EDIT
sad about the suicides
not fox comms fault
AI should stop this yellow writing

9

Because eveyone knows that a pay raise is the cure for suicidal tendencies. Coulda used that information prior to 9/11...

$131 a month? I'd starve on that salary. I though I was starving at $4800/mo . I really can't complain

I feel so sorry when I see the photos of Chinese ladies assembling computers etc.

Intellectually I know that factory jobs are the historically proven way to move an economy from rural to service-based. UK and US had factory towns like Foxconn in the 17/1800s. So I am lucky in that my ancestors went through this so I don't have to.

But non-intellectually, on a personal level, if I had to assemble electronics all day every day, I would probably consider suicide too. For me, boredom is worse than physical pain in many ways.

While it's true that this work is probably preferable to working the farms (many interviews with these workers have quoted them saying that they'll never go back to the farm), it's not just the pay (about 75 cents an hour) that's the problem.

It's the fact that many have to work 12-hour days, 6-7 days per week, aren't permitted to sit (they can't provide stools?) and aren't permitted to talk while on the manufacturing line. And while the factory may have facilities, they have to live in a crowded dormitory and aren't really living an independent life.

What's even scarier is that Foxconn is reportedly talking about moving the factory to a region of China where they think potential employees would be more receptive to the lousy working conditions. If that's accurate, they're just going to put a few hundred thousand Chinese out of work? The costs of operating a factory in China are so low that they consider this affordable?

While statistically, the suicide rate is lower than the overall suicide rate in the U.S., it's certainly not lower than the suicide rate among people who have a common association.

Apple and other wealthy companies have an obligation to do more to make sure these workers are treated fairly. Otherwise, instead of being seen as western companies helping the Chinese achieve a middle-class life, this is going to be seen historically as "poor Asians working so that rich white Westerners can have their silly toys."