The thread about "real" versus "fake" jewelery got me thinking... some people won't buy mined gemstones because of the slave like conditions the miners endure, and the moral cost of the diamond. However, recent criticism of Apple and other companies has focused on the inhumane conditions facing the 430,000+ workers at the Foxconn factories in Chengdu and Shenzhen China. It is speculated that nearly every iPad and iPhone are assembled by hand in this one factory, as well as ATI motherboards and video cards.

The conditions there are bad. Dangerous working, long hours, and low pay. At least one worker has died after working a 30+ hour shift, and the high rise dormitories the workers live in have had nets installed to prevent the epidemic of suicides amongst the workers. You might think China has no laws protecting workers, and you would be wrong. However, these laws aren't enforced by corrupt government officials, and companies like Apple don't seem interested in using their leverage to improve conditions at the factories they exploit. You'd think Apple, the company that has raked in more profits than any US company ever, the biggest company in the world, and a company sitting on 100billion+ dollars could easily improve the plight of workers in these factories at a nominal cost to their overall profit margin, yet they don't.

Some links if you are interested:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/06/world/asia/china-apple-foxconn-worker/
http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2012/02/06/t-ts-apple-foxconn-worker.cnnmoney/
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/06/world/asia/foxconn-worker-difficulties/?hpt=hp_c1

 

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i dont buy anything unless i know exactly how all resources were acquired except for gas.

then again...my wife does all the purchasing

 

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i've never bought an ATI piece or an ipad/ipod...but that's mostly due to the fact that the competitors are usually better than ATI and I'm too poor to buy Apple crap.

 

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While Foxconn is bad, I can't really say me buying a Motorola driod is better than buying an iphone. I have no idea how the conditions are for workers that make most of the products I buy sadly.

 

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Well, there's a reason for that. The reason companies like to produce cheap products in countries with authoritarian governments is that the journalists who would report on unsafe or exploitative conditions are censored, and the gross abuses get covered up. It's only been the hard work of a few western reporters that has uncovered the Foxconn working conditions.

 

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Remember foxconn also makes components for the 360 as well.

 

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*shrug*


Conflict diamonds are diamonds.


Just because you don't buy them, or the Foxconn components doesn't mean others will not buy them too.


Therefore, one person not buying them has no impact.

 

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Yeah, it's difficult to know where all the components in your various products come from.

 

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so when are we supposed to interfere with other country's domestic policies?

foxconn makes pretty much everything that is solid-state based (at the core component level)

 

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