Foxconn

The exposed truth about Apple.

APRIL 8, 2014
Kelsey Walker, Dil Toor, Tanner Johnson, Cody Lane, Katie


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When you pick up your iPhone or other apple product does it ever
cross your mind to think about where it came from? Have you ever thought
about whether it was a machine that produced it or if it was constructed with
someones bare hands? Well, Apple sold 93 million iPhones last year and 40
million iPads and the only reason they didnt sell more is because they cant
make them fast enough. That demand has raised uncomfortable questions
about how those products are made and how the people that make them are
treated. Bill Weir, Nightline. (Rapoza, 2012)
Foxconn is the largest electronic manufacturing company in the world.
Foxconn has thirteen factories in nine cities across China. Foxconn employs
hundreds of thousands of workers across China and is responsible for about
40% of all consumer products sold. Although Foxconn gets its name and fame
mostly from production of Apple products, they also produce devices for Dell,
HP, Motorola, Nintendo, Nokia and Sony.
(Carl, 2012)
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In the past few years it has been apparent that Foxconn hasnt been very
fair or ethical in the way they treat their employees. They are required to
work long hours, and the compensation is very low. Some young people are
working 16-hour days, for 70 cents an hour. (Carl, 2012) It has also been
reported that employees schedules have exceeded 100 hours in a one-week
span. As a result of poor working conditions and low pay, between January
and November in 2010, eighteen Foxconn employees attempted suicide. Of
those eighteen, fourteen succeeded in death. The total employee count was a
reported 930,000 people. Many of the deaths happened from falling off the
Foxconn building. Basically, employees would be so fed up with their job that
they would jump off the building after a long work shift. As a result of the
suicides, 1800 workers at 12 factories were interviewed and based off that
information, there was evidence found of illegal overtime and
failure to report accidents.
One of the 4 who survived their suicide attempt was a female named Tian
Yu. Yu left her village in ventral China and traveled almost 700 miles, to help
support her family. Her manager began her first shift by asking, How are
you? Staff were forced to reply: Good! Very good! Very very good! After
that, silence was enforced (Chakrabortty, 2013). Her first two weeks on the
job were long. She would get yelled at if she mad any mistakes, but wasnt
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ever shown the proper way or any training. She worked 12 hours each day, 6
days a week. Bathroom breaks were limited and/or restricted. Workers
names and how much time they spent in the bathroom were even posted
inside the company and to the public. Yu had to skip meals, and come in early
for meetings that were mandatory with no extra compensation. After no
decent sleep, Yu finally snapped when she wasnt paid for her first month of
employment. Her bosses said that it was some administrative foul-up. As a
result, Yu threw herself from the fourth floor of the factory she was currently
working on. Although she survived, she was in a 12-day coma, had fractures
to her spine and hips, and is now paralyzed from the waist down. Yu was 17
years old. She worked on an assembly line for Apple iPhones and iPads.

(Chakrabortty, 2013)
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There are many testimonies from employees currently working for
Foxconn and employees who have moved on from the company. One
employee discusses about his experience while working for Foxconn:
I have terrible neckache and muscle pain on my arm. A new worker who
sat opposite of me gone exhausted and laid down for a short while. The
supervisor has noticed him and punished him by asking him to stand at
one corner for 10 minutes like the old school days. We worked non-stop
from midnight to the next morning 6 a.m but were still asked to keep on
working as the production line is based on running belt and no one is
allowed to stop. Im so starving and fully exhausted. By my own
calculations, I have to mark five iPhone plates every minute, at least. For
every 10 hours, I have to accomplish 3,000 iPhone 5 back plates. There
are total 4 production lines in charge of this process, 12 workers in every
line. Each line can produce 36,000 iPhone 5 back plates in half a day, this
is scary (Tuicool.com, 2012)
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As a result of the suicides, Foxconn has increased wages. They have also
installed suicide prevention netting.

(Randall, 2012)
Foxconn has asked their employees to sign a no suicide pledge. The Fair
Labor Association has also inspected Foxconn factories. They identified 360
problems within Foxconn. Of those 360, Foxconn has already made 284
improvements. One of the recommendations was not to allow 16 and 17 year
olds to work night shifts. They have also asked that Foxconn change their fire
alarm notifications to a language their employees can understand. Foxconn
has announced that by summer of 2014, no employees will be aloud to work
more than 49 hours in a 1 week work period. Even with many new
improvements being implemented within Foxconn, Living conditions inside
campus dormitories remain cramped, with 20 or 30 workers sharing three-
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bedroom flats, sleeping eight to a room in bunk beds. (Garside, 2012)


(Tuicool.com, 2012)









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Works Cited
(2012, december 12). Retrieved april 29, 2014, from Tuicool.com.
Carl. (2012, feb 12). Kitguru. Retrieved april 21, 2014, from www.kitguru.net
Chakrabortty, A. (2013, august 5). The woman who nearly died making your ipad.
Retrieved may 5, 2014, from the guardian.
Garside, J. (2012, May 30). Apples efforts fail to end gruelling conditions at foxconn
factories. Retrieved april 29, 2014, from The guardian.
Randall, T. (2012, March 30). Inside Apples Foxconn Factories. Retrieved April 29,
2014, from Bloomberg.
Rapoza, K. (2012, feb 25). Retrieved april 21, 2014, from Forbes.






















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