Chinese Students Say They Are Being Forced To Build Your Next iPhone 481
pigrabbitbear writes "Now that Apple is putting the finishing touches on the most anticipated smartphone in history, Chinese students are again being pressed into service on the factory line inside the largest single internship program in the world. This according to two separate stories in the Chinese press. A report today in the Shanghai Daily says that hundreds of students in the city of Huai'an were forced to help fulfill iPhone 5 orders starting last Thursday. Classes in town had allegedly been interrupted as a result, since the two-month long internships would fulfill the students' need to 'experience working conditions.'"
Re:It's an internship. (Score:5, Informative)
Did you read TFA? "A student [...] said 200 students from her school had been driven to the factory. [...] Several other students from at least five colleges backed up what she said, saying they were being forced to work for 12 hours a day. [...] Foxconn was badly in need of 10,000 workers but students were looking forward to returning to classrooms to continue their academic studies which had been seriously disrupted." How is this a routine event?
Re:Well, I was forced to serve them hamburgers (Score:5, Informative)
"Forced" doesn't mean "I had to do it because I needed the money" in China. There, as elsewhere in the Communist world, there is this thing called "brigadier movement", where students (highschool and university) and sometimes older people "volunteer" to help some sector of the economy, usually for free (awful) food and no pay.
When I was a kid, we used to "help" agriculture most often, at it was the most underpopulated sector. The "help" would usually take place around the start of the school year, during the time of the harvest, but also during the summer vacation.
From the description of the article I think this is the same thing -- the authorities rounding up people to "help" the industry.
The only difference is that when I was doing it, we were doing it for the "country". Now it is for Foxconn.
Re:It's an internship. (Score:2, Informative)
Would rather serve 2 months in a factory, learning valuable work skills (internship), then spend 1-2 years in the military as is the case in almost all European democracies. Purely from an unbiased view, the European mandate looks worse.
Re:im sorry to tell you this, but your phone (Score:5, Informative)
I'm sorry to tell you this but you are either lying or ignorant to the fact that Samsung does put pressure [theregister.co.uk] on their suppliers to clean up their act.
Also if you care to see Samsung's statements you can see them here [samsungtomorrow.com]
My wife did this (Score:5, Informative)
Sure, but 'Internship' doesn't necessarily mean they get pay, they just get credit.
My wife is Chinese and during college all students do an internship where they work on a factory floor, or on a farm, or do a stint in the military. She worked in a car factory in Tianjin, installing door handles. She was paid the same as the factory workers, which was not much in those days, but enough to live on.
Confirmation (Score:4, Informative)
This is even showing up in newspapers in China [shanghaidaily.com] and on China National Radio, which is state-controlled. The state-controlled media point out that Foxconn is run from Taiwan. The city government of Huai has stepped in and send some of the students back to school.
Somebody should raise enough hell to have IPhone 5 shipments seized at US Customs while this issue is resolved. Customs can hold them up to 3 months for investigation.
Re:Well, I was forced to serve them hamburgers (Score:5, Informative)
In my experience, if Foxconn is supplying them with free lodging and giving them subsidized food, $350/mo is roughly equivalent to $29,000 a year in America. Still pretty bad for having 60 hour work-weeks, but not outrageous for the country in question. Given that alot of the workers are probably coming from the countryside, i'd say most of them see it as an upgrade to their lifestyle as soon as they leave the corp and go back to their hometown with a years worth of decent wages saved up, would probably help them started a business or go to school.
My basis for this statement: Living in China for 5 years, and 2 trips back within the last 4.