Items tagged with workers
Apple chief Tim Cook isn't all that happy with a BBC report alleging poor working conditions and the overall mistreatment of workers at its Chinese manufacturing facilities where popular devices like the iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2 are made. The scathing report prompted Apple's Senior Vice President of Operations, Jeff Williams, to send out an email to about 5,000 staff members in the U.K. today saying that he and Cook were "deeply offended" by BBC's accusations.The BBC report alleged a number of work place violations and poor conditions in general, such as employees falling asleep during 12 hours shifts on the iPhone 6 assembly line, and being repeatedly denied days off en route to working 18 days...
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If you were to bump into a random Microsoft employee, odds are high the worker would be a white male. The odds increase if the Microsoft employee also happens to hold down a tech related job or is in a position of leadership. So says the diversity data that Microsoft posted, and though things are improving, the Redmond outfit readily admits that "much work remains" in building a truly diverse workforce. When examining all of Microsoft's workers, 29 percent are now women, up from 24 percent just a year ago. There was also a bump in the number of senior executive women and minorities, which jumped from 24 percent to 27 percent in the past year. And on Microsoft's board of directors, the percentage...
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After news broke that the Fair Labor Association found numerous working condition violations at Foxconn plants in China, there was some worry that when the factories reduced working hours to more humane levels, workers would see a deep dropoff in pay. At least in word if not yet in deed, Foxconn spoke out to alleviate those concerns. Last night, a Reuters report quoted Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou as saying that the company is telling its workers, “you work fewer hours, but get more pay”. Gou also pledged to continue to work to increase worker salaries. Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou (image credit: Reuters) With thousands of workers scaling back dramatically on hours worked, Foxconn and...
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In January, Apple joined the Free Labor Association, agreeing to uphold the group’s workplace standards. A month later, the FLA launched an independent investigation into working conditions at Foxconn plants in China, where many Apple products are manufactured. Now, the investigation is complete, and the FLA found that indeed, there were plenty of problems with working conditions at the three factories it visited in Guanlan, Longhua, and Chengdu. The group also secured pledges from Apple and Foxconn that the two companies will fix the issues and said in a press release that it will continue to monitor conditions and submit public reports about the goings-on at the factories. It doesn’t...
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Job security is tough thing to come by these days, a fact that resonating in various departments at International Business Machines (IBM), the third-largest publicly traded technology company in the world and the largest computer services supplier on the planet. Despite its credentials and standing in the global community, IBM has let go of over 1,400 employees in the U.S. and Canada this past week, according to Alliance@IBM, an organization that's trying to form a union of IBM workers recognized by the company. As of Tuesday, the number of pink slips handed out in the U.S. and Canada stood at 1,100 and it's now at 1,440 at the time of this writing. In the grand scheme of things, the job cuts...
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A couple of recent articles in The New York Times painted a less than rosy picture of Apple and its role in allegedly urging its suppliers in China to take shortcuts despite concerns to worker safety. It's a hot topic considering the multiple reports of poor working conditions at Foxconn, a top supplier of Apple's iDevices along with many other high profile clients, where suicide attempts appear to happen all too frequently. One of the reports is titled "In China, Human Costs are Built Into an iPad," a lengthy piece that goes into considerable detail about all aspects of the manufacturing process and includes some unflattering quotes about Apple. "Apple never cared about anything other than increasing...
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Things have been relatively quiet recently concerning worker suicides over at Foxconn, but it appears our optimism might have been a premature. Reports have been surfacing that yet another worker has fallen off a building to his death, and like the ones before him, this one is believed to be a suicide. This latest incident occurred at a factory owned by Chimei Innolux Corp., a Hon Hai (Foxconn) affiliate specializing in the production of flat-panel displays. The man who jumped/fell wasn't directly employed by Chimei, but contracted through an outsourcing company. Be that as it may, this puts the spotlight back on Foxconn, which has been the subject of much media attention in recent months following...
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After being put under the microscope by the media and, more recently, by its customers following a rash of suicides that occurred at its Shenzhen, China factory, Foxconn said it is issuing another round of significant pay raises, the second time that this has been done this week. According to a report in The New York Times, Foxconn plans to raise basic salaries for most of its 800,000 workers in China to nearly $300 a month within the next 90 days. That's about double what the workers were making just a couple of weeks ago, and also is indicative of rising labor costs in China's biggest manufacturing hubs. Lost in the shuffle of all the suicides that have taken place, market analysts say that...
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Foxconn thinks they have a solution to the mounting suicides that have rocked the company's China operations: pay the workers more money. According to reports, Foxconn plans to raise wages by 30 percent, which still isn't all that much, but it's a start. One report has the basic salary at Foxconn's China plants at about 900 yuan a month, or just over $130. Speaking on condition of anonymity, an unauthorized Foxconn spokesman told the Associated Press that the pay raise is designed to reduce overtime and give workers "more time for leisure and have a happier working environment. It may also help cut the turnover rate and raise productivity and product quality level." Foxconn is the biggest supplier...
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We'll wait for the dust on this latest report to settle for offering up a virtual high-five to the Apple workers. The subsidies will reportedly amount to 1 percent to 2 percent of the profits from Apple products. Apple's sudden profit sharing generosity stems from the company's own investigation into the numerous suicides that have taken place among Foxconn employees for the past several months. As the Chinese website tells it, Apple feels that low wages are playing a big role in the suicides, and it's Apple's hope that these subsidies will alleviate some of the financial pressures Foxconn workers are facing. In case you haven't been following, more than a dozen Foxconn workers have jumped off...
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We'd like to say that Foxconn has been under fire for a rash of employee suicides that have occurred this year, but up until now, the company hasn't really been under fire at all, not by those who have the power to make a difference, anyway. It was less than a week ago that we reported another Foxconn worker had fallen from a building to his death, at the time the tenth fall since the start of the year, eight of which ended up being fatal. It's a sad situation and we questioned why there was a veil of silence, not just from Foxconn, but also from the companies who use Foxconn for manufacturing of their products, including Apple. Well, the veil of silence has finally been lifted, starting with...
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Palm has been taking a beating recently. The smartphone market they compete in was already crowded before the iPhone appeared to steal marketshare, and their ill-starred UMPC bombed so badly that the product was withdrawn. Now Palm is laying off about 10% of their workforce of 1150. Merry Christmas. Palm's statement said the restructuring, which also included some reassignments, was part of its ongoing effort to "focus and better align resources behind core initiatives" and "to ensure that our expenses are in line with projected revenues." Palm has struggled against stiffening competition over the past year. Some missteps, including product delays and the cancellation in September of a portable...
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The need for IT workers with very specific skills is driving up the wages earned by those workers. And a reluctance to jump around from job to job (Hello 1998!) is making it difficult for employers to fill IT positions. That translates into a shortage -- and higher wages for the right candidate. The AeA, a Washington-based trade group formerly known as the American Electronics Association, said in a report released April 24 that there were 5.8 million high-tech jobs in the U.S. last year — up by 3% year over year. In 2005, the number of jobs grew by only about 1%, the AeA said. Last December, Robert Half Technology said its quarterly survey of more than 1,400 CIOs showed that 16% planned...
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According to York Region News, AMD has just given 100 Canadian employees their walking papers. In this competition between AMD and Intel, both sides have been cutting workers to try to improve their positions as they continue to fight for top-dog status. While Intel hasn't recently absorbed another major company the way AMD did when they brought ATI into the fold, it might be that this gives AMD an easier time trimming employees in the short run. "A sputtering start to 2007 has resulted in more than 100 layoffs at Markham's Advanced Micro Devices. AMD, a leading chipmaker and Silicon Valley archrival of Intel, has been forced to operate much leaner as spending soared...
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