Mobile Computing News

Photo: Foxconn

It’s looking like Foxconn’s troubles are continuing, and Apple’s by association, as the latest reports indicate up to 100,000 students have been ‘ordered’ to report to scandal plagued Foxconn factories for work, or face expulsion from school.

Scandal plagued conditions

Foxconn, the major outsourcer manufacturer for a number of large tech companies, including Apple, Sony, Dell, Nintendo and others, has come to the forefront of headlines recently for up to 11 employee suicides and apparently abysmal ’sweatshop’ working conditions. In the wake of the worldwide media attention, Steve Jobs personally visited the company’s Chinese factories and ensured the world that it was actually a “pretty nice place”, with swimming pools, movie theatres and restaurants to boot. This, naturally, didn’t quite coincide with reports from actual Foxconn workers, who told of being forced to work extra hours, falling asleep at their work stations due to exhaustion, not being allowed to take breaks and other sweatshop-like conditions.

Foxconn hikes wages in response

We strongly wonder whether the Foxconn factories Steve Jobs saw, were really the same ones making his iPads and iPhones. At any rate, Foxconn itself apparently acknowledged there was indeed a problem, by hiking factory employee salaries nearly across the board twice, for a total whopping salary increase of around 100% for many workers; such large increases do seem to be some kind of an admission that something was wrong in the first place. Indeed, it seems something is still wrong, although the problem this time for the Chinese iPhone manufacturer isn’t pay, or even working conditions, it’s forced labour, of young students no less.

Gov’t orders students to work

As the China Daily newspaper reports, up to 100,000 students in vocational schools across the Chinese province of Henan, have been ordered to undertake a three month ‘internship’ at Foxconn factories headquartered in Shenzhen. The order as it were, comes from high on up in the government, with the ‘Provincial employment promotion office’ claiming it will help boost employment. We call it an order because, apparently, the students must either accept or drop out, it doesn’t seem to be a decision they can say no to.

Given short notice

To make matters worse, the students evidently only received 9 days notice before they were ‘forced’ to ship out. As for the claims of it being an internship, one interviewed student named Lin was actually studying to be a locksmith, a completely unrelated field to his future electronics duties at Foxconn. For his part, however, Lin was very optimistic stating, “Everybody is going I can go find out why all those Foxconn employees killed themselves. It’s kind of fun“. The video below gives us a glimpse at the kind of fun Lin is awaiting.

Local towns raided for workers too

Foxconn isn’t just raiding vocational schools for new employees either, as apparently local towns in Henan province have also received internal high government instructions to ship off 100 people aged 18-45 to Foxconn plants in Shenzhen. Despite the so-called improvements and pay raises, it looks like Foxconn is still probably not an ideal company to work for, at least not when you are a low-paid factory worker.

Photo: Apple

Your opinion

What do you think? Do you own a Foxconn manufactured iPad or iPhone, or other electronic gadget? Will the latest controversy stemming from the Chinese outsourcer put you off from buying one?