Of course Apple will get little to no credit for doing this…

“It’s so boring, I can’t bear it anymore. Every day is like: I get off from work and I go to bed. I get up in the morning, and I go to work. It is my daily routine and I almost feel like an animal.”

Frankly I’ve heard the same refrain from auto workers, retail workers, waitstaff, the list goes on and on. I’ve said it myself on occasion. Very few working people have a skip in their step in the morning.

To quote Red Foreman: “That’s why the call it work. Otherwise they’d call it happy fun time”

Yes, it is interesting that Apple seems to get all the heat here, while Foxconn is making products for many other tech companies too

If the headlines read “Bad Working Conditions at Dell Factory” then much fewer people would read the story than when it references Apple. It is all about selling advertising, sensation attracts reader which in turn attracts advertisers. Not there is anything wrong with reporting sensational stories and making money in the process, just that it should be done with fairness and balance.

Oh well, off my soapbox and back to the grind.

However, it would be nice to see Foxconn apply American work standards and regulations.

Agreed. 21st century work standards. I suspect that current Foxconn conditions are comparable to conditions on (for example) the Ford assembly line in the 1920s.

I suspect that current Foxconn conditions are comparable to conditions on (for example) the Ford assembly line in the 1920s.

Sometime around then Henry Ford gave his workers a significant pay raise and reduced the work day a bit so that they weren’t fatigued.

I wonder what would happen if Foxconn and other Chinese workers formed labor unions and went on strike.  Prices of products would probably rise, maybe even become unavailable. Violence on the picket lines, strike busters.

but it would be nice if Apple could force them to adopt some changes.

But they have. All you have to do is look at the last report that Apple issued. Workers for Apple suppliers can no longer be asked if they’re pregnant, for example.

The people bitching in the U.S. seem to be under the impression that Apple has the ability to influence an entire culture by simply wriggling its nose. All it really can do is push a little bit by providing jobs and pull a little by telling factory owners that their continued prosperity means constantly implementing workplace improvements. If Apple could simply pay American wages to a factory that met OSHA standards they could build all their products here in the U.S. Except that here, not only are 18 year olds bored by work, they’re too spoiled to actually do it if messes up their facebook or gaming time.

The people bitching in the U.S. seem to be under the impression that Apple has the ability to influence an entire culture by simply wriggling its nose

If they could do that then they wouldn’t be a contest with Proview Technology over the name iPad.

Exactly, jfbiii. I would take it a step further - neither Apple nor anyone else can do anything to ultimately influence the Chinese government. It kind of saddens me that people here in the states organizing protests and the like around these issues are so woefully ignorant of that reality. Granted, I’d love it if Apple and others reinvested some of their wealth into building manufacturing channels here in the US, and I’m not saying that the companies that make use of factories overseas shouldn’t do everything within their power to make working conditions and policies as fair as possible, but really, all of the ire should be directed squarely at the Chinese embassies. I know, I know too logical.