Explosion At Foxconn Factory Kills 2, Injures 16 199
arielCo writes "There are several reports in the news about an explosion in a Foxconn factory in Chengdu that manufactures the iPad 2, killing two workers and injuring another 16. 'The Chengdu Municipal government said the explosion occurred in Foxconn's "polishing plant" at around 7 p.m. Experts say it is likely a cleaning stage at the end of the production process after devices are assembled.' There's a short amateur video of the ensuing fire, taken during the evacuation. Apple said they are working with Foxconn to investigate."
Backfire? (Score:5, Interesting)
Is this what happens when you make everyone sign no suicide contracts?
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
I'm just saying if people want to kill themselves and they sign contracts that prevent their families from collecting benefits if they do they may cause "accidents" so their families can still benefit.
I don't see how any fucktard can interpret that as trolling.
Re: (Score:2)
Kind of sad (Score:5, Funny)
This is obviously... (Score:3)
Begs the question... (Score:3, Funny)
I suppose, if Apple is that much of a religion [slashdot.org] to Apple fans, then does that make these lost plant workers martyrs?
Re:Begs the question... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Begs the question... (Score:4, Insightful)
Capitalism is good at many things, but uplifting workers ain't one of them. The only thing will make apple respond is if it sees a consumer backlash which will pressure the, to allow these workers to form an autonomous union.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Begs the question... (Score:5, Insightful)
Huh. Really? Here in China, they had socialism for fifty years and everyone was dirt-poor. The real kind of socialism, the kind where it was illegal to make profit. Ever since Deng Xiaoping hijacked the people's revolution onto the capitalist road, each year has been better than the last, and it's showing no signs of stopping. Workers work a lot, but get paid a heck of a lot better than back on the farm. The last time I was in a small village, there was construction going on everywhere. New houses being built by money sent home from factory work.
China already has a union for the workers. Didn't you get the memo?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Cause and effect have no impact on the mind of a socialist, apparently.
Re: (Score:2)
Not to mention we haven't had "free market capitalism" in the US. Ever. One requirement of the "free market" system is that the consumers be informed. The owners of capital do everything they can to violate that rule, generally with great success. It
Re:Begs the question... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
I am by no means an Apple fanboy, but Apple does have some standards in regards to how their outsourced workers are treated. Most companies just say "Give us the product", Apple says "Give us the product and also follow these basic workplace and factory guidelines".
That said, considering the premium you pay on pretty much every Apple product, you'd think they could afford some better conditions for what ultimately amounts to their employees.
Re: (Score:3)
They could use another vendor if they did not like the way foxconn does business. I wish we knew which of these electronics OEMS ( foxconn, MSI, etc, not integrators like Apple) had the best labor practices. I would be sure to buy their products.
not likely... (Score:2)
As it is, all the non-iPad competitors are having a touch time matching Apple's price & feature set as it is.. So an Android tablet entirely made in the U.S.A.? It would probably cost something like $5000.
Re: (Score:2)
No way, labor prices are just not that high. The Asus transform is 399 and better than an ipad 2 spec wise. Asus can't keep them in stock. Your fanboism is showing.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm sure China is just lying awake at night wishing it had your respect.
Why have we not told China to man up and get some human rights?
Really? I mean... really? How old are you?
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Why have we not told China to man up and get some human rights?
If China could actually do the human rights thing now instead of later, maybe I'd have more respect for them.
China wants a strong economy and the people at those factories want to eat. When the time comes, they'll stop and say 'we deserve more'. Until that happens, they'll be exploited.
Re: (Score:2)
In my last post the formatting was incorrect and I blew away my post. I'll re-write:
Why have we not told China to man up and get some human rights?
Why is that the US's job? The workers haven't asked for Uncle Sam's help, and when the US does stick its nose in people criticize then.
If China could actually do the human rights thing now instead of later, maybe I'd have more respect for them.
China wants a strong economy and the people at those factories want to eat. When the time comes, they'll stop and say 'we deserve more'. Until that happens, they'll be exploited.
Re: (Score:2)
China wants a strong economy and the people at those factories want to eat. When the time comes, they'll stop and say 'we deserve more'. Until that happens, they'll be exploited.
If they do that now, then the factories will move to India or Africa, and the workers will be worse off. Instead, they need to wait until it's guaranteed that the nation will succeed. There's no point in $10 minimum wage if nobody is employed.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It's the first sign of the App-ture, when Steve Jobs will descend from on high, taking the faithful with him back to Cupertino, leaving the rest ofthe world in ruins. Destroying the production plants is necessary to stop the insincere-converters from snapping up an iPhone or ipad in time to be App-tured with the rest of us.
You do realize that with the things you are a fanboy of (Android, most likely), you act with a sense of righteousness, right? Spare us the 'cult of Steve', hypocrite.
Broken society (Score:3)
This probably wouldn't happen in the western world because we have some expectation of safety and working conditions. In a ideal world, we'd be manufacturing this sort of thing at home. Any form of economic prosperity in one area is balanced by a social or economic cost in another.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Why is it cheap there? Should it be? It's exploitation. Lack of safety makes it cheaper. Do you really think Apple cares?
If that's not broken then I'm afraid to tell you what happens in the world because it won't make sense to you because cheaper is better, right?~
Re: (Score:3)
How is it exploitation? Cost of labour in india and china is cheap because they have huge, relatively under educated labour pools, poor access to jobs, etc. In short: they're poor. Labour is cheap, and they only way they will stop being less poor is if they get jobs and foreign investment, and frankly foreign ideas on how to actually be productive.
Sure, china has less up to date (enforced) labour and safety standards than in the west. But 1: bad shit still happens here. And 2: they're 100 years behind
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Except pouring toxic sludge into the river isn't the only reason why they're there. No one sane manufactures anything in india (labour laws there are nuts, you'd have a hard time making any money). It's not like dell phone support is pouring toxic sludge into the ganges. My family in india make between 1/10th and 1/2 of what an equivalent worker in canada would. Labour *is* cheaper there. And I might note someone getting half of a canadian salary in india is doing pretty damn well*
The truth, insofar as
Re: (Score:3)
Given that my relatives are those workers. Yes, it's is definitely better for them. By leaps and bounds. Even comparing india of a decade ago with today. China is even more stark (as india is about 15 years behind china in development). In a decade they have gone from ~5% of our per capita income (on a PPP basis) to 15% (china that is), india went from about 2% to 5%, which is, in practice, still pretty big.
Yes, it is in the interests of western society for the rest of the world to catch up. Ultimatel
Re: (Score:2)
I understand your first point but surely it's in the interrest of the big business to keep these workers being paid as little as possible as it is cheaper for them? Western companies are probably dependent on cheap labour, they wouldn't want the cost of labour to go up. Of course you could argue that they would just find some other economy where labour is cheap...
Re: (Score:2)
sure but going from 4% to 5% of 'average' western wages is a 25% raise. Sure some rich jackass in London or New York is getting 100x that amount. But it's still a 20% raise for the poor guy - and I dunno about you, but a 20% raise means a hell of a lot.
Re: (Score:2)
Someone moderated your post (the one I reply to) and it came up in meta-moderation, it's an insightful observation. That probably makes the metamoderation system a bit biased. (I marked it insightful)
The question is, will it continue? Western profits go up, will they pass on the profits in wages to these workers? Hopefully these workers and your relatives can acquire the autonomy to start businesses themselves and wean themselves of westerners. They are like a necessary evil I think!
Re:Broken society (Score:5, Informative)
It would not cost anywhere near that much extra. Germans still make cars, reasonable priced ones. They have much higher labor rates than even Americans. Paying line workers is just not that big a cost in such an operation. I bet they save more than the labor savings just on being able to dump whatever they want into the environment.
Either way, there is no reason why these products could not be built in China by 40 hour per week, well paid workers in safe working conditions. The ipad 3 might cost a whole $10 extra of you did that.
Re: (Score:2)
Other industries, like textiles, are so labor intensive that even China is having trouble competing with their 'high' labor costs. A lot of textile manufacturers have moved to Cambodia, for example. So now Chinese can complain about outsourcing, too.
Re:Broken society (Score:4, Interesting)
The Ford Focus is a high-end car? Is the Ford Feista a high-end car?
Cars are assembled closer to delivery points so they can be tailored for that market. The VW fox was designed for the South American market and is imported to Europe. Not because it is cheap, the Golf is produced in Germany. This because that is where the factory for them was built, since it was designed for the South American market. Imports to Europe came about after the car was a success in South America.
Re: (Score:2)
C-class Mercedes (all of them??) are manufactured in South Africa.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You are absolutely right and that's why it's a broken society. I am very much in agreement with you. What can we do about it? I find it hard to tell you because I find it hard to take.
All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces, bright and early for their daily races, going nowhere going nowhere. Their tears are filling up their glasses, no expression, no expression.
No tomorrow.
I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad. The dreams in which I am dying are the best I've ever had. I
Re: (Score:3)
I remember those "pre-Reagan" years. Everybody was demanding (and getting) raises. We were so good at it, by the time we got our raise our paycheck was worth the same as last week. Well, actually, it was worth a little less than last week, since wages for normal people never keep up during inflationary times. You had to be in one of those big industrial unions to stay ahead. And where was that money coming from? The rest of us, of course. There's a reason things changed, just like there's a reason Am
Re: (Score:2)
So we have a choice, we can either have the work done outside the country, or we can import people into the country to do the work. Because there aren't enough America
Massey coal mine? (Score:3)
dude that happened like last year, more than 20 people got killed
Re: (Score:2)
This probably wouldn't happen in the western world because we have some expectation of safety and working conditions. In a ideal world, we'd be manufacturing this sort of thing at home. Any form of economic prosperity in one area is balanced by a social or economic cost in another.
People dying in accidents at work happens in the USA about 4000 times per year. So things do happen. They don't just happen, they happen every day. Quite likely that ten or more people died in work accidents in the USA on the same die.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, accidents do happen, but conditions change the rates quite dramatically. More than 100,000 Chinese people died in work related accidents every year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7201875.stm [bbc.co.uk]
Even if we say China has 4 times as many people, that only accounts for 16k deaths a year. Not even a quarter of the total.
You are either being disingenuous intentionally, or are a complete moron, which is it?
Re: (Score:2)
Were you replying to me? I like neither option of being disingenuous or being a moron...
Re: (Score:2)
I was replying to gnasher719 who was suggesting that since we have 4000 accidental work related deaths in the USA clearly the Chinese are doing just fine when it comes to worker safety.
He is either being disingenuous or is a moron.
It is possible that while I appear to have replied to the correct post slashdot is once again broken. I am using the classic view though.
Re: (Score:2)
Your post looks like its replying to gnasher719 to me. Also the "parent" link leads to gnasher719. I agree slashdot's view can get squirelly.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The question is whether it was an accident committed by human error or was it the factory itself where the plant was not safe to work in. Human error is probably pretty close between different nations.
Working conditions here have steadily improved. If there were not laws to prevent it, managers would happily risk your life, give you lifelong debilitating conditions in the name of profit. My assumption was this was caused by the factory, perhaps negligence from maintaining it. In western countries you would
Re: (Score:2)
Any form of economic prosperity in one area is balanced by a social or economic cost in another.
?? Really? You believe in zero-sum? You can't have prosperity and freedom on all sides through cooperation and fair trade? I think we can.. if we want it...
Re: (Score:2)
I believe in zero-sum because it's human nature to exploit rather than co-operate in large populations. Co-operation and alturism works in small groups and has a synergistic effect and is better than zero-sum. When you expand the numbers to huge disparate groups like countries and institutions (like business or government) it's back to biological zero-sum survival.
It's like I see these adverts for investment management and types of trading all the time. Don't these people watching these graphs that constant
Broken society... which? (Score:2)
So the BP oil platform explosion didn't happen and killed nobody. It must be a conspiracy theory by the anti-Western propagandists. Thank you for telling us about that.
completely wrong (Score:2, Informative)
economics is not a zero sum game, where someone must lose so that someone else must win. economics is a more-for-everyone game. the chinese are enjoying more prosperity than they had before. you are assuming if they weren't manufacturing iPads their life would be better. compared to the usa, indeed, their life is worse, right now. but it would be even more worse without this plant
the chinese are where the usa and great britain were in the 1800s. and they are already fighting for their rights, like workers i
Re: (Score:2)
Economics in our modern society is zero sum because an exchange of goods does not actual reflect the value of labour added on either side. Its not a proper market, it's a market that has been constrained by vested interests.
Globalisation would be nice if we were on the same side. Right now it's ruining the lives of many peple. I am sure there are plenty of countries that would appreciate no vested US interest that corrupts their governments and makes natural competition an impossibility.
In an idealistic wor
Re: (Score:2)
the reason country (X) is not as rich as country (Y) is because country (X) has a value system and/ or government that is ineffective. part of the reason why things remain this way is that country (X) will invent imaginary stories about the evils of country (Y) rather than getting their fucking act together and taking some fucking responsibility for their sorry fucking attitude
Re: (Score:2)
Right around the corner where I live yesterday two people died on a building site when a wall fell. Didn't get much news, though.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe the families could claim some kind of compensation, especially if it was negligence of the company maintaining the wall and not a personal mistake. :-(
Re: (Score:2)
This probably wouldn't happen in the western world because we have some expectation of safety and working conditions
No longer true, after decades of deregularisation pushed by those who profit most from unsafe labour conditions, heedless environmental emissions, unsafe and toxic products, etc.
Bullshit from somebody not paying attention (Score:2)
We are to blame. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No flame, you're right. Consumers want cheap everything, where it comes from be damned. Likewise shareholders want to see short term results, long term be damned.
Re: (Score:2)
Aren't Apple products always higher priced than their competitors products with nearly identical features? I look at most Apple product consumers as people that are willing to pay far more for less features than other similar products.
Re: (Score:2)
No, they're actually not. iPhone is priced the same as other premium cell phones. iPads are generally cheaper than roughly-equivalent pads from other manufacturers. Macbook Pros are about the same price as other high-end laptops from Lenovo and others for the same specs/form factor/battery life.
Re: (Score:2)
No, they're actually not. iPhone is priced the same as other premium cell phones. iPads are generally cheaper than roughly-equivalent pads from other manufacturers. Macbook Pros are about the same price as other high-end laptops from Lenovo and others for the same specs/form factor/battery life.
I'm not sure where you get your pricing from, but the Apple prices I find always seem to be at least 25% higher than equivalent products. Apple should be able to provide their suppliers with more money to better take care of their workers and workers at their contractors factories. This should be obvious by looking at Apple's earnings the last few quarters. Maybe this is how Apple thinks differently now?
Re: (Score:2)
I would be more than willing to pay 20% more, which is what one would be expecting based on other goods. I would even guess that at that point more automation would be used. Taco bell at least at one point was paying 1 cent per pound extra on tomatoes which resulted in farm workers nearly doubling their take home pay.
Please tell me where I can spend my money to ensure I get "fair trade" computer components. I already buy first world made clothes, food made with the least amount of animal cruelty (I even hav
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
So in every other market there are buying like me, but not in electronics?
By the way, if you have never had pork that was raised the old fashioned way it is really great. Even better if they use a heritage breed. I highly suggest everyone seek out a farmer and buy a whole hog or split one with a neighbor.
Re: (Score:2)
Where do you get the first world clothes? Local farms are easy enough to find, at least part of the year.
Re: (Score:2)
" We are not willing to pay a fair price for a product built by happy people earning a decent wage. You can blame Apple, Microsoft, Google or whichever company you choose but the blame rests squarely on our shoulders. Flame suit on."
The opposite is true, in a capitalist society, capitalism is a race to the bottom. If you're not exploiting someone some other company will move in and do everything you are not to squeeze out every last cent. The competition between companies ensures that good companies are p
Re: (Score:2)
We demand that our toys be delivered quickly and at the lowest possible cost. We are not willing to pay a fair price for a product built by happy people earning a decent wage. You can blame Apple, Microsoft, Google or whichever company you choose but the blame rests squarely on our shoulders. Flame suit on.
What a bunch of horseshit!!!
Please point me to the toys made by "happy people earning a decent wage". Where's the iPad-highWageEdition or the Android-WageFriendly phone?
I don't get to choose what companies charge for their product, or how they treat their staff, or dictate other terms. I only get to choose which company i buy a product from and shop around for price. Sure, I can go without, but a large majority would need to do that, AND explain why AND be willing to buy more expensive gadgets before anythi
Re: (Score:3)
Bullshit, automation would be used if they could not exploit these folks. House sizes might shrink a little, but computers are cheap to make via automated processes. The models might change less often due to setup costs though.
Re: (Score:2)
Also, many of the bits for the iPad are made in Japan, or other rich countries.
Re: (Score:2)
Which is a great place to get caps if you don't want them leaking:)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Bullshit, automation would be used if they could not exploit these folks. House sizes might shrink a little, but computers are cheap to make via automated processes. The models might change less often due to setup costs though.
Bullshit, automation would already be used if it were really possible or more economically viable than paying decent wages. We're not there, yet.
Just because (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
The worst thing about this story it that it would probably be unnoticed if it happened at any other factory in china. But now it's Foxconn and iPad 2 so now it's interesting.
On averge, Apple stories on Slashdot generate about 300 comments. Just for fun, take a look at the comment count on the non-Apple threads on the home page. Slashdot makes money from serving ads. What gets me is people actually take the summaries at face value and consider themselves 'informed', then they call for an iPad boycott to help FoxConn workers.
The point being? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
How about instead of feeling useless guilt, you just be willing to pay a couple bucks more. Now point in feeling bad, just agree that you will be willing to toss in $5 extra for the Nook2 so these folks don't have to live like this.
Re: (Score:2)
How about instead of feeling useless guilt, you just be willing to pay a couple bucks more. Now point in feeling bad, just agree that you will be willing to toss in $5 extra for the Nook2 so these folks don't have to live like this.
How is that supposed to work? Pay the extra $5 and they'll just put it in their pocket and keep using exploited labor.
Re: (Score:2)
No the interest in publishing these stories is Apple bashing. You hadn't noticed the 5-10 articles a day like this on /.? It's worse than the MS heyday.
Headline is wrong (Score:2)
Wait, didn't you mean "EXPLODEY at APPLE factory that only builds APPLE stuff and APPLE totally controls and really, really does not build stuff for anyone else and we're totally not just tying it to APPLE for page hits!"
To all posts scored funny: (Score:2, Funny)
People died. It's not funny,
Workers? (Score:2)
Who gives a darn? How many baby iPads were damaged? Will they survive? How are they doing and what are their prospects for recovery?
man that was wrong as hell (Score:2)
but dead-on funny satire
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Don't worry, his Jobsiness (may his turtleneck never sag) foresaw this and ordained that they shall be available in black, so scorchmarks and soot won't show.
thingiverse.com (Score:2)
enjoy! right now all they have is like the stuff you could buy at Dollar Tree , but i think its only a matter of time.
Re: (Score:2)
I value my time and like not having to deal with basement dwellers any more than I have to, so let's not go back to the Sinclair model.
Re: (Score:2)
In Communist China nothing kills you.
Re: (Score:2)
Unlike here in the west(US/Cdn/Europe/etc), smoking is still a pretty common thing in asian countries. And so is smoking on the job unless you work in an office building. So it really wouldn't surprise me a single bit.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
China doesn't exactly have a glowing reputation for safety standards. And what safety standards exist can be 'greased away' by paying the proper people.
Re: (Score:2)
Its got a lot to do with the culture and technical savvy of the population. We're still trying to keep immigrants from firing up a barbecue indoors for heat during the winter. Or not run generators in closed garages.
Re: (Score:2)
Somehow I doubt that this was an accident.
Yeah, it was probably sabotage by an Apple hater.
What? That sounds like the silly ramblings of a fanboy ? Good, I got your attention. Now let me ask a serious question: Why is it that at a product manufacturing factory where people are ridiculously over-worked that negligence isn't the first assumption? These are people being exploited, but these are not people who want to lose their jobs. Backlash, for them, would be people not turning up for work.
Re: (Score:2)
Somehow I doubt that this was an accident.
So what's the theory?
disturbed worker? competitor? government upset over a planned Foxconn iPad factory in Brazil? coverup of theft? Apple stock manipulation? distraction from some other news?