Foxconn worker dies in China, the 10th in a year
By WILLIAM FOREMAN
Associated Press Writer
A Chinese employee of Foxconn Technology Group fell from a building and died Tuesday, May 25, 2010, state-run media said, in the 10th such death this year at the world's largest contract maker of electronics, such as the iPod, Dell computers and Nokia phones
Hey, it's just some poor schlubs, right? Who cares?
At least, thank God, they don't have Union labor.
Link to original story:
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/24/1968510/foxconn-worker-dies-in-china-10th.html
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4 comments:
The fault isn't Apple, Dell or Nokia. Their obligation to customers and shareholders is to attract customers an keep a healthy profit margin. While we might like corporations to care about The Big Picture, they have no legal obligation to.
Yes, that's a problem, but it's not THE problem.
The problem and fault is the US government's relentless quest to make life better for corporations. Democrats and Republicans conspired to enact laws that reward corporations with huge profits and tax breaks to kill US manufacturing jobs in favor of building foreign manufacturing capacity.
That profit is so insanely huge that corporations can actually drop prices. Once one company does it, all their competitors are forced to do it too.
The fact that foreign workers are effectively serfs doesn't bother anybody's government overmuch. If foreign manufacturing governments add worker protections and improves wage & hour laws, jobs move one shithole country over where it's still cheap. There's an endless supply of shithole countries, so the musical chairs game can go on indefinitely.
My point is that it makes more sense to hold a grudge against Bill Clinton (rich white guy) and Congress (almost entirely rich white guys) for putting a stake through the heart of US manufacturing generally.
At least Steve Jobs produces something useful.
Nonsense.
While I absolutely agree--and have written here, saying as much--that I have no idea why some enterprising, somewhat demagoguic Congressperson doesn't propose a bill taking away any tax breaks to take US manufacturing offshore--WAY OVERDUE--I stick to my contention that Steve Jobs, personally, professionally and morally (remember those? morals?) owes any person helping to manufacture his products, a decent living wage, as does the entire Apple corporation and anyone and everyone else that employs people for their existence.
I'm not contending any one thing is THE problem but both are significant factors.
Once corporations no longer had any commitment to the human beings in their employ, the race was on to go to the bottom of costs, damning people across the world to a possible and all too likely world of poverty (e.g., Wal Mart, etc., etc.).
You're right about the government, of course, but since when should a corporation not be responsible to pay a living wage? That's insanity and irresponsible.
mr
Steve Jobs has a LEGAL obligations to his shareholders and directors. The law — by massively rewarding companies that offshore labor — makes it impossible to act on any MORAL obligation to the benefit of a foreign labor force that has few legal protections.
(Gee — I wonder why corporate-sponsored legislators would want to undermine labor in this country?)
However, what you're suggesting is that Steve Jobs bears a unique moral obligation to act in a way that will certainly destroy his company's marketplace competitiveness and ultimately destroy his company. He would be violating the law to do so.
Fix the law first. That's the source of the problem.
You and I agree-first we fix the law, yes.
But you're mistaken about my assumption here of Steve Jobs. I don't, in fact, think he bears any "unique moral obligatin." I'm just singling him out here, for purposes of illustration, because of this current situation. He's certainly not alone in this responibility, at all. We all have this responsibility and corporate leaders who hire thousands or millions have more so.
Thanks, as always, for writing.
mr
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