MS investigates as sweatshop spotlight shines on.......

    MS investigates as sweatshop spotlight shines on.......


    Posted: 15 Apr 2010
    Microsoft investigates as sweatshop spotlight shines on supplier.

    The conditions at factories in China are known to be particularly abysmal. A recent report by the National Labor Committee focuses on KYE Factory, which seems to be breaking every rule imaginable. According to worker estimates, Microsoft accounts for the largest proportion of production at KYE, at about 30 percent. Other major corporations outsourcing production to KYE include Hewlett Packard, Best Buy, Samsung, Foxconn, Acer, Wi/IFC/Logitech, and Asus-Rd. For its part, Microsoft says it is investigating the environment outlined in the report.
    Life at KYE

    The report says that the workers have virtually no rights, every single labor law in China is violated, and codes of conduct like those of Microsoft and HP have zero impact. Over the past three years, photographs showing exhausted teenaged workers have been smuggled out of the KYE factory, along with worker interviews and accounts. Smuggling was necessary because factory management prohibits anyone, including clients like Microsoft, from taking pictures inside the factory or in the workers' primitive and dirty dorm rooms.

    KYE recruits hundreds of "work study students" as young as 16 or 17 years old (in 2007 and 2008, dozens of them were reported to be just 14 or 15). Management likes the high school students since they are easy to discipline and control. For the same reason, KYE prefers to hire women 18 to 25 years of age, who are often sexually harassed by security guards, according to NLC.
    Source -
    Microsoft investigates as sweatshop spotlight shines on supplier
    Posted By: JMH
    15 Apr 2010



  1. Posts : 11,424
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64
       #1

    Man we all love to score our cheap parts, but rarely do we realize the true cost of our choices. Maybe soon we can get a list of component manufacturers that have met all ISO and labor standards. I would be willing to pay more for quality made items built by companies that support humane treatment of employee's.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 6,885
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64, Mint 9
       #2

    China has labour laws?

    Guess you learn something everyday.

    I will say one thing, and it will probably get me flamed, but it needs to be said:
    Sweatshops are not ALWAYS bad (note that I did not say they are good, not at all, I said they are not always bad).
    In some places, a sweatshop can provide employment for those who would otherwise have no employment. They give people jobs, and (by their standards) pay fairly well (and in some cases provide housing).
    I am not saying they are good, but I have heard this from the perspective of a sweatshop worker, interviewed for a documentary (against sweatshops).

    I DO NOT LIKE OR ENDORSE SWEATSHOPS! This is merely something of note.

    ~Lordbob
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 1,660
    Windows 8 Pro (32-bit)
       #3

    Lordbob75 said:
    China has labour laws?

    Guess you learn something everyday.

    I will say one thing, and it will probably get me flamed, but it needs to be said:
    Sweatshops are not ALWAYS bad (note that I did not say they are good, not at all, I said they are not always bad).
    In some places, a sweatshop can provide employment for those who would otherwise have no employment. They give people jobs, and (by their standards) pay fairly well (and in some cases provide housing).
    I am not saying they are good, but I have heard this from the perspective of a sweatshop worker, interviewed for a documentary (against sweatshops).

    I DO NOT LIKE OR ENDORSE SWEATSHOPS! This is merely something of note.

    ~Lordbob
    The problem is the hazardous working conditions.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 1,360
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #4

    I hate how in the USA you can't get a job anymore till your 16. I wanted to start working when I was 14, I was a teenager in search of money, how else do you get it? Waiting till your 16 encourages crime.
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  5. Posts : 108
    Windows7 beta 7000
       #5

    One man's sweatshop is another man's opportunity. My first job was with a company that moved their operation from Chicago, Illinois, to Eminence, Kentucky. One day I asked a suit why they left Chicago. "What are you getting paid?" "A dollar an hour." He grinned and said, "The guy doing your job in Chicago got paid $8.50 and didn't work much."

    I was happy to have a job and to be earning. I didn't want to work there forever, and didn't, but still, it was a start.

    Of course, that was back before working was optional.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 2,303
    Windows 7 & Windows Vista Ultimate
       #6

    I was able to get a job at age 14 -- working on a local farm pollinating tomato plants! We could have passed for Spock by the end of the day -- green!
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 761
    Windows 2000 5.0 Build 2195
       #7

    Lordbob75 said:
    China has labour laws?

    Guess you learn something everyday.

    I will say one thing, and it will probably get me flamed, but it needs to be said:
    Sweatshops are not ALWAYS bad (note that I did not say they are good, not at all, I said they are not always bad).
    In some places, a sweatshop can provide employment for those who would otherwise have no employment. They give people jobs, and (by their standards) pay fairly well (and in some cases provide housing).
    I am not saying they are good, but I have heard this from the perspective of a sweatshop worker, interviewed for a documentary (against sweatshops).

    I DO NOT LIKE OR ENDORSE SWEATSHOPS! This is merely something of note.

    ~Lordbob
    Agreed. Coming from a third-world-country point of view.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 6,885
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64, Mint 9
       #8

    arkhi said:
    Lordbob75 said:
    China has labour laws?

    Guess you learn something everyday.

    I will say one thing, and it will probably get me flamed, but it needs to be said:
    Sweatshops are not ALWAYS bad (note that I did not say they are good, not at all, I said they are not always bad).
    In some places, a sweatshop can provide employment for those who would otherwise have no employment. They give people jobs, and (by their standards) pay fairly well (and in some cases provide housing).
    I am not saying they are good, but I have heard this from the perspective of a sweatshop worker, interviewed for a documentary (against sweatshops).

    I DO NOT LIKE OR ENDORSE SWEATSHOPS! This is merely something of note.

    ~Lordbob
    Agreed. Coming from a third-world-country point of view.
    They are still really nasty though.

    Coming from a middle class (that in and of itself is hilarious) background (meaning I am not rich, but not poor) I find the conditions of those sweatshops horrible.
    Even what would qualify as poor in the U.S. would be horrified by it.
    The U.S. has MUCH more strict laws against things like this, but other countries do not.

    ~Lordbob
      My Computer


 

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