Your Iphone was probably made with barely paid for child labor

[Lightwysh]

Child slavery = bad (meaning NO Pay)

Child employees = good (meaning decent pay for thier location)

These kids are not only supporting themselves, and likely their parents, but they are learning a trade as well.

If America had people willing to work for less, then yes we would just employ here at home. But unfortunately it cost more to live than a lot of company's can afford to pay and still produce a reasonably priced product. Damn I hope that makes sense.

[skatblast]

And so is everything else you buy from most foreign nations. Makes the world go round.

[Laize]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45988522...s-us_business/


Tsk tsk, lets all beat on Microsoft, while Apple has been doing this for years apparently (repeat offenders; keep doing buisness with them their prices are cheap!)

This news is actually quite old. Every few months someone brings up Apple's partnership with Foxconn and every few months it gets swept under the rug by their hundreds of millions of customers who don't give a shit and want their iPhones.

Honestly though this isn't on Apple. This is on Foxconn and China. Get mad at them, not at Apple.

---------- Post added 2012-01-15 at 02:23 AM ----------

Did you really think globalism was an attempt to give everyone equal footing? Silly goose, it's to find new resources to exploit.

And once China establishes itself more, and workers across the board start demanding better wages and working conditions, it will be onto the next country / region. This is how capitalism works.

And China is objectively better off because of it.

[melodramocracy]

And China is objectively better off because of it.

I'm sure the folks who contemplate jumping off the top of a Foxconn building agree with you.

[Laize]

I'm sure the folks who contemplate jumping off the top of a Foxconn building agree with you.

That has absolutely nothing to do with the economics of the situation and everything to do with Foxconn's management style. However, in a nation with over 1 billion people who need work in a rapidly growing economy... the sad reality is that the employer can get away with it until the employees have enough leverage to make demands. In this regard some governmental oversight would probably be a good idea to speed things along even though the free market would eventually take care of it on its own.

[Frumpy Frumpy Frak]

Those are some pretty smart kids, I know I could never make an iPhone. Good to know that Apple is evil and that I'm helping a kid support his household.

[Llunai]

The difference between Apple and other companies is that Apple actually sets standards, then audits the firms who work for them, enforce those standards when they find they are being broken, then don't try to hide it from the world.

[aisatsana]

Damn some people are so fucking selfish it's crazy.

On topic, although I absolutely despise Apple, every time someone brings up things like this to bash Apple I find it funny, because you know that other hardware companies do the same thing. Oh and Apple don't manufacture their own internal hardware.

[Laize]

Damn some people are so fucking selfish it's crazy.

On topic, although I absolutely despise Apple, every time someone brings up things like this to bash Apple I find it funny, because you know that other hardware companies do the same thing. Oh and Apple don't manufacture their own internal hardware.

Apple designs and sells their products. They've never even once pretended that they were a manufacturer.

[aisatsana]

Apple designs and sells their products. They've never even once pretended that they were a manufacturer.

I know, some people seem to think, oh noes apple is threating their employees like shit, when it's not really them.

[Iron Dome]

Most items you buy will require child labor. We live in an era of globalization. It is extremely unfortunate, and this must be combatted. Anyone planning to petition Apple? It does work.

[ambigiouslynamed]

major corporations cutting corners through barely legal practices. is this meant to be informative? cuse it aint

[Doge is Dead]

So these kids are making $50 a month instead of $0 a month. What's so bad about that? And please don't try and give me this "they should be in school" bullshit. They can't afford to go to school, that's why they're working. I get a cheap phone, and some kid half way around the world doesn't starve to death. Seems like a win-win situation to me.

[Iron Dome]

So these kids are making $50 a month instead of $0 a month. What's so bad about that? And please don't try and give me this "they should be in school" bullshit. They can't afford to go to school, that's why they're working. I get a cheap phone, and some kid half way around the world doesn't starve to death. Seems like a win-win situation to me.

They're working under brutal conditions that no human bein should work under?

[Laize]

They're working under brutal conditions that no human bein should work under?

These are the growing pains of modernization. I'd be surprised if you could find one country that transitioned from a primarily agricultural society to an industrial one without some practices that those of us who never lived through the late 1880s and early 1900s in the US can look smugly down upon and say "How barbaric".

[Iron Dome]

These are the growing pains of modernization. I'd be surprised if you could find one country that transitioned from a primarily agricultural society to an industrial one without some practices that those of us who never lived through the late 1880s and early 1900s in the US can look smugly down upon and say "How barbaric".

Child labor exists in nearly every country, including the U.S.
The thing is, back then, in the 1800's, no country had laws against child labor. The U.N. does, and we should enforce it. Many countries have these laws, yet it still secretly goes on in some places. Of course it is possible to end, or at least diminish, child labor. I'd say India is pretty modernized. Yet they still have child labor.

Rather, they're the growing pains of globalization.

Why does it matter? Because due to globalization, you're buying it, and child labor is existing.

[BlazingMuffin69]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45988522...s-us_business/


Tsk tsk, lets all beat on Microsoft, while Apple has been doing this for years apparently (repeat offenders; keep doing buisness with them their prices are cheap!)

90% of the shit in your house is made the same way, including your clothing/shoes/furniture/electronics.

oh and this is better then them not having a job at all and not being able to pay for food.

[Providence]

They're working under brutal conditions that no human bein should work under?

and the alternative is that they don't work and thus don't eat. They work because, given their situation, they're better off. It's sad but that's reality.

[Keyboardmash]

So these kids are making $50 a month instead of $0 a month. What's so bad about that? And please don't try and give me this "they should be in school" bullshit. They can't afford to go to school, that's why they're working. I get a cheap phone, and some kid half way around the world doesn't starve to death. Seems like a win-win situation to me.

Or, you could donate money to stop them from living in sub-human conditions where they want to commit suicide instead of buying a smartphone to inflate your ego and make you feel good about yourself, yeah?

[lasheric]

This thread is out of hand. First off you can replace "iphone" with almost all imported products, not all, but most.

Second, stop thinking that every country is America. Have you even been overseas in a third world country? I've been on two combat tours and peacekeeping missions in third world countries and let me tell you something, a western country factory would only HELP out that country.

You are American, you have a decent life and many people from many other countries would kill to be in your shoes. This does not mean we owe the world anything nor does it mean you should feel guilty for having a good life. The only way to stop child labor would be to somehow force all manufactoring of products to come back state-side where American officials could regulate them. In this world of globalization that will likely never happen unless world war III hits.

So calm down, enjoy your iphone, ask that your companies at least treat their workers in other countries in a human fashion, at least in accordance with whatever standards that own country already has set. If you want to make a difference than do research on the products you buy, and buy American made. Let your dollar speak for you.