Apple Launches Fair Labor Inspections of Foxconn

[cj3waker]

Im part of a rather large union, I'll give you guys a little insight

upon employment, becoming part of the union is mandatory. Well pay the dues is mandatory, but you can opt out of the union even though they still collect the same mandatory dues.

In the last 4 years my dues have gone from $45 a month to $95 a month.

In the past 4 years we have seen only paycuts. (thanks for having our back union, washing the dues would have offset the paycuts, but meh)

We are more professional, higher trained, and better at our jobs than most of the other non union agencies, yet we get paid less.

The union has bartered for the ability to have sole uniform rights and requirements. I am required to wear plain cotton t shirts with a logo that cost $15, nomex-kevlar pants that cost $100+, and a button up shirt that costs $65, and I have to buy quite a few sets of these.

Our union has loads permanent employees who get paid more than we do. It pays for thousands of employee's airline flights, hotel rooms, per diem, and sick leave credits for union conventions.

I am 100% convinced I would be better off without a union. There was a time and place, but not anymore

 

[PremiumAcc]

This kind of inspection is merely to appease the activists and public, they won't find anything wrong.

 

[Volume]

My question is: What took them so damn long to do this?

Also, the FLA will find conditions being 'substandard', but not as deplorable as they can get, and everything will get swept under the rug.

Can't please everyone. No matter what action they take, there will always be people saying there's more they can do.

 

[DarkStar_WNY]

Im part of a rather large union, I'll give you guys a little insight

upon employment, becoming part of the union is mandatory. Well pay the dues is mandatory, but you can opt out of the union even though they still collect the same mandatory dues.

In the last 4 years my dues have gone from $45 a month to $95 a month.

In the past 4 years we have seen only paycuts. (thanks for having our back union, washing the dues would have offset the paycuts, but meh)

We are more professional, higher trained, and better at our jobs than most of the other non union agencies, yet we get paid less.

The union has bartered for the ability to have sole uniform rights and requirements. I am required to wear plain cotton t shirts with a logo that cost $15, nomex-kevlar pants that cost $100+, and a button up shirt that costs $65, and I have to buy quite a few sets of these.

Our union has loads permanent employees who get paid more than we do. It pays for thousands of employee's airline flights, hotel rooms, per diem, and sick leave credits for union conventions.

I am 100% convinced I would be better off without a union. There was a time and place, but not anymore

You've discovered the dirty little secret that unions don't want people to know and that is while they were formed to protect workers against big business but the unions themselves have become big business and like all business their first priority is to look out for themselves.

 

[MrD1234]

It ain't just labor costs. It is the environmental regs, both @work and outside. Companies in China operate in ways that openly dare dust fires to happen, as well as dump carcinogens into the ground and atmosphere. In a few decades, China will regret their laissez-faire attitude to environment safety.

A few decades??? Have you seen the satellite images of Chinese air pollution???

 

[MrD1234]

This kind of inspection is merely to appease the activists and public, they won't find anything wrong.

They will find a scapegoat... enough to make the headlines go away... or enough to satisfy the limited american attention span

 

[XvMMvX]

You've discovered the dirty little secret that unions don't want people to know and that is while they were formed to protect workers against big business but the unions themselves have become big business and like all business their first priority is to look out for themselves.

Exactly....

Those of you who think Unions and the labor laws are so great in the US need to go see what the union did to General Motors....Billions of unfunded liabilities and the unions just want more.

Freaking democrats have aided the unions and hamper corporations with things like minimum wage hikes and ridiculous regulation. They caused this to happen and now want to bitch about it. Somewere along the lines the thinking began that just because the company makes so much money I should be paid more....WRONG... You are paid for the work you do and stocking shelves at walmart or working on an assembline at Apple doesn't require much.

 

[PremiumAcc]

They will find a scapegoat... enough to make the headlines go away... or enough to satisfy the limited american attention span

Ok. That too. But the true root of the problem won't be exposed.

 

[LeninGHOLA]

Exactly....

Those of you who think Unions and the labor laws are so great in the US need to go see what the union did to General Motors....Billions of unfunded liabilities and the unions just want more.

Freaking democrats have aided the unions and hamper corporations with things like minimum wage hikes and ridiculous regulation. They caused this to happen and now want to bitch about it. Somewere along the lines the thinking began that just because the company makes so much money I should be paid more....WRONG... You are paid for the work you do and stocking shelves at walmart or working on an assembline at Apple doesn't require much.

It would have happened no matter what. The US progressed faster than China, creating huge GDP disparities. It would cost less to have things made in China unless we were on equal wage footing. If the job doesn't pay enough to put food on the table, it will go to a country where it can.

 

[cyclone3d]

You can pretty much thank the union thugs here in the USA that forced this to happen.

They want these companies to use the US for labor, want them to pay ridiculous prices for it, but also want the end consumer price to remain low.

It doesn't happen that way. Standing on a manufacturing line shouldn't cost the company $15/hr.

You really think that having union jobs only costs unionized companies $15/hr per worker.... HAHAHAHAHAHA.

More like $20+/hr plus full benefits. And that is the lower paid union jobs.

And if you calculate in the crazy amount of breaks the union workers get, it is even worse.

Paid vacation and "sick" days also have to be calculated in, as well as the almost impossibility to get rid of lazy/worthless "workers".

And you have to take into account sabatoge by "workers".

And don't forget that if you have non-union workers that are forced to do the union "worker's" job because they refuse to, the union worker can file a complant and in turn get paid a ridiculous amount of "compensation" because a non-union worker did the job that they were supposed to be doing.

And no, I am not making this up... I have had the horrible displeasure of working in a unionized shop.

 

[Link]

You can pretty much thank the union thugs here in the USA that forced this to happen.

They want these companies to use the US for labor, want them to pay ridiculous prices for it, but also want the end consumer price to remain low.

It doesn't happen that way. Standing on a manufacturing line shouldn't cost the company $15/hr.

not only the price, but also the workmanship of the products is inferior.

 

[evilsofa]

Those of you who think Unions and the labor laws are so great in the US need to go see what the union did to General Motors....Billions of unfunded liabilities and the unions just want more.

Freaking democrats have aided the unions and hamper corporations with things like minimum wage hikes and ridiculous regulation. They caused this to happen and now want to bitch about it. Somewere along the lines the thinking began that just because the company makes so much money I should be paid more....WRONG... You are paid for the work you do and stocking shelves at walmart or working on an assembline at Apple doesn't require much.

Let's imagine that the unions and working conditions regulations never happened in the US. What do you believe would happen instead? Do you not believe that US working conditions would now be like China's working conditions? Do you want that for yourself? How do you improve working conditions without unions and regulation? You're not expecting corporations to voluntarily do it because they're nice, are you?

 

[kac77]

Exactly....

Those of you who think Unions and the labor laws are so great in the US need to go see what the union did to General Motors....Billions of unfunded liabilities and the unions just want more.

This would make sense if every other car manufacturer that they compete against wasn't unionized as well. BMW? Unionized. Mercedes? Unionized. Ford? ("the one who didn't need a bailout") You betcha unionized.

You want to know what killed GM? Buying tons of nameplates they couldn't support, while having too many nameplates already (Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Saturn) . Buying Hummer (and Saab) and investing all of that money to build consumer vehicles weighing 3 tons while gas prices were spiking at $4 per gallon.

Unions make up 12% of US's workforce you still need to come up with a reason why it's crappy for everyone else like the people at Foxconn.

 

[XacTactX]

$800 is a hell of a lot of difference a month. At minimum-average wage, the typical person makes between $1160 to $1600 a month. You are basically saying being in an union automatically entitles these people to an extra 50-80% than their non-union counterparts. Why? Do they work any harder or are they any better than non-unionized employees? No. In fact, union workers often have less hours, more benefits, and less stringent requirements than their non-unionized counterparts. So what exactly entitles them to this extra cash?

If some guy who knows how to turn a screw in a hole is getting paid more than someone with a college degree, then I'm not surprised unionization has killed America's manufacturing sector.

No, you should not add $800 a month to minimum wage, that's not what I'm saying. Follow the link. The difference between union and non-union is either $47,000 or $37,000 per year. In that context, the difference is about $800 per month, or about 25% more income. When the average worker's wages have stayed the same over 30 years (only grown by 10%), one of the few ways laborers are making gains is through bargaining collectively against the constant race-to-the-bottom being done by corporations.

Now I ask you: do CEOs today do 6x as much work as they did back in the 1970s? Because they used to earn 35x as much as the average worker, and now they earn 262x as much as the average worker.

 

[Rizen]

I don't agree with this. Unions favor workers, not the corporations. The way I see it, time is money, and anyone on a manufacturing line should get paid just like anyone else. Your job is no more difficult then any other job.

Some people's time is worth less money because they are not as skilled, not as educated/knowledgeable, or do jobs that are easier. Also, supply/demand of labor plays into wages. If people are willing to do the same job for less money, you aren't going to get paid more.

Doing unskilled assembly line work shouldn't be paying the huge amounts of money it is/was in some union shops.

 

[XvMMvX]

Now I ask you: do CEOs today do 6x as much work as they did back in the 1970s? Because they used to earn 35x as much as the average worker, and now they earn 262x as much as the average worker.

If their company does well then yes they should and yes they do a lot more than the average worker. Most CEOs live and breath their job...it doesn't stop at 5pm when the whistle blows.

The only people who complain about people who make more money than them are the lazy uninformed lemmings (much like yourself probably) who buy into what the RICH democrats feed them. Get out there and earn something for yourself.

 

[Skripka]

If their company does well then yes they should and yes they do a lot more than the average worker.

Uh. Huh.

Many CEOs get paid the same regardless of how their company is doing. As exampled by our great financial institutions who need bailed out, Detroit... Lemmings indeed.