It’s no surprise to hear that the working conditions at Foxconn’s China plants are nothing short of disgusting. Though the company had previously promised to improve said conditions, it appears that workers in Beijing have walked out over iPhone 5 production, which has added more stress to an already-horrendous job.
The iPhone 5 is a masterpiece, no doubt. But it seems that in order to mass produce such a brilliant piece of technology, workers at Foxconn’s numerous plants are having to work harder, and for longer, in order to meet higher standards and demand for the handset.
At 1:00PM on October 5 (Beijing time), a strike occurred at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory that, according to workers, involved three to four thousand production workers. In addition to demanding that workers work during the holiday, Foxconn raised overly strict demands on product quality without providing worker training for the corresponding skills. This led to workers turning out products that did not meet standards and ultimately put a tremendous amount of pressure on workers.
Indeed, 4,000 workers is a relatively small number, but the strike nevertheless has the potential to affect iPhone 5 production. Though, if you ask me, the biggest concern here isn’t whether iPhone shipping times are going to increase. Instead, it’s disheartening to be reminded that the products we so love come at the exploitation of workers who, in most cases, have no option other than working at one of Foxconn’s plants.
Source: China Labour Watch
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