A report condemning Microsoft for using Chinese suppliers who employ children in sweatshop conditions to make its hardware products has recently surfaced.
"We are like prisoners... We do not have a life, only work." - Teenaged Microsoft Worker
The factory itself manufactures goods for a variety of clients, with Microsoft said to be their largest customer. Amongst other things, they reportedly make controllers for the Xbox 360 and many of Microsoft’s hardware products.
The extremely lengthy report, summarises facts about the workers at Microsoft’s factory:
* KYE recruits hundreds-even up to 1,000-”work study students” 16 and 17 years of age, who work 15-hour shifts, six and seven days a week. In 2007 and 2008, dozens of the work study students were reported to be just 14 and 15 years old. A typical shift is from 7:45 a.m. to 10:55 p.m.
* In 2007 and 2008, before the worldwide recession, workers were at the factory 97 hours a week while working 80 ½ hours. In 2009, workers report being at the factory 83 hours a week, while working 68 hours.
* Workers are paid 65 cents an hour, which falls to a take-home wage of 52 cents after deductions for factory food.
* Workers are prohibited from talking, listening to music or using the bathroom during working hours. As punishment, workers who make mistakes are made to clean the bathrooms.
* Fourteen workers share each primitive dorm room, sleeping on narrow double-level bunk beds. To “shower,” workers fetch hot water in a small plastic bucket to take a sponge bath. Workers describe factory food as awful.
* Not only are the hours long, but the work pace is grueling as workers race frantically to complete their mandatory goal of 2,000 Microsoft mice per shift. During the long summer months when factory temperatures routinely reach 86 degrees, workers are drenched in sweat.
* The workers have no rights, as every single labor law in China is violated. Microsoft’s and other companies’ codes of conduct have zero impact.
Although this case specifically singles out Microsoft, such labour conditions form the basis of China’s manufacturing success and most companies outsourcing manufacturing to China can be expected to be employing workers under similar conditions at some stage in their production process.
Re: Microsoft "Employs Child Slaves to Make Xboxes"
Read the report... the American business way is to lower costs and increase production to make maximum profits. This dosn't work in the USA anymore because of strong unions, high wages and a Demo Socialist government. So nearly all labour and manufacturing has moved to China. Globalization is perfect for the plutocrats.
No slaves or Children in this report. Totally sensationilst media nonsence of no substance, only for propaganda purposes.
America has two faces working together to make them seem good, the big bad multi death corporations exploiting the poor and causing wars all over the place and the bleeding heart organisations moaning about it, and making money with hype and propaganda "what about the children?" rubbish. It's all a farce, don't be conned by it.
Besides what's wrong with children working anyway? Starting work at five years old was the norm before the rise of the milk sopping lefty whimps. Anyone other than the parents stopping children from going to work is nothing but an ageist, busybody authoritarian bigot.
Re: Microsoft "Employs Child Slaves to Make Xboxes"
format_quote Originally Posted by islamirama
"We are like prisoners... We do not have a life, only work." - Teenaged Microsoft Worker
...
* KYE recruits hundreds-even up to 1,000-”work study students” 16 and 17 years of age, who work 15-hour shifts, six and seven days a week. In 2007 and 2008, dozens of the work study students were reported to be just 14 and 15 years old. A typical shift is from 7:45 a.m. to 10:55 p.m.
* Workers are prohibited from talking, listening to music or using the bathroom during working hours. As punishment, workers who make mistakes are made to clean the bathrooms.
Horrible, just horrible. Tsk.
* Fourteen workers share each primitive dorm room, sleeping on narrow double-level bunk beds. To “shower,” workers fetch hot water in a small plastic bucket to take a sponge bath. Workers describe factory food as awful.
* The workers have no rights, as every single labor law in China is violated. Microsoft’s and other companies’ codes of conduct have zero impact.
Such slave drivers, seriously. Everything I read from this article sounds awful. If not, worse.
So glorify the praises of your Lord and be of those who prostrate themselves (to Him).
Surah al-Ĥijr(The Rocky Tract) 15:98
Re: Microsoft "Employs Child Slaves to Make Xboxes"
format_quote Originally Posted by Karl
Besides what's wrong with children working anyway? Starting work at five years old was the norm before the rise of the milk sopping lefty whimps. Anyone other than the parents stopping children from going to work is nothing but an ageist, busybody authoritarian bigot.
They are not children who work in the shop or farm after school hours. But they are children who must say goodbye to the school.
They would trapped in poverty and ignorance in the rest of their life.
Re: Microsoft "Employs Child Slaves to Make Xboxes"
This is one of the reasons I hate Microsoft, they (the higher-ups) should know who works in their companies and what pay does they get. It's not just Microsoft...many factories here also employs children who don't get a chance to study and grow up uneducated, they just know how to solder but don't know how much transistors are fabricated into the IC and how does it work and it's characteristics. Around USD100 per month is very low for a 15 hour shift...
Re: Microsoft "Employs Child Slaves to Make Xboxes"
Greetings and peace be with you Karl;
Besides what's wrong with children working anyway? Starting work at five years old was the norm before the rise of the milk sopping lefty whimps. Anyone other than the parents stopping children from going to work is nothing but an ageist, busybody authoritarian bigot.
It sounds like you had a really tough childhood, being forced to work long hours, under dangerous conditions.
In the spirit of searching for justice for all people
Eric
You will never look into the eyes of anyone who does not matter to God.
Re: Microsoft "Employs Child Slaves to Make Xboxes"
I read this from the link:
Fined for losing a finger: A worker from Shanxi Province had his index finger chopped off while operating a hole punch press machine while working on an internet camera. Management did rush him to the hospital for emergency treatment. However, after an investigation, management determined that the worker had disobeyed regulations related to operating the punch press machine, so the worker was fined 200 RMB ($29.26) and fired! The foreman and section chief in that department were also fined. Management then rehired the injured worker as a security guard.
Workers injured at KYE are generally fined, as management accuses them of violating regulations on safe production methods.
No Comment !!
This Image is very awful!!!! what kind of treatment is this?
From the photographs you can see how exhausted the work study students were, as they immediately fell asleep during their ten-minute breaks, slumping over to rest their heads on the assembly line.
Re: Microsoft "Employs Child Slaves to Make Xboxes"
format_quote Originally Posted by islamirama
visit the link and look at the report, read what one girl writes of her daily life...
Are you talking about this?
A Day in the Life of a young Microsoft Worker-A 16 ½ hour day-
This young worker gets up at 6:30 a.m., washes quickly, eats a few crackers on the run, works a 15-hour shift, returns to his primitive dorm room at 10:30 p.m., "showers" using a small plastic bucket of hot water, and falls asleep exhausted as the dorm lights are shut off at 11:00 p.m.
I woke up to the sound of the alarm. My body felt tired and unwilling. I knew that not getting up was not an option. Many other workers were getting up now, and if I didn't hurry up and wash my face and brush my teeth, there would be a huge crowd at the sink in the washroom and a long wait, which would make me late for work. I start work at 7:30 a.m. I quickly dressed, grabbed a towel, and rushed to the bathroom. Wow! There were so many people there already. I pushed to the front and after five minutes of struggle, was able to get to a faucet...
Just read it, very sad subhanAllah. I really hate how the foreman seems to order them around for everything:
In a short while, the foreman started shouting: "Everybody attention! Stand straight! Turn right!"...
...The foreman then calls out commands for workers to: "stand at attention, turn right" and sums up the day's work...
Ugh, so annoying.
Even though they get a few breaks, it's horrible. I mean, look at them! They clearly can't do much, they're restricted from a lot. Plus that lecture at the end of the day? Ya Allah!
...a short while, the foreman started shouting: "Everybody attention! Stand straight! Turn right!" Afterwards, the manager shouted: "Everybody pay attention: while at work, everyone should be full of vigor. Everyone must strictly follow the 6S system! You are not allowed to talk at work. You cannot drop products on the floor. Can you hear me?!" We respond, "we hear you!" but some of my colleagues didn't answer with much enthusiasm. "Why are you all so tired? Do you all want to go back to the dorm to sleep? Do you want me to make you come back when your energy has returned? Let's try again: Can you hear me?!" We shout back, "We hear you!" I can hear everybody's irritation at the foreman as they shout back. "Everybody split up and return to your work stations!"
Again, slave drivers...
So glorify the praises of your Lord and be of those who prostrate themselves (to Him).
Surah al-Ĥijr(The Rocky Tract) 15:98
Someone said to the Prophet, "Pray to God against the idolaters and curse them." The Prophet replied, "I have been sent to show mercy and have not been sent to curse." (Muslim)
Re: Microsoft "Employs Child Slaves to Make Xboxes"
format_quote Originally Posted by Karl
Read the report... the American business way is to lower costs and increase production to make maximum profits.
Any such system is doomed to collapse, it is nothing but exploitation of human beings which is totally unacceptable in Islam. Hopefully we will live to see the end of this inhumane and satanic system i.e. making 'maximum profit' at the expense of workers and the environment.
Last edited by Argamemnon; 04-22-2010 at 03:25 PM.
Capitalism is the economic system of buying and selling based on the exploitation of human labor, which is the sole source of value. The elimination of labor power from production is destroying the source of all value, and thus, destroying surplus value, which is the source of all profits stolen from the worker by the capitalist. Without value, surplus value, and profits, capitalism cannot survive as a system. This article will discuss how the destruction of value marks the end of capitalism and of the value system itself, opening the way for a new society based on a new economic system.
The term "value" in political economy really means exchange value; exchange value expresses the ratio at which two different products of human labor exchange for each other. Value (or exchange value) exists in human society where people are organized with a division of labor for the production and distribution of goods and services. Value in this sense does not exist when humans live in isolation, or when a person produces only for his or own personal use.
Thus, value is a social relation that only exists in the process of buying and selling. It serves to allocate labor power and other scarce resources for both production and distribution under conditions where there is insufficient labor power to satisfy the needs of all. As society is able to produce abundance to meet all its needs, value disappears as a means of determining what is produced and who will consume and benefit from the wealth.
In the complex system of capitalism, value allocates scarce human labor to meet the immediate needs of society. It also unleashes the awesome power of human ingenuity to increase labor productivity through technology in production. As a result, society now has immense material wealth sufficient to satisfy human needs. Under capitalism, the capitalists own and control all the fruits of this increased labor productivity. Today, 567 million people live in countries whose gross domestic product is less than the wealth of the world's seven richest people combined. The polarity between wealth and poverty has never been greater.
Yet, labor is the one and only source of all value. The value of every commodity is determined by the amount of socially necessary labor time utilized in production. Socially necessary labor time is the quantity of labor necessary for production under average social conditions. The amount of value in a commodity over and above the wages paid to the worker is surplus value, all of which is created by labor, but stolen by the owner of the means of production, the capitalist, as the source of profit.
With capital striving for higher profits from the stolen surplus value, labor is in constant battle against capital's unrelenting drive to lower wages below a living wage. These wages are a monetary expression of the cost of labor power. Labor power is the worker; the worker is the source of potential or actual labor power; like the horse is the source of horsepower. Thus, the cost of labor power is the cost of maintaining a worker and his or her family, and capitalism as a system locks the worker onto a treadmill of poverty or the threat of poverty.
From capitalism's earliest beginnings in the textile factories of England to its domination of the global society, capitalists have been, and are, driven by competition to maximize their rate of profit in competition with other capitalists at the expense of the working class, and without concern for the consequence for human society. The highest rate of profit is the bottom line for all activities for an individual member of the capitalist class. As a consequence of this competition, each capitalist drives down the cost of production to increase profits through greater exploitation of labor and introduces new technology to cut labor costs and increase productivity.
The introduction of technology gives a competitive edge to the capitalist who first introduces the technology. But as the new technology is adopted by competitors, and the increased productivity and lower labor costs spread across the whole product line, the price falls in accord with the lower value and less surplus value is expropriated in the process of production. Thus, the rate of profit falls for all.
Capital's drive for maximum profits has led to the introduction of a revolutionary new means of production, thus opening up an era of social revolution. Previous technological advances were labor-saving. Electronic technology in production replaces labor. It lowers labor costs by replacing human labor with robots and with computer technology that controls and operates machinery.
Without any labor costs to the capitalists, robots on the assembly line work more efficiently than workers, and computer-operated tool and die makers are faster and more accurate than skilled mechanists. Labor is being eliminated from production, and thus the source of value and surplus value is being eliminated. The value of the labor power of workers whose job is performed by a robot or computer-operated machine is nothing to the capitalist class.
Further, these revolutionary new means of production cause a breakdown in the process of buying and selling that is essential to capitalism. Robots and computer-operated machinery aren't paid wages and don't buy anything; they produce but they don't consume. And, workers replaced by these means of production don't have paychecks. When workers are unable to buy, the capitalist is unable to realize a profit. The overall impact of the new technology is to drive the rate of profit down to zero.
As electronics eliminates human labor, it destroys the source of all value, and thus ends a system of production and distribution based on the exploitation of human labor power. Zero rate of profit and zero value of human labor power mark the end of the capitalist system of production and distribution, and thus the end of value as the means for determining what is produced and consumed.
Capitalism has come to its end. Something new is struggling to be born. For the first time in human history, abundance, not scarcity, can define human society. Only people can determine whether that abundance will be owned by a handful of capitalists, or by, and for, the good of the community as a whole.
Re: Microsoft "Employs Child Slaves to Make Xboxes"
format_quote Originally Posted by ardianto
They are not children who work in the shop or farm after school hours. But they are children who must say goodbye to the school.
They would trapped in poverty and ignorance in the rest of their life.
These guys are not children they are teenagers (young adults) doing some work experiance.
These guys are probably stupid cos they are working in a factory, they're not academics.
Most people are trapped in poverty and ignorance even with an education, only the intelligent people get ahead.
Don't fall for that lefty rubbish that if you get an education you will be somebody. You are lucky if you can get a job. That's why if a child of 5 years old can get a job they should take it and do their studies in their own time. If they have got the wits and the will they will improve their lot in life.
The vast majority of people are not intelligent enough to be highly paid professionals and that is good because we don't need a billion lawyers and a billion rocket scientists and 5 billion university nerds with their heads buried in books all day, many of whom still haven't learned how to do up their shoelaces. We need farmers, factory workers and tradesmen and all other essential jobs to make the world go around.
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