Foxconn Suicides

Although America is known as the richest country in the world, 43 million of its citizens are in poverty. Unfortunately, some of them work full time, yet are still in poverty due to the low minimum wage (“Should We Raise”). In 1928, the first federal minimum wage of 25 cents per hour was set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to prevent workers from being underpaid. Since 2009, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 (Smith). The age old debate of whether or not to raise it is still going on in the US. The federal minimum wage should be increased to keep up with inflation, help support the poor, and stimulate the economy.

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.

“By increasing the cost of labor, they reduce the demand for it.” (Zwolinski 6) Businesses could suffer from the wage increase because the expectations of skill from their employees will be much higher. Most people who are unemployed are concerned that the jobs they could once apply for will no longer be an option for work because they are underprivileged. “When jobs are scarce, then immigrants, workers with few skills or little education, and those with limited Englsih proficiency are going to have a harder time convincing employers that their labor is worth $15 an hour then their better-skilled, native, English-speaking competitors.” (Zwolinksi 5) The underprivileged make up a large part of the current employment in businesses.

Increasing the wage for all employees will cost a lot of money for employers. Business will be faced with two decisions, either “raise their prices”, or “simply cut employees or reduce benefits” (Williams). If they choose to raise up prices, then there will be no benefit for the increase of wage. Employees will get an increase in wage, but so is prices of almost everything. And if businesses choose to cut employees and benefits, then the number of unemployment could possibly arise, and the benefits such as paid vacations and PTO, can be easily get demolished.

In the United States, the cost of living for a single adult with no children is an average of $28,474 every year (Career Trends, screen 1). This seems like a relatively low number, until the amount of people living together increases. A family of six, two adults and four children, rises to an annual cost of $82,900 (Career Trends, screen1). If an adult were to work full-time at minimum wage, they would only be getting $15,080 per year from their employer (University of California, screen 1). This amount of money is still about $14,000 short of how much it costs a single adult to live. In recent discussions of minimum wage, many people argue about whether it should be raised or not. Although the intentions to raise it are good, the outcome

The controversy over what to establish as the official minimum wage in the United States has been debated and argued over for many years. Due to inflation, the gradual increase of pricings due to a saturation of printed currency, the minimum wage for workers has to be increased in order to compensate for the ever-fluctuating value of the U.S. Dollar. Many today are rising to the conclusion that a minimum wage of fifteen dollars an hour is necessary. This motion is designed to keep those who have minimum wage income out of poverty and to increase the amount of money in the consumer’s pocket overall. However, this particular increase in minimum wage will lead to the inevitable downfall of the United States’ economy and be a catastrophe for the working class.

The current federal minimum wage is too low to allow people to earn a living wage and has failed to keep up with increases in inflation, productivity and economic growth in recent years. Wages have been fixed at $7.25 an hour since 2009, resulting in a 40 hour work week that allows one to earn only $15,000 a year, an amount that lies just barely above the poverty line (13). If the worker is responsible for children and works full-time to earn this amount, they drop below the poverty line. These low

In addition, an expanding conversation about how to end working poverty through decent jobs points out that is to not only important to make minimum wage, but an adequate living wage. For instance, the Raise The Minimum Wage Campain noted, “The minimum wage should be set 10% above the poverty line, using the Low Income Measure”. Unionization employees that get paid above minimum wage feel more comfortable and satisfied with their job, which indicates that they are less likely to resign from their duties. With skilled workers in greater demand, their job opportunities and their

In this globalization era, as various countries see growth in their economy, there has also been significant differences in the wages set to employees in different countries. The lowest wages set by the law that are fixed to a particular amount which is also defined to be the price floor below which workers shall not sell their labor, has its own effects. The minimum wage law came into force as a matter of social justice amongst the low-wage workers, also to reduce exploitation and see that workers can afford the standard basic living expenses and necessities, not to increase the unemployment rate, indeed to increase the employment rate.

“Paying your employees well is not only the right thing to do, but it makes for good business”-Jim Sinegal, CEO of Costco. Many of America’s employees are not being paid well, however, for the annual income of a full-time employee who works year-round is less than $16,000 (about $15, 080) according to the current federal minimum wage (Rebuilding). To put into retrospect how out-dated the federal minimum wage is, consider that the minimum wage of 1956 amounted to exactly $7.93 in 2009 (Henderson). How progressive is it that our nation’s workers being paid less today than workers from the 50’s? The federal minimum wage should be raised in order to assist families out of poverty, to ensure the effort and loyalty of workers, and

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.

According to the case we know that labor costs in china may have a big increase in the next 10 years, from 40% totally to 10% annual increase to even 40% annual increase.

China is one of our biggest labor competitors. The reason many US companies go to China for outsourcing is again, because of their workforce’s willingness to operate at low costs. Michael Zimmerman describes this as a disparity in worker “tolerance”. Where the low wages found in China are “far lower than U.S.

Although this sometimes isn’t the factories fault because most of the workers are uninsured so they are denied medical and social services (“China: Beijing’s Migrant 1”). Most of the factories do try to pay their workers by hour at about twenty cents per hour, but some only pay them once a year (Goldman 1). This however is breaking the rule of Labor Law fifty in China, which states that workers must be paid on a monthly basis. The average wage per month is only about sixty-five dollars which isn’t a sufficient amount of money to support an average family (“China: Beijing’s Migrant 1”). These people try to work overtime to earn more money, but often times they are forced to do this regardless (Goldman 2). Chinese workers often work in fear, because they have to ask permission to leave even after their shifts are done and to even go to the bathroom (Goldman 1). The Chinese workforce is starting to realize these problems and they won’t stand for it.

It was a decade ago when the Mail on Sunday claimed Apple’s Chinese factory workers were working under sweatshop conditions, and that the iPod factory workers had 60 hour weeks (Heffernan 2013). Apple examined this allegation by making efforts to certify that conditions were passable by company standards (Heffernan 2013).