Comments
DeTrotseTuinkabouter t1_j71y0ml wrote
It's incredible how much of a rough deal factory line work is. I'm a white collar workers and a lot of blue collar work I can imagine doing. A lot of it might be way harder on my body and there's other downsides, but yeah it's an option.
But working a job where you do the same thing every four seconds? Christ..
MrDeeds117 t1_j72pm6r wrote
I’m happy making my $28 doing the same thing for 8 hours!
anabolicartist t1_j72y3ku wrote
Are you kidding me? 8 hour shifts? Sheesh. No one wants to work these days.
Happyman255 t1_j732wo4 wrote
Fuck I work 13 hours 6 days a week. I also make 14k a month take home doing it tho so it's a trade off.
Peltonimo t1_j76d56x wrote
Wtf do you do for that much money? What's your base pay? I make $35 an hour and I've had weeks where I worked 84 hours (18 being holiday hours), but I get taxed so heavily I could never make close to that. $4,500 down to like $2,500.
lilsky07 t1_j76dcit wrote
Probably sales of some kind. I used to pull that much when the markets were better. Don’t miss the stress though. Took a job with less hours and half the pay and now I get to actually see my family and friends.
MrDeeds117 t1_j73gqpj wrote
I mean it’s the shift I’m givin lol
PoopIsAlwaysSunny t1_j750n70 wrote
Where you have to keep up a high pace of work day in and day out and the pay is kinda trash.
ripperdoc23 t1_j734r0w wrote
I worked an office job (IT admin) where my main home base was a commercial print location. You’re spot on. The only job in the shop that seemed interesting was die cutting, but otherwise there’d be people called in for 12-hour shifts on a rush job so they could ship a few pallets of saddle-stitched brochures out. Then you wouldn’t see the saddle-stitch guy for 3 days, then he’d get called in. Pressmen and 2nd pressmen would complain a lot because the traditional setup is 3 operators but they managed to cut that to 2 jobs with the 2nd pressman playing a sort of jack of all trades mode. Long shifts of hearing the machines click away, hot or cold depending on season, lower pay than you’d expect for a trade with no raises in sight, etc. Manufacturing anything can take a lot of labor and I’m not shocked by what’s in the article, I think most people just haven’t been exposed to the pace and conditions of factory/logistics life.
MrLanesLament t1_j739c40 wrote
I also work in a factory, in health and safety.
The IT department seems to be seriously thankless at my place. Most of what they do is sit and monitor screens spitting out data feeds.
Until something important breaks, then whoever is unlucky enough to answer their phone at 3am gets called in to work 14+ hours until the problem is fixed and everything connected to it has been re-tested.
Also, quite a few of our IT people are much older than one might expect. They’ve been with the company since it’s heyday in the late 80s to mid 90s. Most of our manufacturing equipment is from Europe, much is outdated, some machines still run with floppy disks, and the only certified techs remaining live in Italy or Finland or whatever the machines were made. We can pay the insane cost of flying them in, or IT can learn the stuff and try to figure it out.
6spooky9you t1_j75db9x wrote
I one time spent 5 hours with my colleague troubleshooting a complex laboratory slide printer at 4 in the morning. It was the only printer we had that could print histopathology slides, so until we had it fixed the entire histo department was closed.
TheHabeo t1_j75fgg9 wrote
I'm a commercial priting and packaging factory manager. We generally try to minimize 12h shifts but sometimes there are weeks where workers has to go full week 12h shifts Sunday included to make deadline. There are workers who by the end of the year had not used any of their paid day off.
Ofcourse as compensation for the strenuous working condition, they are allowed regular smoke brake with some regulation and we made sure there are enough operators always. And their incomes are considered pretty high by local standard.
ripperdoc23 t1_j75hfgk wrote
Yah, in my experience it was always sales overpromising that led to those long 12x7 shifts. "Oh yeah we can get that out easily in 2 days" that sort of shit. When you're making 10x what the average employee in the shop makes (that shop was still doing 10-15% commissions on $100k-500k or so jobs), you tend to be able to drag everyone else around by the dick. Stupid but that's how it was there.
ackillesBAC t1_j725g3j wrote
Yet people still complain those jobs are taken away by robots.
rukioish t1_j7296nz wrote
At the end of the day its all some people can do or know how to do depending on where they live. It's not like new jobs magically appear in dead-end factory towns.
ackillesBAC t1_j72b97b wrote
That's true. And that's why someone needs to step in and help. A corporation is not going to do the best thing for those towns so it has to be government.
A large tax per "robot" that goes directly to the people would help alot, aka guaranteed basic income.
CygnusX-1-2112b t1_j72di53 wrote
And that's a good way to ensure that the company will not build their factory in your country or will move it out if it is there, and that you now have even less tax money to support your people with.
It's all fucked no matter which way you tug it.
VampireSurvivorsFan t1_j73s1oj wrote
If only it was that simple.
ackillesBAC t1_j73s9td wrote
Corporations and the right wing would fight hard to avoid this. No one should get money for nothing, and especially not my money.
tren_rivard t1_j755ob6 wrote
That sounds like socialism. Surely the free market will work everything out.
flugenblar t1_j735y2e wrote
OTOH (just being argumentative) if the government comes in and makes people's lives comfortable even when the local economy sucks, then we're subsidizing certain choices being made by people. I don't live in a small town with few choices for employment. For a reason.
ackillesBAC t1_j73bsze wrote
The counter to that, would be the free market has to compensate by increasing wages elsewhere in order to draw people to them. Win-win for people, loss loss for Corporations. And the government is run by corporations so we know something like this will not happen
Bakemono30 t1_j73xv78 wrote
But if it's a loss-loss for corporations, where will the corporations go? Elsewhere. No one is going to agree to a loss-loss and especially not a corporate entity. Only place loss-loss exists is govt where they can eat the cost to help their constituents. You're leaning too much toward socialism which then has a lot of other issues wrapped in. Ultimately the good is only the extent of the good of the people at the top. And we all know you don't have goodwill measures to make it to the top.
ackillesBAC t1_j73yuv4 wrote
I get it leans toward socialist policy, but it's far from socialism. The free market and capitalism will never sacrifice for the betterment of the individual unless its a board member.
Bakemono30 t1_j73zen9 wrote
Well obviously, because it's a free market to do so. The idea is to always extend the strength of power at the top instead of appeasing the labor at the bottom. The lower you are the more replaceable you become. Thus the less valuable you are to a company. What you're suggesting can never happen as it's pretty much corporate suicide.
ackillesBAC t1_j748577 wrote
It's stock market suicide maybe, the corporation can still exist with a stock price of zero. They would just have a hard time keeping a CEO or issuing new stocks to raise cash.
Microsoft last year doubled their salary budget, and increased their employees stock options by 25%. In an effort to retain their employees. Microsoft stock didnt seam to move when they announced this in May of 2022.
Edit: Amazon actually did the same thing last year, except for they increase theirs by a little bit more than double
Bakemono30 t1_j749z2y wrote
Yeah you lost all credibility with me on that statement. Best you learn more on stocks, valuation and the economy before making claims on how you think the economy should be. Pretty juvenile statement. There's no way a company can exist with 0 stock price.
ackillesBAC t1_j74i5ql wrote
It's quite complicated but a company generally only goes to 0 when they declare bankruptcy. Chapter 7 bankruptcy means they will no longer exist (sold off to pay debtor's), however can can declare chapter 11 where they work with debtors to pay down the debt, they still need exist as a company. Stocks fall that low because the company is dead, the company does not die because the stock is that low.
I also should not have said a stock price of zero, but should have said virtually zero, such as movie pass now at 0.0001$.
Bakemono30 t1_j74p5oy wrote
Bruh you're talking about failed companies, how they going to help prop your idea? Better to have left that out than to weaken your stance.
ackillesBAC t1_j74psnv wrote
Sorry to confuse you.
flugenblar t1_j7bld3p wrote
So are you arguing that Microsoft should move to small town in order to raise the median wages there? What about the town they left?
ackillesBAC t1_j7bmqav wrote
No I was replying to the comment that doubling wages would be corporate suicide, yet Microsoft and Amazon literally did just that and seamed to not suffer at all from it.
flugenblar t1_j7bl1si wrote
I think you are making your own best argument against your position.
imafraidofmuricans t1_j72fhx4 wrote
Because they are replaced by starvation?
You talk as if the jobs have to be shit. THEY DONT.
ackillesBAC t1_j72sf3x wrote
Your right another easy solution is to simply higher twice the people and have half the shift length
dfields3710 t1_j72whmz wrote
But then collectively, everybody gets paid less. You go from making 4k a month to only 2k.
ackillesBAC t1_j73besl wrote
Depends on the company, they could simply pay people the same, and likely get a higher quality of work, or they could pay people half, expect a low quality of work. I would wage that most corporations would not choose to cut the work time in half double the pay and take the losses from their profits. But I think it would make for much happier workers, and a far better product
tren_rivard t1_j755tlo wrote
If you're only working half as much, why would you expect the same pay?
azvnza t1_j75fxa1 wrote
cuz i want a better quality of life duh
realistically, at low levels of work, there isn’t much to add quality wise either… how high quality can plugging in cables be?
ackillesBAC t1_j75qn0v wrote
Ever got something made in Germany or Italy vs made in China?
ackillesBAC t1_j75qum3 wrote
You wouldn't, but the point is to improve peoples lives, so save pay half the hours would help a whole lot with quality of life. Id also say depending on the exact job productivity wound be more than half and quality would be higher. Happy people are better workers
tren_rivard t1_j79mnc4 wrote
I wish I could get paid 100% for 50% work too. Makes no sense though, life isn't made up of wishes and rainbows.
Realistically, you know what people would do with that free time? Get another job.
ackillesBAC t1_j79obxa wrote
What a novel idea, work 2 different jobs 4 hours each for more money.
BTW you may be surprised to learn many many people don't work 100% of the time they are currently payed to work. People tend to be alot more productive when they are at work less, as shown in many studies like this one
There's no law saying that you can't go and get a second job if you want more money, and that gives even more power and options to the people. I would say that would even bring back the old concept that work hard to get money. I'd say in modern corporate structure working hard quite often gets you nothing, sometimes even gets you punished
tren_rivard t1_j79r1e3 wrote
So you just destroyed your own argument that less time working would lead to a better quality of life. Nice going!
ackillesBAC t1_j7a7ov5 wrote
I said if you want more money. There's a big difference between working 8 hours to barely survive and working 4 hours to barely survive.
If you equate money to happiness then you can work 3 or 4 jobs if you want. If you equate free time, family, friends, hobbies yada yada with happiness you can work one job 4 hours a day. It's your choice and that's the point.
imafraidofmuricans t1_j72fexp wrote
Oh well that's fine then. Good thing we killed all workers right movement's everywhere.
animal56 t1_j72igew wrote
Nowhere did I say it shouldn't be improved or better. It's just that the writer described factory work in China, as if THEY are in worse conditions than us.
Yes, factories everywhere are horrid work environments. Yes, there are real horrid work environments that work people literally to death. However, this article proves that what we have here in NA or in first world isn't much better, but as long as we wave our flags higher then we can be more Righteous in our ignorance.
Bodacious_Dad_Bod t1_j76eoui wrote
Apple factories have suicide nets.
It’s not the same thing.
Bensemus t1_j81yecy wrote
Foxconn factories the size of cities have suicide nets. Most of your electronics are made by Foxconn. You aren't guilt free just for hating on Apple.
Known-Room8477 t1_j73zryw wrote
What factory in Canada did you work in that only paid $182 a month?
tren_rivard t1_j7574h0 wrote
>The company now keeps its basic monthly salary at about 2,200 yuan ($324),
Known-Room8477 t1_j9trc8a wrote
Is that really much better?
Peltonimo t1_j76dawk wrote
Money is a lot different in China. I read about a teacher who taught all over the world getting payed around $50-60k a year on average, but only $12k in China. She was able to save over $6k that year because it's so cheap to live there.
Arijan101 t1_j7638ar wrote
Now imagine all that amplified by the fact that in China they earn in 1 month what a Canadian factory worker makes on a bad day.
Than add the fact that they live in inhumane conditions on factory campus, comparable to the KFC chicken bred for mass slaughter, resulting in a huge suicide increase among factory workers, most of them jumping from the factory rooftops or out of the Windows from higher floors.
Do you know what Foxconn did to prevents these suicides?
They've installed safely nets around the buildings and barred the windows.
So yeah, although factory jobs suck everywhere, there's really a HUGE difference between China and Canada.
Also a good thing to keep in mind when buying Apple products.
blu3mys3lf t1_j7678l6 wrote
I don’t know about slavery. In most countries it’s relatively good pay for limited skills/training. That said it is good to strive for a future where mundane and dangerous tasks are automated and universally educated humans can focus on more creative pursuits.
hasnothingnice2say t1_j7mq84u wrote
“I love working in a factory” - no one
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LingoJam69 t1_j730b0s wrote
yeah, but we’re your colleagues literally twelve years old? 💀
scabootssca t1_j743oy1 wrote
True, did the factory life for 10 years, 12 hr days 10 min break every 2 hours, no other breaks like lunch or such. Got every other weekend off except for every 6 weeks you had to do 3 weeks straight. Super easy to plan things though, you always knew what you were doing every given day. Someone asks you what you are doing this weekend you already knew. Got 10 bucks an hour though.
caidicus t1_j75c11s wrote
Hey now, we're busy hating on China and pretenting "large, profit driven corporations aren't the problem, China is the problem."
Don't go spouting logic and sanity in here, how dare you!
:P
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maexx80 t1_j73p4to wrote
You are not wrong but hate the slavery statement. People are getting paid and are free to look elsewhere. Its literally not slavery
[deleted] t1_j723mti wrote
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animal56 t1_j7242md wrote
Lol
You don't know about the REAL Canadian health care system do you?
[deleted] t1_j727lce wrote
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imafraidofmuricans t1_j72fp93 wrote
What a weird comment. Nobody claimed it was perfect. Every model does not have its pros and cons, that's just objectively false.
WanderingPickles t1_j72n7lb wrote
It isn’t that weird. There are substantial numbers of folks who will defend one model over another to the nth degree. It is weird.
Additionally, it is not “objectively false” that every model has pros and cons. As the old saying goes, “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” There is always a cost associated with what we do and what we do not do. Opportunity costs, economic, fixed, variable, environmental costs. Always a cost.
When it comes to healthcare there are costs. One model could be that 100% of everything is always covered, in full. And that the government funds and hires enough docs, nurses, specialists, etc. to ensure that there are no wait times, that there are enough everything for every eventuality. That simply is not realistic.
For example, I worked for a government run entity where basically everything was covered. We had a patient who was gone. Never ever going to wake up, the only “movement” was the result of nerve death causing spasming. But the machines kept oxygen in the blood, kept blood circulating, took over from the kidneys, etc. All machines. The wife knew what needed to be done but one of the kids was convinced his dad was going to come back hale and hearty. It costs millions and millions to prolong this agony. It was traumatic for everyone involved including our staff.
I used to live in Europe and dealt with socialized medicine. Certain things were great. In other instances, it was mystifying how certain kinds of imaging (MRIs for example) which are routine in the US are exceptional over there. Or how imaging is offered only certain days of the week; good luck if you have a broken leg, the X-ray tech will be here Tuesday (that’s a real thing that happened too).
Likewise, a model dependent upon employer provided insurance (or really employer subsidized/cost sharing) isn’t particularly perfect either.
Another example; my son was born with a particularly serious heart condition. His mom was hospitalized prior to the birth because she was likewise “circling the drain.” Altogether it cost ~$2 million in the first six months for our son and hundreds of thousands for her. Insurance covered most of it but I was still having to figure out how to pay the deductible and “out of pocket maximums” and premiums. Half of my income before taxes was going towards some healthcare related thing. And I made good money. Half of every dollar. Before rent, food, taxes, gas, everything.
Even after that first year junior has continued with his medical checkups. While he had his surgical repair and is otherwise healthy, just the observational checkups rack up the dollars. It is also worth noting that his particular heart condition would not have been covered in most parts of the world including Europe or Canada. He would have been either euthanized or simply made comfortable and allowed to die. He is fine now and smart as a whip.
And when I was responsible for her (she ended up developing an uncommon illness that required ~$100k in treatment every month in perpetuity) I was still shelling out vast sums. It was untenable. I have a couple advanced degrees, made a good wage, paid my taxes, lived right and couldn’t afford rent or food on my own.
The point is, no system is perfect. There are always pros and cons. There are benefits and costs. I am fortunate enough that I have personal experience with several of the most financially flush healthcare models on the planet. I cannot say that one is better than the other, just that both can be maddeningly frustrating, limiting, and difficult to use. And also incredibly helpful in their own ways.
kUr4m4 t1_j72voox wrote
How can you in good conscious say that one is not better than the other. It just baffles me.
WanderingPickles t1_j72zegi wrote
Because I have dealt with both.
Broadly speaking I can’t really say which one is better than the other.
Personally speaking, my son is alive and well. So my personal vote goes to the American system. I would work two jobs again and again if it meant he had life.
kUr4m4 t1_j72zvqb wrote
You dealt with both but under your specific conditions. Factually speaking, socialized healthcare is simply more cost-effective and results in a better outcome for the general population than private healthcare. Study after study comes up with the same result. It's not a matter of opinion as to which system is better for the greater portion of the population.
WanderingPickles t1_j732udc wrote
It also helps that most socialized medicine nations are much more conducive to healthy living.
Those quaint, beautiful, amazing walkable cities, towns and villages in Europe are largely the result of their being built when feet were the primary mode of travel. Fun fact; the much vaunted German Army of WWII primarily walked into combat and its heavy equipment (artillery) was horse drawn.
It is one thing I really miss living back in the US. Here I have to get in the car to go to a store. Any store. For anything. It is bonkers. I went from walking 6-9 miles a day to a fraction of that. I have to be intentional about exercise; dedicating large portions of my time to the achingly boring and tedious exercise of… exercise. Blech.
simplebutstrange t1_j729pon wrote
i got surgery and only had to pay for my crutches 👍🤷♂️
animal56 t1_j72usew wrote
How much do you pay in taxes?
simplebutstrange t1_j730hst wrote
canada pays less in tax then the states do. look it up. you just have an over inflated defence budget.
animal56 t1_j735j6u wrote
First of all, I'm Canadian.
I pay increasingly more in taxes for increasingly diminishing services.
I pay extra on my paychecks to my group insurance plans so that I can replace those diminishing services.
This is not FREE. Yes, I won't be bankrupt if I don't have insurance, but it all comes at a cost, no matter how you spin it.
I wait 3-6 months for a consultation for treatment, after waiting up to a month go see my GP. If I need supplemental examinations, treatments or surgery, I can wait another 6-18 months for that surgery. I'm lucky enough to live in Ontario where wait times are the lowest in the country. Thank God I don't live in PEI where my mother has been waiting since before covid for her surgery. Thank God I'm not a native living on a reserve in the middle of bumfuck-nowhere.
Here's a demonstration of how good our free service is right now: My wife's aunt just spent the last month in the HALLWAY of a hospital wing waiting for a diagnosis of why she couldn't remember what was her own name was, AFTER receiving DAY surgery that she waited over six months to get. So now we have incompetence on top of poor service.
[deleted] t1_j724p4c wrote
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TravellingBeard t1_j72jbi0 wrote
Serious question as an Android user.
Are the top Android models (Samsung, Pixel, etc) made in significantly better working conditions or is "hell" par for the course for most brands?
Gaeus_ t1_j72m5qy wrote
Pixel is Chinese built, and only the premium Galaxy phones (Fold, ultra...) Are built outside china.
SneakerHead69420666 t1_j75j9qf wrote
where are those made?
tobiascuypers t1_j75qf0d wrote
The user was mistaken when they said the fold. The Foldable devices are manufactured in china. The Galaxy Models tho are manufactured in South Korea or Vietnam
Gaeus_ t1_j75zyv2 wrote
Shit... that's true. After the Fold 2 the Fold 3 and 4 are built in China.
ChestNutSon t1_j76e5c0 wrote
Also Sony phones are made outside China
HorseFeathers55 t1_j787fqw wrote
Samsung closed its last phone factory in China in 2019 Google pixel 7 to be made in Vietnam No idea how accurate these are but a few places are saying these same things.
Gaeus_ t1_j7892ws wrote
Well, I've read a few hours ago that the Fold 4 was manufactured in China so... I'm confused to say the least.
turbo_nudist t1_j75rd8x wrote
it’s all the same, headlines about apple just generally get people more angry on reddit for some reason
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tuberB t1_j74b2vn wrote
Everything you use is made in similar conditions. This is what being an assembler in a production environment looks like.
mainguy t1_j766lxk wrote
i see very little reason to believe they are. For instance the batteries for most smartphones made in the DRC are done under awful conditions for some miners, and amnesty international found LG don't give a damn. Actually no brand seems to be doing much about artisinal miners apart from Apple according to Amnesty, an independent charity representing miners in africa in this case.
Batteries are of course in every phone and an important part of the supply chain. So I think the amount of care brands have for the miners is quite indicative
37Lions t1_j76en05 wrote
Foxxcon doesn’t just manufacture iPhones.
So your tech is made in hell. Even Smart TVs. If you’re a consumer, you contribute.
This is how brands make billions, by treating humans as modern day slaves.
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YawnTractor_1756 t1_j7277qu wrote
It reads as if other phones were made in heavens by nuns while picking flowers
Youvebeeneloned t1_j72jmwf wrote
Seriously wondering how many of these reports are seeded by Samsung and others... because this isnt a iphone thing... but a industry thing... yet you NEVER see mention of the other companies who use literally the same companies to produce their phones and computers.
Elon61 t1_j736a29 wrote
Probably not, apple is just by far the most polarising tech company, which makes it good for clicks.
foxpaws42 t1_j75zftk wrote
Samsung operates factories in South Korea, Vietnam, and Mexico. While I can't speak to the conditions in Vietnam and Mexico, South Korean factories aren't exactly a picnic. Samsung wields quite a bit of power in Korean society, and is notorious for suppressing news about working conditions at their Korean factories, though some particularly egregious situations have made news headlines in Korean news. (E.g. deaths due to prolonged exposure to hazardous chemicals.)
I get the sense that these incidents in Korea aren't of significant interest to Western news media, whereas tying Apple (American company) to Foxconn (Chinese factory) virtually guarantees clicks on American news websites.
UsecMyNuts t1_j72ecsp wrote
>Apart from a strictly timed hour-long lunch break
>and it paid on time
The conditions are obviously not perfect but there are factories in the US that are much, much worse. The two I’ve been to made employees eat their lunch in <20 minutes and return immediately to their station or get penalised, this included a bathroom brake.
The focus on Apple here seems to be because of its size and influence in the western world, but the conditions for this factory are from from the bottom, even in China and the The US
Good article though.
lvl1developer t1_j72muhv wrote
People in the position of having to work at a factory think two things
-
This is probably the best paying job I could get right now and I really need the money
-
I’m easily replaceable
animal56 t1_j72wojw wrote
3 things.
- I hate my life and why does it suck to be me.
tren_rivard t1_j757epd wrote
3 It's better than dirt farming in Outer Mongolia.
suicidefeburary62025 t1_j722n7f wrote
Sent from my iPhone
DayFrosty1526 t1_j728d9i wrote
IPhones in hell and the other brands in heaven.. the truth is that so many people applying to work there cause better wages, conditions, vacations… Also China is China 1 billion and half population, you can’t compare.
Frijolez_Horchata t1_j72cead wrote
The part where the lineworker took the screw gun and poked her line leader in the face was badass.
caidicus t1_j75bmjh wrote
What a load of crap. A month or so after the covid restrictions, definitely hell. For all of China. Everyone was getting sick, it was hard. An opportune time to "report" on such conditions if your goal is to make Chinese factories seem like hell.
Having worked as a consultant in MANY Chinese factories, I simply can't believe this is anything more than a continued effort to condition westerners into believing China is a horrible place with horrible leaders and horrible bosses.
Tell that to the thousands of Chinese workers I've met who work in conditions that are as normal as one would expect from a normal workplace. I can imagine peak times will be a constant rush, if China doesn't make your stupid iPhone 15 that you just HAVE to have, some other country will, and it'll be just as "hell" for them as it is for China. More so, considering how inexperienced they'll be at doing it, how many "these things happen in a new factory" problems pup up and how much pressure a new workforce will be under to produce your damn phones and iPads.
Still, besides the point, articles like this aren't about bringing the truth to westerners, they're about creating and sustaining a narrative that keeps the west fearing and hating China.
This is NOT reality for the people of China. I have firsthand experience with this, 17 years of it. Go ahead and tell me how wrong I am because you've read a ton of news articles about it.
[deleted] t1_j760yh2 wrote
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QueefJerky666 t1_j75zgxw wrote
This is why I only buy genuine organic Nokia sourced from the lakes of Finland! Think about the kids!
tshwashere t1_j73a0s3 wrote
This will probably be an unpopular opinion, but I failed to see what is wrong with this.
There will always be shitty jobs needing to be done. And the way these shitty jobs get the workers are through proper compensation, and these workers get paid much more than other jobs available.
Before being called that I don't understand what they go through, I've been to Foxconn factories. Workers work in clean, A/C facilities with high-tech environment doing monotonous, boring as fuck jobs. But these people work jobs that are the envy of others, and there are always lines of workers dying to get into Foxconn because it pays that much better than anything else.
And as another redditor commented, factory jobs are the same everywhere, whether it is China or North America.
oh-hidanny t1_j74cers wrote
As someone who's been to actual factories overseas, they don't have to have brutal conditions. Factory conditions actually vary.
But you are right about those local areas. Companies choose these areas because labor is cheap due to it being a developing country. Many of these countries are very poor and lack social safety nets. I remember reading once that a factory closed down in a developing country, and thousands of young kids were forced into the sex trade. It's a brutal reality that doesn't get acknowledged. If I was a 9 year old girl, I would much rather work 12 hours straight sewing than being raped by grown men all day.
That doesn't mean people should be exploited, but it also doesn't mean they have the average developed country life available to them.
Everyone likes to believe they haven't inadvertently supported these horrific working conditions, but at some point they have because ethical consumerism under capitalism isn't a reality. At some point, we have all bought a product that was made by exploited workers.
khoabear t1_j73fn41 wrote
Truth, brother. Kids on Reddit are so sheltered that they don't know what life is like in the poorer countries. They never do backbreaking farming without machinery so they just don't understand. They should go talk to immigrants in the Western world to see how much they prefer capitalist factory jobs over the traditional agricultural jobs.
[deleted] t1_j75518t wrote
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BiggieJohnATX t1_j75exjt wrote
just move all smartphone production to the US . . . oh wait, that would mean its 99% robotic/automated and device prices would double . . . .hmmm
Mollybrinks t1_j75swcx wrote
Years ago, Cards Against Humanity admitted their cards were made in China in a factory with standard (shitty) work conditions. They paid for the factory to close and the workers to actually have paid time off, where normally they'd have been redirected to other work. It was a good thing to do, but an even better thing would have been sourcing their work somewhere without those types of labor conditions.
foxpaws42 t1_j75y3wv wrote
Foxconn's client list includes Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo (game consoles), Amazon (Kindle and Echo), Google (Pixel and Nest/Home), HP (printers), and Cisco (wifi routers). Yet the media seldom attempts to tie these brands to Foxconn's abusive labor practices in their articles.
I can't imagine that the working conditions on the assembly lines for these non-Apple products are significantly different in general, so my assumption is that what specifically makes the iPhone assembly line 'Hell' is the frequency of seasonal overtime. I assume that overtime is also involved in the production of new PlayStations or Xboxes, but game console generations tend to be approximately 5 years whereas iPhones are on an annual cadence.
I'd like to know if Google products are also made at Foxconn under similarly 'hellish' conditions, or whether the production run is low enough in volume that it doesn't require lengthy periods of overtime.
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MrBohannan t1_j73h4wa wrote
Apple had a net income of almost 100 billion for FY 2022. They can certainly afford to pay the workers more or at the very minimum, improve working conditions. In fact Ide wager by doing that they would actually sell more products by breaking the mold.
I know this issue transcends Apple, im only using them as the article is about Apple. Plus they are one of the most consistently profitable companies.
turbo_nudist t1_j75rlxe wrote
people fail to realize that apple doesn’t own the vast majority of these factories. third party assembly contractors often lie about working conditions, and apple generally has been pretty good about switching companies when issues have been discovered.
and i’m not talking about the issues mentioned in this article, that’s just how working in a high-yield factory generally is. i’m talking about slavery and child labor, or unsafe conditions
Bensemus t1_j81ytk2 wrote
> apple doesn’t own the vast majority of these factories.
Apple doesn't' own any factories. All manufacturing is outsourced. Apple does the design work.
[deleted] t1_j76lykp wrote
To be fair, all of Earth is Hell in 2023. China is just a lower sphere than others.
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ProtoplanetaryNebula t1_j723pj5 wrote
They are not moving all production to India.
India has very high tariffs on imports, so they are producing some products locally to avoid import duties. China will remain the main production hub for the whole world. Nowhere else has the infrastructure and supply chains to cope like China does.
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animal56 t1_j722sq4 wrote
I wonder who pays less. Hmm.
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l397flake t1_j749tfn wrote
Love all the complaining, why don’t you all go work at the chinese factory then you will know what bad conditions really are
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nine8whatwhat t1_j75zt79 wrote
Look I need the Internet at my fingertips, I have so many curious questions while outside the house. What if pizza never had an Italian name?? Would it be called a flatco? Cheesy bread???
I don’t wanna hear this, they’re already trying to take away my burgers.
Whole_Willingness_50 t1_j762heq wrote
And all the NBA can do is kiss their ass and pretend it doesn’t exist. They are pretty woke until you threaten their pay day
Pudding_Hero t1_j78lf4r wrote
Me. Reading this in an iPhone.
TriDaTrii t1_j79k0tr wrote
You should leave that phone. I don't know how you got in there, but it would be wise to take the same route back out if it hasn't been sealed away by now.
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malfarcar t1_j72lcqt wrote
Maybe it’s wrong to make immeasurable profits of the backs of slaves even if they are on the other side of the planet. Careful now, that kind of logic could put a damper on next quarters growth. We better get PR on this to make it look like we give a damn.
MattR9590 t1_j74akod wrote
Start making them shits in the US ethically I’d gladly pay an extra $500 if I knew my phone was made in reasonably humane conditions.
triadwarfare t1_j75lxpr wrote
I don't think it's just $500. People forget how expensive computers were in the 1980s where mostly everything was made in the US.
MattR9590 t1_j77coek wrote
True.
turbo_nudist t1_j75rg79 wrote
yeah, but not enough people would for it to make financial sense
seejsee t1_j74iqog wrote
A job is a job if it pays you on time.
At this rate I am reading, I am starting to think people are expecting jobs and get paid while doing either whatever they want, for as long as they want, or nothing at all.
animal56 t1_j74owzb wrote
Found the team leader.
dudreddit t1_j74pp05 wrote
All iPhone buyers/users should be required to read this article. I own Apple stock and it grieves me.
matatatias t1_j76axpp wrote
All Nintendo Switch users too.
foxpaws42 t1_j76gbgj wrote
And PlayStation and Xbox, as Sony and Microsoft are also Foxconn clients. HP printers, Dell computers, Kindle and Echo devices, the list goes on.
I’d wager that many if not most American households have at least one product built by Foxconn even if they own zero Apple products.
Uncertn_Laaife t1_j73dl6e wrote
Diamonds are made in the blood mines, people still buy them. I don’t think the consumers care. They shouldn’t.
The onus is on Govts that too are in the pockets of these billionaires. You shouldn’t expect a common man to change the world and their habits.
alexanddiane t1_j74dni3 wrote
People are still buying apple products ? Lmao
turbo_nudist t1_j75rnl3 wrote
people are still trying to get cucked on reddit? lmao
mista_adams t1_j72fmzy wrote
I hope people consider that the massive Covid camps China built in plain sight are concentration camps. I sure as shit hope this doesn’t escalate to a war if the super powers.
stick_always_wins t1_j72nm0o wrote
Calling it “concentration camps” to evoke thoughts of the Nazi holocaust when it was anything but that is just dirty fear mongering
SUPRVLLAN t1_j731s01 wrote
If the super powers what.
mista_adams t1_j734h0l wrote
Typo, should be of not if
Ennion t1_j72zp2q wrote
What's hilarious is if you mention this on reddit to Apple people, they just downvote you.
Edit: See? No remorse, simply indifference about the slave labor that makes their beloved selfie machine.
Yasai101 t1_j72uz3i wrote
never bought an apple product in my life and proud of it.
SUPRVLLAN t1_j731tjc wrote
What phone do you use?
re_carn t1_j730jc2 wrote
Greatest achievement...
minotaur05 t1_j73ma1c wrote
Sent from my iPhone
JMan9391 t1_j73zfpn wrote
If Reddit was a superhero.
animal56 t1_j71smhf wrote
No offense, but this sounds like every factory I've worked in, and I'm in Canada. Shitty team leaders, washroom break monitoring, limited and strict break periods, and constant, monotonous work that seems never ending. Long, strenuous shifts from the most deplorable concept ever: shift work.
And it gets worse, the bigger the company.
I've worked in family-owned factories where they are a little more laid back, and less strict, to giant mega corporations where they build cars, 1 car off the line every 50 seconds.
I've left factory life behind, but it truly is modern day slavery.