What the working conditions are really like in the electronics industry

Foxconn workers sometimes work more than 90 hours a week. That’s twice as long as the time you spend in school. Foxconn workers get paid $1.78 an hour that means less than 10% of the money you pay for an iPhone goes to the person who helped make it. Foxconn provides apartments for its workers but they have to sleep with many other workers in each room. “Workers are charged around £11 per month to share a dormitory with seven other people and pay around 50 pence for a rice dish in the cafeteria” (Cooper 17) Factory working is hard. Workers stand for long hours and work with dangerous chemicals. There have been some employee suicides that some people believe are due to the repetitive, isolating work. Foxconn workers are thankful for a job and want to earn more money. Get Big P icture Look in your pocket. Do you have an iPhone? Want to know how that’s made? Apple doesn’t make its iPhones. Foxconn does. Foxconn is a huge company in China that employs thousands of people. the

What But they can’t make a difference until they try. Workers at Foxconn need to fight for their rights by becoming vocal members in their workplaces. Workers Can Do Workers in the United States have the right to form unions and rally for their rights. They can write petitions, lead protests, form rallies, join sit-ins, and stand up for their rights. They should have those rights in China too! “Poems from a young worker at Foxconn Technology Co. who committed suicide have opened a rare window into the mundane and grueling work on China’s factory floors” (Dou 1).

The truth is, Apple isn’t the only company that uses Foxconn products. Many major brands do. I f you stopped buying iPhones, the workers wouldn’t even have a job. So don’t stop buying, but do start pressuring. Find out more. Write a letter to Apple saying that you care about how iPhones are made. Your. Voice. Matters. “With demand for the firm's products soaring the factory is forced to churn out products in growing numbers. Last year they sold 93million iPhones, 40million iPads, 38million iPods and 17million computers” (Cooper 23).

What Businesses Can Do Legally, Apple is not (under U.S. or Chinese law) directly responsible for the conditions that exist at a supplier's site. That doesn’t mean they can’t help! Apple can work with the people in the factories and the governments in the United States and China to create labor unions or improve the working conditions. Making sure workers have safe environments, proper safety equipment, rights to breaks and meals, fair wages, and appropriate mental and physical health care can make a huge difference in the lives of Foxconn workers. “The company has sought to improve working conditions and implemented suicide-prevention measures following criticism from labor groups, adding to its labor costs ” (Dou 7)

What the ”Apple Inc. assembler Foxconn Technology Group said Friday that an employee died while working at its production site in Zhengzhou, central China, the latest of several incidents that have drawn scrutiny of its labor practices …The company said a 28-year-old male employee who had worked with Foxconn since October 2010 was found dead outside a building on the Zhengzhou campus early on Tuesday” (Lou 1, 3). Can Do G overnment In the United States, we invest billions of dollars to pay for other countries to manufacture our goods. In fact, the U.S. government is the world’s largest purchaser of clothing manufactured overseas. We spend $1.5 billion each year. It should be the responsibility of our government to protect the workers who make our products. The government can work with China to help them make laws for safer conditions for their workers. That way, a tragedy like this doesn’t ever have to happen again. Imagine what we spend on electronics! “The company is cooperating with law-enforcement authorities to investigate the incident… The latest incident highlights the difficulties that Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer, faces in trying to manage its massive workforce of more than one million in China” (Lou 4-5)