Search results matching tags 'Apple' and 'Foxconn'

RE: Apple Moving Some Manufacturing to U.S.

mhenriday — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 15:54:37 GMT

It took a little searching to find what standards are used to judge the validity of an «Assembled in USA» claim, but here's what the Federal Trade Commission has to say about the matter :

Assembled in USA Claims

A product that includes foreign components may be called "Assembled in USA" without qualification when its principal assembly takes place in the U.S. and the assembly is substantial. For the "assembly" claim to be valid, the product’s last "substantial transformation" also should have occurred in the U.S. That’s why a "screwdriver" assembly in the U.S. of foreign components into a final product at the end of the manufacturing process doesn’t usually qualify for the "Assembled in USA" claim.

Example: A lawn mower, composed of all domestic parts except for the cable sheathing, flywheel, wheel rims and air filter (15 to 20 percent foreign content) is assembled in the U.S. An "Assembled in USA" claim is appropriate.

Example: All the major components of a computer, including the motherboard and hard drive, are imported. The computer’s components then are put together in a simple "screwdriver" operation in the U.S., are not substantially transformed under the Customs Standard, and must be marked with a foreign country of origin. An "Assembled in U.S." claim without further qualification is deceptive.

We'll have to see to what degree the Apple products referred to in Seth Colaner's article above will meet this standard....

Henri

RE: Apple Moving Some Manufacturing to U.S.

mhenriday — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 11:41:03 GMT

It should be remembered that the requirements for putting «Assembled in X country» are both weak and diffuse. Not least when the company, as in this case, is Apple, which is hardly known for its transparency, it might be wise for people in the US to wait for further details before shouting «Hurrah !»...

Henri

RE: Foxconn China Plant Shut Down After Riot Involving 2,000 Workers

mhenriday — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 18:19:34 GMT

A bit thin-skinned are you not, karanm ? You make statements which I point out are erroneous and then you attempt to weasel out of them and accuse me of «putting words in your mouth» and moreover announce that your are «gonna [sic !] hafta [sic !] spell things our [sic !]» for me as, you claim «[I have a problem with comprehension». You have also permitted yourself to employ invective like «d-bag» in a discussion on a comment thread, always a sign of superior intelligence and maturity. I can fully understand why you have decided not to continue your participation in the discussion ; you have exposed yourself more than sufficiently as it is....

Henri

RE: Foxconn China Plant Shut Down After Riot Involving 2,000 Workers

mhenriday — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 06:05:21 GMT

Perhaps a bit disingenuous of you, karanm, to claim that the remark on which I commented - « there is no place in the world where they would be allowed to treat employees in this manner other than china» - «wasn't for the comparison of problems between countries» ? «o place in the world ... other than ...» certainly sounds like a comparison to me. No one who has any knowledge of working conditions in China (and a certain degree of integrity) disagrees that they are often very bad, but to claim as you most certainly did (albeit you now attempt to elide this point), that nowhere else in the world are they as bad is to show either ignorance of the problem or a desire to deceive. You also seem to be unwilling to recognise that bad as things are at Foxconn, they are far better there than in other industries, both in China (e g, the illegal coal mining industry) and elsewhere (e g, many textile factories in Bangladesh and Pakistan). Indeed, the conditions under which many sans papiers are forced to work - and who are often cheated of their wages - here in Sweden with its proud trade-union tradition (very much under attack) are in many ways worse than those at Foxconn), not to speak of those endured by the people from Romania or Thailand, etc, who, after loaning large sums of money to pay for the trip, are flown in by unscrupulous contractors during the berry season and who often find themselves without wages and forced to beg to keep body and soul together, before government at the local and national level is compelled to intervene and they are repatriated, with nothing to show for their efforts but bad memories and a mountain of debt. These people, I submit, would love to have a place to work like Foxconn....

Summa summarium : Working conditions in China are often bad, and it is good that even Apple fanbois sometimes react to the conditions under which their beloved devices are produced, but, alas, they are far from the worst to be found in this, the best of all possible worlds....

Henri

RE: Foxconn China Plant Shut Down After Riot Involving 2,000 Workers

mhenriday — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 20:58:43 GMT

First off, karanm, please note that conditional form of my statement - I did not write that you believe that the worst working conditions in the world are found in China ; rather, I suggested that if you believe that to be the case, then you need to update your knowledge. Thus, either you are deliberately attempting to put words in my mouth, or you need to work on your reading comprehension. Secondly, when tragedies similar to that which occured in Pakistan happen in China, which they do all too frequently, the owners of the companies are generally published severely ; anyone who keeps up with, e g, the frequent mining disasters in China is aware of this fact. Foxconn, being the immense operation it is, most certainly has connexions all the way up to the highest levels in government and therewith a great degree of impunity (just as in the vast majority of countries around the world), but their treatment of employees is, according to organisations like China Labor Watch, which is certainly no supporter of Foxconn, no worse and probably better than that found in most factories in China and elsewhere in Asia. To say that the distinction between the situation in China and that of other countries with weak trade unions and weak labour legislation is that «these practices are carried out without anybody important knowing» is an unworthy combination of special pleading and ignorance - your following comment «or if they do know they are usually bribed» is much closer to the truth, in China and elsewhere. If you are genuinely interested in these matters, you might want to consider following LabourStart, which will disabuse you of the fond notion that these conditions are as you claimed in your orginal posting, unique to China. But alas, you seem to feel that abuses carried out in ohter countries than China are «anthills» as compared to the Chinese «mountain»....

Henri

RE: Foxconn China Plant Shut Down After Riot Involving 2,000 Workers

mhenriday — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 17:39:56 GMT

Karanm, if you really believe that the worst working conditions in the world are found in China, you might be advised to update your knowledge. Foxconn's plants in China are hardly places I'd care to work - and I wouldn't be entirely adverse to meeting founder Guo Taiming alone in a dark alley and having a more spirited discussion on worker's rights with him than that he seems to have had with the director of the Taibei municipal zoo, whom he asked for advice on how to deal with the million or so workers employed by the company, but let me assure you that there are, alas, far worse places in which to work in other countries. Or did you miss, e g, the NYT article on the recent Karachi garment factory fire that snuffed out hundreds of lives ? I realise that China-bashing has become a spectator sport in the United States, but it's still a good idea to get one's facts right....

Henri

RE: Did a BFF and Secrecy Hide the iPhone 4's Antenna Problems?

mhenriday — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 09:23:37 GMT

«Or is that the real reason we've got $30 bumpers to buy now?» Or, as an alternative, select a smartphone from another company (I was about to say «another manufacturer», but then again, they all seem to be manufactured by Hon Hai's Foxconn) ?...

Henri

Re: Another Foxconn Worker Falls Off Building and Dies

AKwyn — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:04:58 GMT

I'm not exactly one of the ones to feel guilt or emotion but I don't know. With the rough work conditions Foxconn are putting them through and the fact that people are killing each other in this place. Kind of reminds me of a Nazi camp. I don't know, people should not be oppressed this way, I should not have to feel guilty for buying an iPhone or any other products that Foxconn manufactures. I know it's made with the blood and tears of people who don't get any sleep or food but I just don't want that to inhibit the senses of anything that's manufactured by Foxconn. I don't know if it's the companies or Foxconn that's making people do this but I just think they need to do something. Treat people better, open a new factory. If only it was so easy.