The Ethics at Foxconn Apple Compuers
Foxconn Technology Group’s Horrible Labor Issues
Introduction/Overview
Companies such as Apple, Dell, HP, IBM, and Sony outsource labor and hardware manufacturing to a company called Foxconn Technology Group. Foxconn Technology Group is a multinational business anchored in Shenzhen, China. Some of the typical hardware being manufactured are, motherboards, chipsets, smartphones, tablets, and laptops. The majority of the factories are in China, three in Europe, one in India, and four in Mexico. Currently there are contracts to expand and build a new factory in Brazil. I believe that there are many ethical problems related to this example; first, the general idea of outsourcing mass amounts of labor, and secondly the mistreatment of employees in facilities such as Foxconn. Employee rights, basic living essentials, privacy, and self-esteem are all stripped away to force employees to work in a modern day sweat shop to produce all those computers and phones that we have grown to rely on.
The largest Foxconn factory is set in Shenzhen, China and was constructed in 1988. There are currently 450,000 employees and is usually referred to as Foxconn City or iPod City. Shenzhen has 15 warehouse type mini factories jammed into a one-mile square radius. There are also dormitories, a bank, restaurants, a bookstore, a swimming pool, a grocery store, and a hospital jammed the small area. They also has their own police and fire department which makes Foxconn City totally self reliable. The facility is so large that it even has its own television network.
In the first five months of 2010, twelve employees took their own life inside Foxconn City. Chairman, Terry Gou had to act fast in order to shift some of the negative spotlight away from Foxconn. One quick fix was to put up nets outside the bottom of all the buildings where employees were most likely to jump off. He also created crisis hotlines and wages were slightly increased in order to get back into the positive
Introduction/Overview
Companies such as Apple, Dell, HP, IBM, and Sony outsource labor and hardware manufacturing to a company called Foxconn Technology Group. Foxconn Technology Group is a multinational business anchored in Shenzhen, China. Some of the typical hardware being manufactured are, motherboards, chipsets, smartphones, tablets, and laptops. The majority of the factories are in China, three in Europe, one in India, and four in Mexico. Currently there are contracts to expand and build a new factory in Brazil. I believe that there are many ethical problems related to this example; first, the general idea of outsourcing mass amounts of labor, and secondly the mistreatment of employees in facilities such as Foxconn. Employee rights, basic living essentials, privacy, and self-esteem are all stripped away to force employees to work in a modern day sweat shop to produce all those computers and phones that we have grown to rely on.
The largest Foxconn factory is set in Shenzhen, China and was constructed in 1988. There are currently 450,000 employees and is usually referred to as Foxconn City or iPod City. Shenzhen has 15 warehouse type mini factories jammed into a one-mile square radius. There are also dormitories, a bank, restaurants, a bookstore, a swimming pool, a grocery store, and a hospital jammed the small area. They also has their own police and fire department which makes Foxconn City totally self reliable. The facility is so large that it even has its own television network.
In the first five months of 2010, twelve employees took their own life inside Foxconn City. Chairman, Terry Gou had to act fast in order to shift some of the negative spotlight away from Foxconn. One quick fix was to put up nets outside the bottom of all the buildings where employees were most likely to jump off. He also created crisis hotlines and wages were slightly increased in order to get back into the positive
Cited: Blanch, Bruce. “Foxconn suicides: ‘Workers feel quite lonely.’” BBC News. BBC, 13 Oct. 2011. Web. 28 May 2010. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10182824>. - - -. “Foxconn suicides: ‘Workers feel quite lonely.’” BBC News. BBC, 13 Oct. 2011. Web. 28 May 2010. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10182824>. Brook, Pete. “Inside Foxconn City: A Vast Electronics Factory Under Suicide Scrutiny.” Wired. Raw File, 19 Nov. 2010. Web. 15 Oct. 2011. <http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2010/11/thomas-lee-foxconn/?pid=430&viewall=true>. Buetow, Mike. “Foxconn.” Wikipedia. MediaWiki, 3 Sept. 2011. Web. 9 Oct. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn>. Cheng, Sophia. “The Deadly Labor Behind Our Phones, Laptops and Consumer Gadgets.” Color Lines. News for Action, 1 Sept. 2011. Web. 9 Oct. 2011. <http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/09/the_deadly_labor_of_consumer_electronics.html>. “Foxconn workers treated like ‘machines’: labor group.” Taipei Times. N.p., 4 May 2011. Web. 9 Oct. 2011. <http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2011/05/04/2003502331>. Hogg, Brian. “Is a Foxconn Slump a Bad Sign for Apple?” Mac Life. Maximum Tech, 16 Mar. 2011. Web. 9 Oct. 2011. <http://www.maclife.com/article/news/foxconn_slump_bad_sign_apple>. Maisto, Michelle. “Apple CEO Jobs Says Foxconn Conditions Not So Bad.” eWeek.com. N.p., 2 June 2010. Web. 9 Oct. 2011. <http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Mobile-and-Wireless/Apple-CEO-Jobs-Says-Foxconn-Conditions-Not-So-Bad-566877/>. McLaughlin, Kathleeen E. “Silicon Sweatshops: Foxconn refutes accusations.” GlobalPost. PBS, 16 Oct. 2010. Web. 9 Oct. 2011. <http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/china-and-its-neighbors/101012/silicon-sweatshops-foxconn-refutes-accusations>. - - -. “Explosion strikes iPad 2 factory in China.” Global Post. PBS, 22 May 2011. Web. 12 Oct. 2011. <http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/bric-yard/ipad-2-factory-explosion-china>. Mick, Jason. “Foxconn Makes Employees Promise Not to Kill Themselves.” Daily Tech. DailyTech LLC., 27 May 2010. Web. 2 Nov. 2011. <http://www.dailytech.com/Foxconn+Makes+Employees+Promise+Not+to+Kill+Themselves/article18526.htm>. Parrish, Kevin. “Oh My: Apple Bans Foxconn iPhone App .” Toms Guide. Tech For Real Life, 21 Sept. 2011. Web. 15 Oct. 2011. <http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Phone-Story-App-Store-iOS-Foxconn-Suicides,news-12616.html>. “Studens and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior.” SACOM. SACOM, Jan. 2005. Web. 16 Oct. 2011. <http://sacom.hk/>. Yapshing, Gale. “Increasing Wages at Foxconn, Not a Good Idea In the Long Run.” Jobsearch. N.p., 2 Aug. 2010. Web. 2 Nov. 2011. <http://www.jobsearchchina.org/hrm/778/+Increasing+wages+at+Foxconn+or+Apple+not+a+good+solution+in+the+long+run>. [ 2 ]. Pete Brook, “Inside Foxconn City: A Vast Electronics Factory Under Suicide Scrutiny,” 19 Nov. 2010, 15 Oct. 2011 . [ 3 ]. Kathleen E. McLaughlin, “Silicon Sweatshops: Foxconn refutes accusations,” Global Post, 16 Oct. 2010, 9 Oct. 2011 . [ 4 ]. Kathleen E. McLaughlin, “China: Steve Jobs’ Death doesn’t absolve Apple,” Global Post, 7 Oct. 2011, 9 Oct. 2011 . [ 5 ]. “Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior,” SACOM, Jan. 2005, Oct. 16 2011 . [ 22 ]. Gale Yapshing “Increasing Wages at Foxconn, Not a Good Idea In the Long Run,” Job Search, Aug 2. 2010, Nov. 4 2011. [ 23 ]