Exploiting Students With Your i-Phone

Recently, Apple's labor practices in China--where most of its i-Phones are made-- have received a lot of attention.  Stories have circulated about FoxConn, an Apple contractor, hiring underage workers, using toxic chemicals and improperly disposing of hazardous materials. 

To be fair, FoxConn isn't the only electronics manufacturer guilty of such practices in China, Hong Kong or Taiwan.  Two years ago, a non-governmental organization cited KYE, which subcontracts for Microsoft, HP and Logitech, for labor abuses.  Also, there are a host of other high-technology companies besides Apple, Microsoft, HP and Logitech that subcontract to KYE, FoxConn and other Asian manufacturers that have been cited for abusive labor practices.

Now, you may ask, why am I writing about such an issue on this blog?  Well, I'm coming to realize that companies that have so little regard for the health and safety of their workers are more than likely exploiting students, often through internship programs.

Turns, out FoxConn is doing exactly that. In China as in much of the rest of Asia, the vast majority of post-secondary students are in some sort of technological training or another, whether in vocational programs for technicians or university-based programs in engineering and science.  Many such programs, particularly the vocational ones, include an internship, which is often served in a factory.

FoxConn and KYE are both among the companies that use student interns.  As I've mentioned in an earlier post, I have nothing against internship programs in principle.  However, as they're implemented and administered, there is too much potential for abuse.  This has happened at FoxConn, where student interns have been sickened and even disabled after being exposed to the same sorts of toxic chemicals and other hazards faced by the rest of the plant's workforce.  Also, the interns, being young, are often unaware of their rights, few though they might be in China.  So they are routinely worked for more than twelve hours a day, and often don't receive pay to which they are entitled, or are underpaid.

The "internships" at FoxConn and other Chinese facilities also share a fault of internships in other countries, which I've mentioned in a previous post:  The work demanded of the students often bears little or no relation to anything they are studying.  Factory owners and bosses simply see the students as cheap, disposable labor.  What makes things worse is that Chinese culture, like many of its Asian counterparts, inculcates young people with the notion that they should always obey, and never criticize, their elders.  This makes exploitation of interns even easier in China than it is in the US or other Western countries.

Still, we shouldn't overlook the potential for such abuses happening in the US.  I think this is a particular danger in light of the increased corporatization of higher education and "collaborations" between companies and universities.  That danger will only increase if mega-corporations continue to use their power to gut environmental and labor regulations, and students and graduates become more desperate for jobs of any kind, let alone jobs that relate to their studies.