We've come full circle in this tale of Chinese worker
exploitation, re-reaching the conclusion that
Foxconn is still a hard place to work after hearing what it's really
like from a woman who works on the inside.
Following news that a few hundred workers threatened suicide
unless working conditions improved, Foxconn has experienced a month of intense
scrutiny from all angles, followed by a guilt-quelling possibility that these
factories provide better working conditions than anywhere else in China. But
the 18-year-old Foxconn employee, whom CNN is calling only "Miss
Chen,"confirms that the gadget factories are not somewhere we'd want to
work.
"Foxconn employees have a saying, 'they use women as
men and men as machines,'" Chen told CNN's Chi -Chi Zheng. Chen also
describes all the horrors we've heard before, including a military culture with
long unpredictable hours and fickle, fire-happy management. Though Apple has
claimed that it "cares" about each of its workers, Chen doesn't get
that impression. "Do they care about us? I don't know. At least I'm not
getting any of that care," said Chen, who below sees her first ever
completed iPad, after spending tedious hours fitting tablet screens.
People don't tend to stay very long at Foxconn, a source
told CNN. "The attitude of management is, if you don't like it, you can
leave," said CNN's Stan Grant. From the sounds of it, we can imagine why
employees wouldn't like it very much. According to Chen, "Everyday is
like: I get off from work and I go to bed. I get up in the morning, and I go to
work. It is my daily routine and I almost feel like an animal."
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