300 Foxconn Workers Threaten Mass Suicide Over Raise

Foxconn up to its old tricks again

Seems like I should avoid buying Foxconn products or products from companies that use foxconn as their manufacturer.

Sounds like Dell.

You can't Unless you plan not to buy any electronics at all.

I feel like Microsoft does not care about working conditions whatsoever, nor does Apple, nor any other company using the cheap asian labor. If they did "monitor working conditions closely" as they claim, this would have been noticed many years ago. Foxconn employees committing suicide over their horrible working conditions isn't new news.

Yep, just good ol' PR

If you have 900,000 employees all sorts of unpleasant things will happen and if you publish a 'report' on those selected incidents you can make a company look worse than they may be.

This is not to say that the working conditions in 3rd world countries are often well below our 'current' standards !
But think about what we did 100 years ago (kids working in mines) or even as little as 50 years ago.
Unthinkable today for us. These countries are simply going thru the same motions that we did.

We should not forget that we had 'separate bathrooms' as recent as the 1960s... i.e. the "Jim Crow laws" !

Foxconn is one of the largest manufactures of electronics components. Even companies like LG and Whirlpool have used their parts. You will have a hard time avoiding them, in fact you are unlikely to even know, after all they re-brand their parts. So why are we asking MS to watch a company when China government policies is just as much to blame.

Course an Xbox all US manufacture == cost $800 but at least you know the folks building it got more than $1000 a year, and didn't have to live in the company dorms, eat at their mess hall, and work 12 to 16 hours a day.

Sorry, but this is the way it is there. There are thousands that would gladly take those 300's place probably even at a lower rate.

@rawful
Of course they don't care. This is just a PR stunt.

Hmm. I wonder if I could get enough of my co-workers to try this. Just a bluff of course. No raises in the last 3 years while the big wigs get tons of money and bonuses. HR tries to keep us content with trinkets and crap such as pins congratulating us on our good work. I'd rather they bought me a soda than give me some stupid trinket.

If they'd really care about workers, they'd build their products in the USA. Outsourcing is cheap, but it still comes with a price...

300 Foxconn workers against 100,000 Persians


FOR CHINAAAAAAA!!!!!

And people complain about the greed of American companies (I'm not saying it doesn't exist, it obviously does)?

At least we don't get exploited like that.
I really feel bad for those workers.

Well, it is nice of Microsoft to show concern for the cheap Chinese laborers they went to China to exploit.

In the early 1900's the USA was not very different with its clothing mills, low pay, long hours, lots of child labor. But that labor force led to unions and eventually became the middle class. Sorry that China also may have to take this slow road to getting worker rights. Though humanity might have learned, but upper class greed is no different now then back then.

why is this suddenly MS 's fault? You can't be responsible for a subcontractor!!
this is foxconn's fault, exploiting their workers, no one elses.

sounded more like: FOR CARDASSIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Good luck with that. Foxconn manufactures for a disproportionately huge part of the tech industry.

population before mass suicide 1 billion. population after mass suicide up to 1.1 billion.

Go to your boss and threaten suicide, unless you get a raise. Be sure to let me know how it turns out.

If only US companies are no greedy for profit, employment should not be a problem right now in the US if all US products are manufactured in the US.

China might still be a third world country.

fat chance of that...they make everything.

microsoft does not own foxconn. It's none of MS's business what goes on there so long as they meet their contract.

Untill the consumer demands it, working conditions will never improve.

Targeted boycotts will help to accomplish this.

pEACe

Sad...

They would if they could.

?

No, we just outsource our exploitation.

It's cheaper that way

so everything you buy is from them? they are only 2 million strong, there have to be outside vendors that never touch foxcon.




like i really believe that if the working area was in a first world nation the cost of manufactureing would jump 4X the current cost. most of the jobs there are minimum wage level jobs, "put all screws into this template, screw in, do it again" costs would probably jump a bit, but most of the work would be handled by robots, and less humans would be used, china uses humans because its cheaper to pay 100 than to build 1 robot to do the task better and faster.




its better than them getting a union, demanding 30$ an hour, and than benefits that equal 40-60000 a year, i doubt that would happen but it could.




no, you dont go to boss, you go to the roof with big paper/cloth banners, and a megaphone, and a dummy to toss off as an example, and an ultimatum of 24 hours, but only do this after calling media.

they come, and i guarentee you will get the raise, and the higher ups wont get those bounses for a few years, but you will be put on a very short what you can do leash, they will be looking for a screwup to fire you over.

Threatening suicide not only doesn't get you a raise in the US, it'll help your boss avoid paying for your unemployment checks.

I see all you people complaining about companies not caring about working conditions overseas, but you fail to realize that if they did not use cheap labor the costs of your oh so needed electronics would go up. Then you would just complain that prices were too high.

I love how people are putting all the blame on the companies for outsourcing to cheap Chinese labor. How many of you would buy the products if they cost twice as much because they're made in America. The consumer is the reason this is done, the companies are only giving us what we demand. You bitch and you bitch and you bitch about how expensive SSDs and tablets are, then moments later say the companies should be taking measures to increase the costs?

The hypocrisy is appalling. One moment you're acting like an entitled brat demanding easier access to luxury items like computers that fit in your pockets, and the very next you vilify the very measures taken to meet your demands.

You've got to choose. Do you want your toys cheap built by workers exploited so badly that they'd rather die than go on working, or do you want to pay more so these people can be paid a decent wage? Because every time you post on here bitching about how brand new technology is too expensive, you're voting for the former.

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Everyone can stand down now. Microsoft has opened up an investigation!