The argument may seem pretty simple, after all, it is the Taiwanese company Hon Hai that hosts the seats of the big bosses whose decisions directly affect the working conditions in Foxconn’s factories; but with most of the money pouring in coming from companies such as Sony, Hewlett and Packard, Apple, Samsung, IBM and others, it seems quite likely the media would eventually expect some form of reaction from Foxconn’s foreign clients.
There is no doubt that many of the spinners at Sony, HP and others are already working out a good angle to handle the media fallback; other companies such as Apple are simply turning a blind eye to the whole mess (in fairness to the Cupertino based company, they already have a lot on their plate to handle), but the general consensus is that what Foxconn is doing is wrong.
Indeed, there is something morally lacking when companies find themselves having to pay for extremely cheap labor practices and still sell their devices for expensive prices. But if Foxconn does change its company rules –increase salaries and benefits, as well as improve the working conditions, the financial repercussions of such a move will certainly drive up the manufacturing costs. In the long run, this will raise the retail value of many big name brand products.
The many employees of Foxconn work 12 hour shifts for extremely low salaries, hardly any benefits and live lives that practically turn them into nothing but mindless drones churning out bits and part of gadgets that will eventually be assembled (most probably by their other colleagues). According to reports, they eat their meals in a very military like manner and the overall atmosphere is tense and depressing.
The most ironic thing is that this has been the standard way of life for many workers in many other manufacturers; but with the continuous growth of suicides in Foxconn, the spotlight on this manufacturing company is not going away any time soon.
