What is Digg?Sponsored by Best Buy
He sings, he strums, and he works at Best Buy. view!
youtube.com - Musician and Best Buy employee, Keith Parsons, rocks his Best Buy holiday campaign audition.
53 Comments
- ShrimpCrackers, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13I'm Taiwanese and my family owns factories in China. This is why I know that there is a huge difference between what a labor union is in the USA versus what a labor union is in China.
UNION MEMBERS IN CHINA CANNOT STRIKE OR ORGANIZE PROTESTS and doing so will result in severe penalties or dismissal. They are instead represented by a chosen official, usually one that is tied directly to the Chinese Communist Party, and that official only has an advisory role. The owners do not need to heed their advice, nor are time-tables necessary.
Think I am a liar?
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/inequal/labor/1016china.htm
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2004/11/23/PM200411231.html - flamingmb, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16good for them. We wont see a change in ipod price.
- Raian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Finally a sanctioned union overseen by the bastion of efficiency and honesty, the Chinese government! ... Foxconn will finally be able to start paying off military officers rather than the usual political groups... TO BE RICH IS GLORIOUS!!
- friend18, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9It means you don't have to wear the shackles to work. Capitalism FTW!
- actionscripted, on 10/12/2007, -9/+16Is there any way we can change our user preferences to NEVER see the first post and the follow-up branches of it? ENOUGH with the acronyms and over-used memes. Get some friends and tell them your witty jokes -- stop wasting my screen real estate.
- jeff1943, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Actually, Longhua isn't in Taiwan. It's a city in China. However, the factory is owned by Taiwanese.
- rodbibeau, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8This is a good move for the labor. I strongly support labor unions.
However, What I see Apple doing is simply moving their production to another country. This will allow them to continue to use cheap labor to make our favorite toys.
As demand for a resource increases - labor in this case -, price will increase. Also, if a labor abundant country starts to turn into a labor scarce country, it will drive the price of labor up. The producers will then look for other countries which are vastly labor abundant. - Ashex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I sure love blogspam, don't you?
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/01/17/ap3334400.html?partner=alerts
then again, they do link to the whole story (other articles) - MediaShipper, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Labor Unions in China are a sham. They are a way of keeping the public from reacting violently. The government throws the people a bone. But the union is a union in name only. It only has power if the government lets it.
- MediaShipper, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6No you still wear the shackles, but you get to accessorize them with flair.
- Klever, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Apple may want you to think they are a crunchy, free-love, for the greater good, against the establishment, we are different type of company but behind all of the PR and marketing speak you'll still find low-wage laborers in foreign countries making their products. As with any corporation, its about the bottom-line.
If this news is coming as a shock to anyone then perhaps you haven't read the back of your iPod lately....mine says, "Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China." This is a 4th gen 40gb iPod that I ordered on or a day after release.....guess the origin on the UPS tracking information.....Shanghai, China.
As much as I like cheap goods (heh, like Apple kit is cheap but you get the idea), i'd rather pay a bit more and help improve peoples' standard of living. If you get a chance watch one of the documentaries about Wal-Mart and their anti-union practices and how they encourage their suppliers to move their manufacturing to China and elsewhere so you can have your "Always low prices, always" - ingxia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4If you read the previous post, ipods are supposedly made in China by a Taiwanese company. I read the back of my ipod and it says "Assembled in China"
- Lane, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6does casual fridays mean no turtle necks?
- brokekneck, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8I think what everyone is lol`n at is. The fact that company's like apple send the factorys accross seas for cheaper labor rates. Now the countries impose the same business practice we have here. No more cheap rides. LOL
- FRAGaLOT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Well I guess the price for iPods will go up... gee you'd think they'd be using cheap labor to make these things, and it STILL costs over $300?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Everyone knows the whole RED thing was a cynical tax dodge with the added benefit of getting free celebrity endorsements!
- ShrimpCrackers, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4China's State Controlled Labor Unions are mostly useless. Those trying to form independent ones quickly find that they're braking Chinese laws. If they protest, many are immediately hauled away to prison.
From: http://www.uaw.org/action/china/free03.html
China Has Jailed Many Labor Activists. The UAW and AFL-CIO are fighting for the release of all those in China who have been jailed for their labor activity. Among them:
Yao Fuxin: a steelworker at the Liaoyang Steel Rolling Mill was charged with subversion and sentenced to seven years for leading 2,000 workers from the Ferroally Factory along with 15,000 workers from five other factories in Liaoyang in a protest against corruption and unpaid wages and pensions.
Xiao Yunliang: a former worker at the Ferroalloy Factory in Liaoyang was charged with subversion and sentenced to four years imprisonment for his participation in a workers' demonstration in March 2002. Xiao is reportedly in very poor health.
Wang Guoqi: sentenced to 11 years for his work at the Free Labor Union of China. Presently imprisoned in Beijing No. 2 prison and reportedly very ill.
Liu Jingsheng: formerly a worker at Tongyi Chemical Plant who was jailed in 1992 and sentenced to 15 years.
Yue Tianxiang: sentenced to 10 years for helping workers demand unpaid wages from Tuanshui Auto Transport Co. and for publishing the newsletter Chinese Workers' Monitor.
Hu Shigen: a professor at the Beijing Languages Institute who was sentenced to 20 years for organizing the Free Labor Union of China.
Guo Qiqing: a worker at a chemical factory in Hubei got 1 year for leading a demonstration demanding that the company pay back capital borrowed from the workforce. Guo is believed to have been released, but this has not been confirmed.
Zhang Shanguang: a labor activist who was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for passing information to foreign organizations and attempting to set up the Shupu County Association for the Rights of Laid-off Workers. He reportedly has been severely beaten and tortured.
Guo Xinmin: sentenced to 2 years for organizing workers seeking unpaid wages from Tianshui City Transport Co. Guo is believed to have been released, but this has not been confirmed.
Peng Shi: an electrical worker arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for leading a worker protest at the Hunan Xiangtan Electrical Machinery Plant.
Liao Shihua: a former worker in the Changsha Auto Electronics Factory and a prominent labor activist, was formally arrested on July 7, 1999 for "conspiring to subvert state power" and "assembling a crowd to disrupt traffic."
Kang Yuchun: a member of the Free Labor Union China, sentenced to 17 years in prison on counter-revolution charges. He has been serving since 1992.
Xu Jian: sentenced to four years for providing legal counsel to workers seeking back pay and filing labor disputes under Chinese law.
He Chaohui: a railway worker at the Chenzhou Railway Bureau. He was given a 10 year sentence in 1999 for illegally providing information to foreign organizations.
Yao Guisheng: a former worker at the Hunan Knitting mill, has been serving a 15 year sentence since 1989. - KingMoses, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Better yet, wait for the upcoming season of Penn & Teller: *****! They're doing one on Wal-Mart-bashing, and I can't wait.
- onepercent, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Just FYI. Taiwan is a democracy.
Even though internationally it's known as being a part of China, but practically, life in Taiwan is very different than in China. I don't know specifically how that plays out in labor unions, but I would imagine it's very different. Taiwanese are always taking to the streets to demonstrate/protest political & social matters.
I know because I visit Taiwan every year, and I've also been to China a few times. Just wanted to clear that up. - RetardoCrisp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Right on!! Good for them! Too bad Apple, your sweatshop expoits and massive profits have to end sometime. Let us hope this spurs a total movement through all areas of Southeast Asia, South America, and China as well. Labour laws need to be implemented everywhere. This way it brings work back home and gives those overseas a fair pay for a fair day. We all deserve it
- felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Your answer makes no sense. Apple's software is made in Cupertino. (That's in America, if you're confused.)
I didn't ask about software. I asked about hardware. Which MP3 player do you use, and where is it made? If you're saying that you don't use an MP3 player, only a computer, then where is it made? - onepercent, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2For those interested in reading about why Taiwan's government is different from China's:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan
It's actually quite a long and complicated history. - vango, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3now if only the Nike employees in Indonesia could get it together
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Nah. They don't need to go that far. After all, they've destroyed the american middle class, thats where the new slave laborers are going to come from. Its either that or moping floors next to the illegals.
- MediaShipper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2yeah, the workers might get an extra nickel a day.
- monergism, on 10/12/2007, -9/+10Good.
Someone has to stop the fanboys from exploiting the poor. - zoltan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4looks like nobody liked jobs' jobs
- zoltan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2mmm proprietary apple circuits... mmmm
- flessa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I didn't know the iPod's production was contracted out to Foxconn. You learn something new everyday.
- mos6507, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1In other news, Ipod manufacturing has been moved to vietnam.
- spankaccount, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I predict Foxconn loses the contract.
- titlesaysitall, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Sorry to burst your bubble Flag, but I don't think Apple owns Foxconn.
- flag564, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4"Good.
Someone has to stop the fanboys from exploiting the poor."
It's almost the same as people who wore fur in the 80s. They never gave a rift about the true cost of their fashion accessories.
Kudos to these workers for standing up to Jobs and saying that they wont be slaves for AppleCo. - zerocomm, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4This is why the "RED" campaign is so horrible. Help impovrished african children with AIDS by exploiting impovrished taiwanese children
- dreamlayers, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Hmm... "The labor union was formed in response to an order from China's government after reports surfaced claiming that plant employees were subjected to sub-standard working conditions."... there might be something good about communism/socialism after all. As I recall, in capitalism workers may have to fight the company to form a union.
- ispshadow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Good for these folks, I hope it works out well for them.
BTW, are we ever going bring some of lost manufacturing back here? What do we really produce here still that makes us the superpower?
Seriously, if China ever decided to stop trading on the United States, could we handle that? I understand that it would ruin their economy, but could they recover from it better than us? - felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -16/+15I would have no problem at all paying an extra fifty bucks for my iPod, if it meant the people making it got a higher standard of living and better conditions.
I hope the labor union actually does some good for the workers, and doesn't become another tool for Communist Party members to extort graft.
There ought to be a law requiring all products to list how much each laborer was paid to make it, just like we list nutritional information on food. I bet a lot of people (not all) would be happy to pay a little more if they knew how it affected the people who make the things we buy. - monergism, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Software by paid employees on American wages. Thanks for asking though.
- zouhair, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Now that poor begins to make unions I wonder where Corporates will turn to look for new slaves? Saturn?
- MediaShipper, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1In Soviet Russia, Wal-Mart bashes you ... what a country!
- besquared, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I hate how people equate income in terms of US Dollars to 'standard of living' in some other economic situation. These workers make $100 a month and receive food and housing for $50 a month in dormitories at the factory. That means half of their income is disposable minus the ungodly amounts of taxes I'm sure the communist government takes out. Even if they are saving 10% of their income, which even poor people in most places can manage to do (read 'The Mystery of Capital' by Hernando de Soto), they'd be saving every month what an average Chinese farmer makes in a month.
And if all that fails, just remember their standard of living is lower because their society is less productive. 'Standard of living' is basically how much stuff you have and how easy it is to come by. The stuff doesn't come from nothing, it has to be created. If your country isn't creating it then you don't have anything. Nothing changes this except time, the slow build up of capital goods and skilled labor that has taken the western world hundreds of years to produce. They're in a better position since they can just import productive capital from the rest of the world, meaning they should progress in even fewer generations than the western world did. You already see this happening.
No amount of labor unions is going to change the real situation. It's not going to give the country more capital and it's not going to make labor more productive. These are real things that do not change with a 'pay raise' because a pay raise without any real change in output can only be caused by redistribution. We have a system of redistribution already, if someone makes something you want you give them more money than it cost them in time and resources to make it, you distribute money to them and they distribute some good to you. - djfelix, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2At least the Chinese government has the balls to control the labor unions over there. The US government lets the labor unions here walk all over them. Labor unions are nothing but wealthy fascists who use their power over "poor" people to bend companies and the US government to their will.
How much time off did you get paid for last year? Did you get paid to sit on your ass at home for 6 months and do nothing? I didn't. But if you were a UAW member, chances are you did. The UAW is a polished terrorist organization who's leaders should be locked up in Guantanamo with the rest of the enemy combatants.
Most likely this was done to quell resistance, not to encourage or repair it. This gives the Chinese government greater control, and should -*prevent*- Apple from moving operations.
Reading all the ignorant liberal Digg troll blabber about "fighting the man" really makes me laugh. If you morons knew half of what was really going on in the world, you'd probably all commit suicide. - tf5bassist, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Goddamnit. Flamingmb said almost word for word what i was gonna say.
Good stuff though, I don't think it'll affect iPod pricing. - zerocomm, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Taiwan isn't socialist. Read up on your history - they think they are China too
- uberdesigner, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0I will still continue to hang on everyone of the The Steve's words.
- felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2I see. And where is YOUR favorite mp3 player made?
- zweben, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3"Is there any way we can change our user preferences to NEVER see the first post and the follow-up branches of it? ENOUGH with the acronyms and over-used memes. Get some friends and tell them your witty jokes -- stop wasting my screen real estate."
You can set your prefrences to show only comments with 0 diggs or higher... that'll do something at least. - DRTED, on 10/12/2007, -12/+4Other changes to their working conditions include: Pepsi as well as Diet Pepsi, Post-It notepads, and toilet paper.
- rig0rmortis, on 10/12/2007, -13/+2"Lol, all I can say is "lol""
And 'all I can say is'... - Jpantoga, on 10/12/2007, -13/+1commie pigs
-
Show 51 - 53 of 53 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is