Foxconn Hain Precision Industry Company

There are two stakeholders in this situation and they are: the companies Apple and Foxconn as well as the Chinese government. Apple has obligations to their employees both domestic and global. They need to be mindful that a corporation is only as good as its products as well as, its image. They need to be mindful that since its headquarters are in the United States, it should do all that it can to maintain a positive image. It is also important to make sure that the products they sell are quality products while keeping the price as low as possible. Foxconn has a stake in its people and the products they export. The unfair and inhumane working conditions forced the government to step in. Foxconn also needs to be mindful of the issues presented previously for Apple (the difference they are headquartered in China). The fact that labor violations were taking place, China’s government had an obligations to its people. They need to protect their citizens from hazardous work conditions and hold Foxconn accountable for their actions.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd which trades as Foxconn Technology group or as the media calls it Foxconn has been in media limelight recently due to labor problems that have surfaced from the organization. Foxconn is a major equipment manufacturer supplier to electronics giants like Blackberry, Apple, Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation and the Nintendo Wii. The internet has several articles and controversies regarding the deplorable worker conditions and cases of suicides by the workers.

On January 25, 2012, the New York Times published an exposé of labor conditions at an iPad supplier factory for Apple in China called “Foxconn”. The report documented extensive violations of worker rights; excessive overtime, crowded dorms, and the use of poisonous chemicals causing worker fatalities. It was reported that at least 19 factory workers have attempted suicide. But shortly before the New York Times story came out on “Foxconn”, on January 13, 2012, “The Fair Labor Association today announced that Apple will join the FLA as a Participating Company, effective immediately.” And on February 16, 2012 Steven Greenhouse, writer from the New York Times wrote an article about how Fair Labor Association praise the factory after they took

laws are changing more rapidly now that China is seeing foreign companies show up. China is

Workers have to deal with unventilated workspaces, are exposed to toxic materials, work for unreasonable hours, and are paid extremely low wages. Certain articles cite that sweatshops can have “children as young as age six work twelve to sixteen hours per day; workers of all ages labored in dark cramped workspaces… They operated dangerous machinery without any safety protection and were vulnerable to fire accidents and physical abuse at the hands of the bosses.” (“Sweatshops” 1). On top of facing these dangerous conditions daily, many workers encounter physical, verbal, and sexual abuse at the hands of their bosses (Introduction to… 2). Employees are

A huge contrast in the way of life and how business is run in the U.S. and China are the lean practices we’ve adopted in American. One of the biggest goals corporations try to achieve is doing more with less. Because of the sheer number of people in China (1.6 Billion), they want to create as many jobs as possible. Here in the U.S. we believe in streamlining work practices, being very efficient, using minimal manpower as needed, and introducing robots and other machinery to eliminate the need for a person to have to do the job.

The article is about the harsh working conditions at Foxconn in Chengdu, China. Foxconn is a major supplier for Apple products, building iPads, and is one of China’s biggest employers with 1.2 million workers. Employees are

According to CNET, workers at an Apple factory in Shanghai work grueling hours in poor working condition for low wages (CNET). The working hours for Chinese laborers are so long that a worker reportedly died after working for to 12 hours a day during a workweek (Daily Mail). Unlike American workers who have a home and life outside of work, the Chinese workers live in cramped dormitories with their fellow coworkers near the work factory. As the sell for the latest Apple product increases, the cheaper the commodity Chinese workers become as they are steadily forced to make more Apple commodities under dire working conditions.

China’s unethical and immoral uses of harsh punishment, low pay, and filthy dormitories. “China: Labor Conditions and Unrest” written in 2001 by Thomas Lum analyzes labor laws in China as a whole. The article pinpoints abuse in labor laws saying “labor abuses in some foreign firms include physical punishment, verbal humiliation, severe restrictions on movement, and lack of rest”, “physical punishment, including being struck or slapped and ordered to kneel or stand on a stool”, and “12- 13-hour work days without overtime pay, being fired without just cause, and lack of compensation for injury”. China fails to protect these workers from the hash punishment from the officials at the companies. China also neglects to punish the managers and factories for allowing these harsh conditions pass without acknowledgement. Within three years, “labor disputes have risen over 40% annually”, bringing much attention to labor in China. Despite the media covering the harsh conditions, and the labor-law breaking in these factories, the Chinese government brushes the issues off and develops temporary

Foxconn claims that it is compliant with local laws. But, research studies conducted by SACOM (Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior) have found that Foxconn has been a regular violator of labor laws. Many hidden facts as discussed below are uncovered.

Foxconn is a company in China that is notorious for using slave labor to make electronic devices we use every day. The company is known for abundant labor violations and cruelties that turned many heads in different countries in the world. The unusual violations included ridiculous amounts of long hours, shorting pay people are owed, and restricted and conditions that many would equate to prison. There were numerous American companies under the microscope to improve conditions after being caught profiting off the slave labor from people “employed” at the facility. One of these companies was Apple. Foxconn is also notoriously known for manufacturing many other electronics, for other major companies.

Ruled by the Chinese Communist Party for more than six decades, China remains a near authoritarian state, which violates numerous human rights in accordance to the U.N.’s human rights conduct daily, including freedom of expression, association, assembly, and religion. The unjust actions of the communist government is apparent to even to those who see it from the outside, the Chinese government continues to lie to its people about the state of its country and how “stable” they seem. In reality many reforms need to occur in order for the Chinese government to revert to a more humane state and until then china will remain a large enemy of human rights activists and a more equal country.

The case was also similar when an investigative reporter revealed the conditions at a factory in China producing the lovely Apple products we all seem to not be able to function without or live. An investigative report revealed the harsh, at times deadly conditions under which Chinese workers assembling iPhones and iPads live and work; the low pay and high turnover at Apple’s retail stores; the lengths to which Apple went to reduce its tax bill, and the shortsightedness of its conclusion that Apples couldn’t be manufactured in America (Duhigg) The finds by this investigative report caused outrage and backlash on the Chinese and Apple from its loyal customers. This would eventually cause an increase in wages for factory workers and better working conditions. Workers within these factories begin to have rights and were no longer being treated as cheap labor. , asked competitors to help curb excessive overtime in China, and reached out to advocacy groups it once rebuffed. It publicly identified its suppliers for the first time. Apple also announced after the scandal that it would invest $100 million to manufacture some computers in the United States (Spaeth). Although the $100 million dollar investment in the US jobs was years later, the real winner was the Chinese workers who now were

“Inside the factory, amid clattering machinery and clouds of sawdust, men without earplugs or protective goggles feed wood into screaming electric saws, making cabinets for stereo speakers” (Goodman and Pan 1). In the article Chinese Workers Pay for Wal-Mart’s Low Prices by Peter Goodman and Philip Pan the mistreatment of the migrant workers in China is evident. These kinds of behaviors are taking place all over in China. The abuse of the Chinese work force has reached terrible proportions and created unlawful conditions because of the demanding economy of China, and other countries’ needs of the goods; however, the companies that are centered in China are working to make sure their workers are treated fairly.

Companies such as Apple, Dell, HP, IBM, and Sony outsource labor and hardware manufacturing to a company called Foxconn Technology Group. Foxconn Technology Group is a multinational business anchored in Shenzhen, China. Some of the typical hardware being manufactured are, motherboards, chipsets, smartphones, tablets, and laptops. The majority of the factories are in China, three in Europe, one in India, and four in Mexico. Currently there are contracts to expand and build a new factory in Brazil. I believe that there are many ethical problems related to this example; first, the general idea of outsourcing mass amounts of labor, and secondly the mistreatment of