back to article Foxconn 'fesses up to labour breaches: Made students work long hours

Taiwan based Apple-assembling firm Foxconn has admitted overworking its interns by making them work night shifts and overtime - even though the work is "voluntary". Foxconn confessed to mistreating its workers following a report in the Oriental Morning Post which claimed students in the city of Xian were forced to join its …

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  1. jake Silver badge

    Gee, you think?

    Enjoy your slave-labor produced iFads, consumers.

    1. ecofeco Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: Gee, you think?

      Not just Apple.

      Foxconn is basically the public facing production company of Hon Hai, who makes 85% of ALL consumer electronics in the world.

      85%. Of ALL consumer electronics.

      Plenty of guilt to go around. (disclaimer: I am not an Apple fanboi)

      1. Arctic fox
        Headmaster

        @ecofeco RE: "......Not just Apple......"

        I agree. Like you I am not any kind of iPhanboi (something that I suspect the regulars amongst our little congregation may have noticed!) but it is very clear that. if we are going to question a company who farms out its production to this kind of operation, then it is not only Cupertino that has to answer some difficult questions. Western capitalism takes the view that it does not have to answer to anyone (sometimes the "Managerati" are not even willing to listen to concerns that some of their own shareholders have raised)' a view that should and must be challenged. Apple may (like Amazon or Microsoft, for example) be "poster boys" for this kind of attitude but they must answer for the decisions they take to the society they operate in. After all they could not exist without us wage-slaves and customers could they, hmmm?

  2. Stuart Elliott

    Rotten Apples?

    Just wondering why you need to refer to them as the "Apple-assembling firm", when

    A) they were making Sony PS/4's and

    B) they manufacture for at least::

    Apple Inc.,ASRock, Asus, Barnes & Noble, Cisco, Dell, EVGA Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, IBM, Lenovo, Logitech, Microsoft, MSI, Motorola, Netgear, Nintendo, Nokia, Panasonic ,Philips ,Samsung ,Sharp, Sony, Toshiba, Vizio as far as I can see..

    Is Apple bashing THAT big a money-click earner ?

    1. Tim99 Silver badge
      Gimp

      Re: Rotten Apples?

      Just wondering why you need to refer to them as the "Apple-assembling firm", when

      A) they were making Sony PS/4's and

      B) they manufacture for at least::

      Apple Inc.,ASRock, Asus, Barnes & Noble, Cisco, Dell, EVGA Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, IBM, Lenovo, Logitech, Microsoft, MSI, Motorola, Netgear, Nintendo, Nokia, Panasonic ,Philips ,Samsung ,Sharp, Sony, Toshiba, Vizio as far as I can see..

      Is Apple bashing THAT big a money-click earner ?

      Yes, perhaps, because Apple bashing is a that much of money earner and Jasper may be a click-whore?

      1. jake Silver badge

        @ Tim99 (was: Re: Rotten Apples?)

        Or maybe, just maybe, the sane amongst us are trying to jolt the iFad folks out of feeding their jones, thus allowing a couple billion people to actually understand what their dollars are allowing to happen in the third world?

        I know, I know. I'm tilting at windmills again ...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          @jake

          "jolt the iFad folks out of feeding their jones"? So they should instead buy from one of the companies in that lengthy list instead? If you wanted to have a Foxconn free house, you'd have to really look hard to make sure you find products that aren't built by them - so much of the world's CE products are. There are a lot of companies that use multiple sourcing, especially at product launch, so you might buy the same phone as your friend and get one built by Foxconn while your friend gets one built by someone else or in the manufacturer's own factories (for those CE companies that still have factories)

          Its not as though TV sets or PCs come with a "made by slaves in a Foxconn factory" sticker next to the Intel Inside sticker. The rest of the companies on that list are just lucky that Apple takes the brunt of the negative publicity for Foxconn's practices, which is ironic because Apple's Foxconn employees are better paid and probably better treated than most of the rest. Granted, it was because of the negative publicity Apple was getting, but it is still a good thing regardless of the reason.

          Avoiding buying anything assembled by Foxconn would like trying to avoid GMO food in the US, you'd end up spending a lot more and have your choices severely limited in some ways (i.e. eating out at restaurants)

    2. returnmyjedi

      Apple have in the past been accused of demanding high production quotas of mercilessly difficult to assemble bits of tech. Blame is largely due on the door of Foxconn for agreeing to such demands and forcing their workers to toil away for so long and for so little, but Apple are also to blame for not stipulating more aggressively that such practices should happy.

      Cook et al are well aware of the material costs of their products and should also realise that asking a firm to construct them for them will result in pretty poor labour conditions.

  3. Crisp

    No academic credit

    What a swindle!

    Intern is another word for free labour in some companies.

    1. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: No academic credit

      Maybe college students should quit being gullible suckers? That may be harsh, but it does take two to tango.

      My rule is stiff me just one week on pay and I'm gone.

      1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

        Re: No academic credit

        so how would you get on working where they paid you monthly in arrears? (as is the norm in many parts of the world)

        1. ecofeco Silver badge

          Re: No academic credit

          "so how would you get on working where they paid you monthly in arrears? (as is the norm in many parts of the world)"

          Me? I don't worry about that because I don't look for that kind of work in the first place. I've been stiffed too many times to ever, EVER accept delayed payments and seen far too many people burned and bankrupted because they did accept delayed pay.

          Bottom line: if you are not being paid for your work you are being used. If you accept it, you are a sucker.

  4. ScissorHands
    Holmes

    Free as a bird!

    "and reminding all interns of their rights to terminate their participation in the program at any time"

    Wihch I'm sure also terminates your rights to food and lodging...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Free as a bird!

      And their right to graduate.

    2. Yag

      Re: Free as a bird!

      In communist China, participation terminates YOU!

      Sorry...

  5. Vimes

    Reminds me of an old Simpsons quote involving Krusty the clown:

    'Krusty's tshirts are made by kids for kids. And we pass the slavings onto you.'

    Sony ought to bear some responsibility for this IMO - they're demanding results and willing to only pay up to a certain level. They then apparently conveniently appear to fail to ask how those results are achieved. And yes, Apple and others that use Foxconn's services are probably just as bad - they may try and do their best to clean up the messes once they know about them but they're all so obsessed with cost that they seem to ignore problems until they have no other choice other than to deal with them.

    As for this from the article:

    It promised that “immediate actions have been taken to bring that campus into full compliance with our code and policies... reinforcing the policies of no overtime and no night shifts for student interns, even though such work is voluntary, and reminding all interns of their rights to terminate their participation in the program at any time".

    It doesn't sound like they'll completely stop the interns from working on the production line, just they they won't be asked to do overtime.

    So it's a case of either do the manual labour that's completely unrelated to the reason for being there or quit and lose the credits, thereby ensuring that you'll fail the course and end up back on the production line full time? That's hardly much of a choice...

  6. Trollslayer

    Why Apple?

    I am certainly not a fan but at least they have been carrying out checks which helped get this started.

    How many other manufacturing companies are doing the same or worse?

    1. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: Why Apple?

      How many?

      All of them.

      Was this a trick question?

  7. ecofeco Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Shocked I tell

    Just shocked.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    simple solution

    Go grab some workers from flextronics, Xbone sales have bombed and workers are sat twiddling their thumbs.

    1. Eradicate all BB entrants

      Sigh....

      .... I can't wait for the day El Reg stops letting AC's comment. AC's on forums are now basically the equivalent of the morons that scrawl on phone boxes, usually nothing to add to the subject and what they do add is makes you weep for the future of mankind.

      'Sales have bombed' is a rather stupid statement as they haven't sold 1 yet, they are currently being pre-ordered. Of those pre-orders the majority have been fully allocated, and due to demand MS have had to delay the release in a number of EU countries in order to cope with demand. I have to admit the marketing teams for both MS and Sony are stating to pre-order if you want the chance of getting one before Christmas but they usually do that anyway.

      So finally, for the sake of us all on these boards, create a login, makes it easier to spot the stupid posts by just looking at names.

      1. Nick Ryan Silver badge

        Re: Sigh....

        So finally, for the sake of us all on these boards, create a login, makes it easier to spot the stupid posts by just looking at names.

        But they do have logins that they have to register for. See the "[ ] Post anonymously?" check box above the edit box? Tick that and you too can post anonymously.

        Not defending them, just pointing this out in case you didn't realise it...

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sigh....

        "due to demand"

        read

        "due to really low production yields" and you are a bit closer to the mark.

  9. unwarranted triumphalism

    This is all Apple's fault.

  10. Ralph B

    Is it just me ... ?

    ... or are ther others here who have other reasons for not really wanting my stuff made by students?

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Is it just me ... ?

      But the advantage of stuff made by slave labour is that the friday afternoon ones are just as good!

    2. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: Is it just me ... ?

      Loved the Young Ones. Was damn near living exactly like that, too!

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