There are two articles in the Financial Times Weekend edition (I subscribe) print edition about the Foxconn company, maker of many of Apple/Dell products. Foxconn has decided to raise incomes 20% at their main factory in the face of suicides at the main facility. The two articles speak to the Foxconn factory, and about globalization. Might be useful to ask ourselves who is getting rich from globalization. Chinese workers aren't, but 'at least they have jobs' I guess we could say. I'm going to quote from the two FT articles and let you draw your own conclusions, etc. Again, this all comes from the Weekend Financial Times print edition. It is online also for subscribers to the paper.
From FT Weekend edition, front page below the fold:
Headline: Foxconn to raise staff salaries by 20% after spate of suicides
From the story: (bold type is my addition)
The company, the world's biggest contract maker of electronics and Chinas's largest employer, makes most of Apple's iPhones and iPods...
It's decision [ ] suggests that employers in southern China, dubbed the workshop of the world, could be obliged to improve working conditions at their factories.
Foxconn's move could also put pressure on its customers, which include Dell, HP, and Nokia, to raise the prices of their products..
Foxconn's plant in Shenzhen employs and houses 300,000 people.
Employees are paid the official Chinese minimum wage, but can possibly double that with constant overtime. ($140 mo US is the low, $280mo is max with OT according to the article)
From Page 5:
Headline: Showing the Strain.
From the story:
For Yang Lixiong of Renmin university in Beijing, the incidents [at Foxconn] illustrate part of a bigger socio-economic problem. While China has benefited from globalization, its workers have not, he argues. "Our country is in a race to the bottom because our only advantage is cheap labor, and therefore our development is built on a mountain of sweatshops."
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I heard on the BBC that 8000 a day apply for jobs with Foxconn, so there is no shortage of cheap labor. But who's getting rich off globalization? What about here in the U.S.? I have a friend who told me years ago he imported tires from Taiwan that he marked up to meet U.S. price levels and had a profit margin of 400%. Have a good weekend folks.