Undercover Reporter Works at Foxconn Assembly Plant for a Week and Shares Experiences

[shark101au]

Once again the complete ignorance of people in this country and some who posting here is clearly apparent. It would seem that I am the only person qualified to actually speak about factory work. In 2006/7 I spent a year working in Guangdong province inside a factory living in a dorm with Chinese workers and getting paid the same as them, about 1000 RMB a month. I usually worked from 7am until 5pm Mon thru Saturday and sometimes Sunday. Whilst some line work is repetitive almost everyone was happy to work there, they are free to leave any time they want.
In regards to the "reporter's" comment 27 RMB is actually a significant amount of money, whilst in the US it would buy a Starbucks coffee, over there I could buy a decent meal for less than 1 RMB. What you do find now though is the younger generation in China being exposed to the laziness of the West, looking for quick ways to get rich. They don't want to put in the effort to accumulate money.
To some's comments of bringing back the jobs to America.....you need a reality dose, the jobs are gone and so are the industries. Whilst China originally profited from cheap labor they are now becoming leaders in producing top quality products. Expect them to be the new Japan with a whole slew of brand names comparable to the Sony's, Nikon's, Mitsubishi's of the world.
So to produce the iPhone in America is not just a case of building a factory and hiring workers, all the components have to be imported from overseas, resulting in massive importation costs and wasted time.

Face it America's manufacturing era is in it's twilight, just as America exported to the world, so to will countries export to America. It is others time in the Sun now.

[Sage I]

I will pay more to have it made in the U.S.

[firetwuck]

It must have been horrible for this guy to actually WORK for once in his life!! If he has time to be "going undercover", he either 1. Has plenty of money and time on his hands from the work his parents and/or grandparents put in during their life. Or 2. He has one of the relatively very few "civilized (easy) jobs" available on this planet. Not all of us can write stories, make movies, sing songs, etc. Or 3. He is a "reporter", pretending to work hard so that he can benefit and profit from the story he will write about how these people actually live.
In the real world... You apply for a job, you hope to get hired. If you are lucky enough to get hired...You put your head down, do what you are told, and you get get paid. It's as simple as that.
Those workers probably loved the fact they were getting overtime. The fact that the "undercover agent" didn't want to work more isn't surprising....He is used to working a little, for a lot... Not working a lot, for a little.
Who is he, who is ANYONE to say what is right, and what is wrong. Some people's lives suck, thats just the way it is, and always will be. Just be grateful you have the job and life that you do, and be even more grateful you don't have to live the way some do.

You may be right or wrong, but you are making ad hominem attacks on someone you don't even know.

[iamutman]

I was thinking who on earth wants to work two extra hours overtime for only mere 27 yuan (USD$4)

This is where a Union would come in handy !!!

If they were unionized they wouldn't have a competitive advantage aka low cost and the iPhone definitely wouldn't be made there. It'd just be made somewhere else where labor is cheap.

And of course we're looking at all of this from outside of the country. For these people in that region it certainly is better than no job at all making no money at all. So who are we to judge? This "story" is just another sensationalist article designed to sell papers/news/web views without telling the whole story. Oh, and of course, it helps if you can "blame Apple" for yet another horrible thing! Can't wait until the masses are numb to all of these "blame the world's woes on Apple" stories, I am definitely sick of them already.

As for American workers, I know a few people who won't take minimum wage jobs because they feel they are "beneath" them, choosing to sit at home, earn 0 dollars per hour, and *****, whine and moan. Meanwhile they watch the Karda$hians, idiots who earn millions of dollars, and feel they should be making the same for as little effort. It's a shame the US has it so ***-backwards.

^^TRUTH

I lost 4 jobs due to outsource. Big companies want big profit. Apple wouldn't be worth billions and billions if they are not paying pennies to the dollar for labor. 'MERICA?!

No offense but if you are a laborer you are easily (and basically asking to be) replaced. And yes companies look to be cost competitive. Its the way of the world. Develop a differentiating skill set. It takes time but certainly not impossible. If I've assumed wrong and you're not a laborer I apologize, but perhaps you should change your profession to something that isn't so out-sourceable.

"They" meaning conservatives. "Oh gosh jolly gee, we need to make things the way they were 70 years ago!!!. Only buy AMERICAN! If you don't you are ruining this country, and supporting terrorism!! "it's all that socialist OBAMAS fault!! He took a white mans JEEEEOOOBBBB! Now he wants to take all our JEEEOOBBSSS! ".

Errr... what? I'm in agreement with the guy who hates you for being an idiot lol. Write one coherent sentence and we can talk.

Go one step further. I would pay more for an idevice if they insourced jobs back to the US.
Who's with me!

While this would definitely be economically ideal, basic economic theory says no one is with you. Or at least the large majority is against you, to the point where the choice is clear for Apple or any other manufacturer: use cheaper labor to be cost competitive with other firms.

Go two steps further, or should I say back — bring the jobs back to the US and keep paying THE SAME price.

Outsourcing only benefits the shareholders, who get an even bigger profit. Consumers get nothing, they still pay the same for their iPhone, even though it is cheaper to produce. Apple employees still get the same salary even though the company earns more. See how wrong all of that is, at least to the consumers and the working people.

Not gonna happen, because that's operationally irrational. Do you want Apple to lose money on every iPhone they make? Before you cite an article saying iPhones cost X to make, know that that article does not consider a LOT of costs: R&D, advertising, accounting, tax expenses, basically all overhead costs, which we can't know specifically. Yes those #s are on the income statement but we don't know how much R&D is attributed to each individual product. Economics dictate that losing money on variable costs means shut down immediately.

If you want Apple to produce in the US (in an utopian world) you would need to convince literally every manufacturer to produce in the US. This simply won't happen. Especially with international companies like Samsung don't give a **** about the US economy or our intellectual property. You're also free to invest in Apple at any time. Maybe instead of buying that next smartphone you could save up a few more dollars, and invest. I think you'll find the $2.XX dividend per share per year and any capital gains you realize won't be too earth shattering.

Once again the complete ignorance of people in this country and some who posting here is clearly apparent. It would seem that I am the only person qualified to actually speak about factory work. In 2006/7 I spent a year working in Guangdong province inside a factory living in a dorm with Chinese workers and getting paid the same as them, about 1000 RMB a month. I usually worked from 7am until 5pm Mon thru Saturday and sometimes Sunday. Whilst some line work is repetitive almost everyone was happy to work there, they are free to leave any time they want.
In regards to the "reporter's" comment 27 RMB is actually a significant amount of money, whilst in the US it would buy a Starbucks coffee, over there I could buy a decent meal for less than 1 RMB. What you do find now though is the younger generation in China being exposed to the laziness of the West, looking for quick ways to get rich. They don't want to put in the effort to accumulate money.
To some's comments of bringing back the jobs to America.....you need a reality dose, the jobs are gone and so are the industries. Whilst China originally profited from cheap labor they are now becoming leaders in producing top quality products. Expect them to be the new Japan with a whole slew of brand names comparable to the Sony's, Nikon's, Mitsubishi's of the world.
So to produce the iPhone in America is not just a case of building a factory and hiring workers, all the components have to be imported from overseas, resulting in massive importation costs and wasted time.

Face it America's manufacturing era is in it's twilight, just as America exported to the world, so to will countries export to America. It is others time in the Sun now.

This pretty much. I wouldn't say its "others time in the sun," unless if you are strictly talking about manufacturing. We are just ever changing into a service based economy.

[alanjf]

"They" meaning conservatives. "Oh gosh jolly gee, we need to make things the way they were 70 years ago!!!. Only buy AMERICAN! If you don't you are ruining this country, and supporting terrorism!! "it's all that socialist OBAMAS fault!! He took a white mans JEEEEOOOBBBB! Now he wants to take all our JEEEOOBBSSS! ".

If you really think that that is what accurately describes conservatives, then you couldn't be more wrong. Sure, most people would like to bring back many job state-side, but it seems most people understand why that hasn't happened. And frankly, if you really want to get down to it, it's liberals that I hear complaining the most about job-outsourcing, how they are always ready to jump up the throats of whoever is on "other side" when ever there even the slightest hint of hearsay that they could possibility have been in any way involved in moving jobs overseas? This is not something that most conservatives are doing, so please get informed and stop allowing yourself to be manipulated.

You're kidding right? It was Obama that approached Steve Jobs trying to get Apple to make the iPhone in America, not conservatives.

Ok you got this much right.

It's "conservative" big businesses that are outsourcing to foreign countries.

It's just plain ignorant to pretend that all big businesses are conservative. Fact of the matter, most of the largest corporations are very left-sided. Just look at Apple and Steve Jobs, as you already mentioned.

[Shigoroku]

It's just plain ignorant to pretend that all big businesses are conservative. Fact of the matter, most of the largest corporations are very left-sided. Just look at Apple and Steve Jobs, as you already mentioned.

Other than the fact that hipsters like Apple products, what makes you think Apple has been left-leaning?