As the Year of the Tiger approaches (February 14th this year), Chinese workers look forward to their week-long holiday -- a nightmarish time for foreign vendors who'll struggle to get hold of anyone in the country. Sadly, this wasn't the case for
Wintek -- screen supplier for
Nokia,
Huawei and
Apple. The Taiwanese company's East China factory ground to a halt last Friday morning, while about 2,000 of its 10,000 workers went on a five-hour protest over a rumored bonus cancellation for the second year in a row. On top of that, workers also criticized Wintek for using n-hexane -- a banned substance used for cleaning LCDs -- which they claim caused the death and paralyzation of several workers last year. Factory officials and Chinese health authorities don't deny that n-hexane was used, but they say it wasn't responsible for either the deaths or the paralyzations. Now, the good news: Wintek has promised that workers
will get their bonuses, and further said that the factory hasn't used n-hexane since August -- complete with proof that current n-hexane levels are lower than safety regulations require. Let's hope things get better between management and workers from now on. One more picture and video of the protest after the break.
posted January 19th 2010 7:07PM
That'll show Paul Allen Warner who's boss.
新年快乐!
And F Wintek!
they protest because the company canceled the promised annual bonus for workers, which would make their chinese new year week long holiday more pleasant. also chinese government has an union divion which is supposed to be the only representative but they dont do much in those situation, workers have to organize themselves underground. it's surprising that they destroyed some of the property at the factory but eventually got their 'bonus'. I think the company and government would investigate and crack down on the organizers, sadly.
I'll happily wait a few extra months (and pay a few extra dollars) for my next iPhone if it means these guys get a better deal.
@MisterK Sadly, most people won't.
"Factory officials and Chinese health authorities don't deny that n-hexane was used, but they say it wasn't responsible for either the deaths or the paralyzations."
Isn't the important detail there that the workers are being killed or paralyzed?
It's shameful to me that so many American companies ship production to countries where environmental and labor standards are a joke.
@ColinMcGraw
You know why american companies do that? Capitalism! After all, it's all about bottom line profits, so they need to cut cost and pay as much as they can to fatten up executive salaries even in the face of a recession. Just like with outsourcing and illegal immigrants. It's costs less.
But I thought Apple was different! I thought they cared, they were all indie-cool, with their hip music, association with Starbucks, silhouetted dancers... how could this ever happen? I thought it was only Microsoft that did bad corporate things.
I mean, sure, one worker killed himself when he accidentally leaked an Apple product, sure he was beaten by supervisors at the factory, sure many of the people making Apple products work 10-12 hours a day and work 100 hours of overtime regularly, sure they live in overcrowded company housing, sure they're exposed to deadly chemicals, but really underneath it all, Apple is my friend. Right? That's why I have that Apple sticker on my car, as if they are more than a giant corporation looking for the easiest way to make a load of money. Right?
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Apple_Inc
@sonicyoof
Ok you're trying a tad bit too hard to be funny..
@sonicyoof Association with Starbucks? Have you ever done research into Starbuck's activity in Latin America? They ruined the local market for coffee beans. They take the best quality and undercut the market paying only a fraction of what should be paid. They are a horrible company! They lower and charge you more for your latte!
@Mark Biatch Anderson
Humor was not an objective.
@kylemullaney
I'm well aware of the numerous problems with Starbucks. That's one reason I've never bought anything from them and why I never will.
I included Starbucks because they're "cool." They also parallel Apple, though, in the whole, "We care, we're cool" corporate image they foster while being dickheads to workers and the planet.
Typical corporate douchery. Fuck the man! Nicely done china-men.
thats absolutely disgusting how a company can refuse to give bonus for 2 years straight. sometimes we don't realize that behind the technologies and gadgets we all love they are some really oppressed people making them.
@Jvalen In case you didn't read all the way through, Wintek's denied the rumor and said the workers will get the bonus this year. Remember, it was a rumor in the first place.
Wow, let the battle begin!
Workers of the World UNITE !!! Glad they were able to protest their conditions - without retribution / beatings / killings / violence / loss of employment hopefully. Maybe someday, we can have the type of social system I dream of. For now, this is a small step forward.
@Please forgive me
Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if there are investigations into who the organizers were. They will probably "disappear" after that.
I'm glad this is coming out, and I'm heartened to see all of the responses in support of the workers. We need to hold corporations to higher standards. If you would pay a few more dollars for a product made by workers that are treated well (or if you'd consider refusing to buy a product made under poor labor conditions) write Apple and Nokia an email and tell them that.
Unlike finding fairtrade coffee and sweatshop free clothing, there doesn't appear to be a good way to find sweatshop free tech manufacturing. Time to change that.
@Eddie W People were willing to wait in lines outside for days and spend $600 on top of an unsubsidized 2-year contract on an unfinished product that costs $174.33 to manufacture.
That doesn't mean half of a cent of that makes it back to these workers.
Even if your bonus is only a dollar, it's a dollar more than you would have had otherwise
so... they killed a couple chinese workers so the LCD's were cleaner? theres no chinese windex?
It would be funny if they were throwing iPhone's at the police.
Then, finally, the iPhone and it's hard plastics could serve a REAL purpose.
This is HORRIBLE!
I have an iMac on back order.
not really.
瘾科技一直贴这种文章，真担心河蟹会不会爬过来
@Orion 何來一直??
@Abe
I was in China a few years back, and I was surprised at how well people dressed. In fact, demand for name brand clothes were so high that they cost more in China than in North America, even though a lot of them were made there. It was a cliche for a secretary to spend many months of salary on a designer bag.
I always thought culturally the Chinese are the Italians of Asia. They are picky on clothes and food, like saving faces, and are loud in restaurants. Japanese are the Germans, punctual, precise, and kinky. Koreans are the Russians, melancholic, serious, and dramatic. Indians are the Greeks. Lively, passionate, and along with China, one of the remaining civilizations of the classical era.
@psmisc About being loud in restaurants: that's only the Cantonese (like moi; sorry!). There are many polite provinces in China too.
@nishin Can you be any more ignorant?
@Richard Lai
Being loud in restaurants is not necessarily a bad thing or impolite; it depends on the circumstances I think. But then again, China is a large and very culturally diverse country, so his analogy probably only applies to certain provinces or cities. Even so, I think they are interesting comparisons.
Btw, it's nice that they are getting their bonuses this year. Too bad that they acted on a rumor instead of taking action before confirming it. Speaking of rumors... I don't think we are any better ourselves.
@onlymyrailgun I was apologizing because I've been to many places where my fellow Cantonese tourists forgot to adjust to the local volume. ;)
I can't understand how the chinese government can still call their country communist and keep a straight face. Communism is supposed to be all about the good of the working class. Extreme capitalism on the other hand is supposed to put all health and safety concerns aside while only caring about bigger profits.
Mind you i'm no supporter of communism because every country so far that has tried to be communist has failed because of the inherently capitalist nature of all people, but if they call themselves communists they should at least try to act the part.
Isnt it ironic that in the west trade unions and industrial action are very rare now but in a communist country the people have the balls to do it in the face of serious repercussions.
@doomlordis
Since I am a Chinese so I hope I can give you some clue. In China if workers do this against their employer companies and the whole thing is totally about business, the government usually support workers. But if you do this against government and it is about politics, the government will burn your ass.
Bravo and congratulations to workers who stepped up and got their bonus back!
I am from China and let me answer some questions here: first, they are not practicing communism there in China. They did when I was little, but they are not still doing it. When I was kid, even though everybody was poor but at least everybody was fair. My parents didn't pay for our apartment and education was almost free. Now almost everybody gets richer but the gap is huge. Some of our neighbors just board their BMW X5, while most others are still trying to get their first electric bike. Hey American dudes please tell me was this also happening when capitalism first started in your country?
I just find it sad that we don't really hear about stuff like this unless our precious iphone component supply is in danger...