Chinese Citizens Comment on Foxconn, Apple, and Being From the Birthplace of the World's Electronics

The New York Times teamed up with a Chinese magazine to see how the Chinese feel about Foxconn, Apple, and the how their factory workers are treated. The results might not surprise you, but they will remind you that there's more cost to your iPad than what's on the price tag.

We hear a lot about how Americans feel about the situation in China's Foxconn factories. The employees work long hours for little money so we can have relatively cheap electronic devices. The New York Times' iEconomy series delves deeper into the subject and their second article in the series was posted on China's Caixim business magazine. The magazine asked its readers to comment on the situation. Here are a few choice comments:

1) It is a pity that, we know that for Apple fans, such a story won't stop their enthusiasm. Just like people are still buying Nike and Adidas shoes, knowing that shoe manufacturing is highly environmentally hazardous; 2) if a government cannot guarantee the welfare of its own 120 million disadvantaged population and even suppresses their appeals, then how could we require an overseas company to protect the labor rights in a Chinese factory? -Jionglegejiong

If the story is simply blaming Apple and Foxconn, then it is simplifying the problem. Other companies including HTC, Lenovo, HP and Sony, and their OEM (original equipment manufacturer) companies such as Wistron, Quanta and Inventec, share the same situation. Workers of small OEM enterprises are working in even harsher environments and having more overtime. The root is that they are unable to reach a higher position in the industry chain. Also, there are no effective labor organizations in those factories and the government tends to shield huge companies because of their profits. - Freestyle-coming

When local governments are trying to attract new investments to their regions, they always emphasize the low-cost labor in their areas. How pathetic! - Jiangsu

Check out there rest of the comment at the New York Times. [New York Times]