very detailed results and background info etc. Recently they tested running shoes - but they also 'tested' the conditions in the factories where the shoes were made (mostly Vietnam IIRC). Nike came bottom of that list, Addidas at the top - I know the next time I buy a pair of 'runners' who I'll be going with if at all possible, and who I'll definitely be avoiding.
It would be harder to do that with computers because the parts are made in so many different factories, but it would be nice if the computer assemblers made an effort to ensure that conditions arent the pits. Would be good publicity for them too, but I imagine they wont do it till the pressure is on...

[Eóin]

Agreed tomos, it'll take pressure from customers before the companies will start to change.

[40hz]

Sure thing

I simply wanted to dispel the assumption the media seems to have created, that just because the incidents happened at "Apple's factory", somehow they are the bad guys, though it could have happened with any other company Foxconn works for.

I think if this had been happening at other plants, the news media would have been all over that too. But apparently that hasn't been the case. The 'problem' seems to be unusually rampant and confined to this one plant that handles Apple products.

Maybe Apple's "think different" mindset includes thinking you'd be better off dead?

--------------------

re: Steve Jobs

The Ugly American doesn't come any uglier than this guy.

I won't miss him when he's finally gone...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[attach]

[tomos]

30% wage hike for Foxconn workers (I suspect their wages must have been really low if they're getting a 30% increase)

http://english.cntv.cn/20100608/102253.shtml