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    The Lighter Side of Foxconn

    By Rebecca Greenfield | The Atlantic Wire – Wed, Feb 22, 2012
    The Lighter Side of Foxconn

    We know all about the doom and gloom over at Foxconn, but during Nightline's trip to the iFactory on ABC last night, we learn about some of the perks of working at the industrial campus. The tour still doesn't make us envious of Chinese factory life, which involves long hours, dorm-living, and low pay. Our ideal workplace also wouldn't need suicide nets. But, like the F.L.A. president Auret van Heerden said during his guided, pre-audit, tour "[Foxconn’s] facilities are first-class ... Foxconn is really not a sweatshop." That seems to be true—at least not in front of the cameras.  

    RELATED: Explosion at Apple Supplier Foxconn Kills Two


    When not working 12 hour shifts or sleeping, employees can enjoy the Foxconn campus' various perks, including a soccer field, to add some physical activity to an otherwise docile day. 

    RELATED: Foxconn: Life and Death by the Numbers


    RELATED: China Thinks It's Apple's Responsibility to Fix Foxconn


    Or, for the indoor kids, there's an Internet cafe. 

    RELATED: The Fallout from Foxconn's Deadly Explosion


    RELATED: Tim Cook Brings Smiles to Foxconn Factory


    And, for those looking to exercise their minds, post mind-numbing iPad screwing shifts, Foxconn also offers English classes. 

    Even while working, Foxconners catch some breaks. During the two one-hour long meal breaks, the company allows sanctioned naps. "[It's] not exhaustion but a Chinese post meal tradition," Foxconn executive Louis Woo assured Nightline. 

    And on a micro-level, Foxconn allows workers to sport whatever hairstyles they want beneath their uniforms. "Their haircuts prove that teen style lives everywhere," explains Nightline's Bill Weir. As any cube worker knows, little things like clothing and style choices can make a cog feel less robotic. 

    Perhaps the fun balances out the monotonous, low-paid? While assembling iPhones, the workers looked up from their boring tasks at Weir and his crew as they walked through -- a sign of happiness, claims van Heerden.

     

    3 comments

    • James
      James  •  Garden Grove, California  •  3 mths ago
      You can bet Apple had them working at 25% speed in front of the cameras. You can also bet no one uses that soccer field on their downtime.
    • JULIE
      JULIE  •  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania  •  3 mths ago
      This is what "Right to Work" style laws will achieve in the long run, a more slave like enviroment with no way to fight back!
    • Scortch Dearth
      Scortch Dearth  •  3 mths ago
      Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou told his senior managers that Hon Hai has a workforce of over one million worldwide and “as human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache.” Hon Hai is the parent company of Foxconn, which makes iPhones and iPads for Apple. Gou added that he would “like to learn from the director of the Taipei Zoo, Chin Shih-chien, as to how animals should be managed”.
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