Report: Foxconn using forced student labor to build Sony’s PS4

starlight777

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Sep 12, 2013
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since foxconn is also used by other companies, I chose to put this thread here
interesting, none the less

http://www.gamesinasia.com/report-foxconn-using-forced-student-labor-to-build-sonys-ps4/


C. Custer | On 10, Oct 2013
If reports in the Chinese press are to be believed, Sony’s next-gen games console may be being assembled using some very outdated labor practices. According to Hong Kong’s Oriental Daily, thousands of students from an IT engineering program at the Xi’an Institute of Technology are being forced to work at Foxconn’s Yantai plant assembling the Sony Playstation 4. Students have been told if they refuse to participate, they lose six course credits, which effectively means they will not be able to graduate.
Officially, the program is considered an “internship” and it is publicly recognized and promoted by the school. But students have said that once they got to Foxconn, they were assigned to jobs that had no relation whatsoever to their fields of study, including grunt work like distribution and shipping. One student, for example, majored in finance and accounting but has been assigned to a job that entails glueing together parts of Sony’s Playstation 4. Another was assigned to a job that entails peeling of the PS4′s protective plastic and putting stickers on it. Still another, a computer science major, puts the PS4′s various cords and the instruction manual into the console’s box. Moreover, students say that their working hours are exactly the same as regular workers. The only difference is that unlike the workers, the students aren’t there voluntarily.
 
All Chinese Manufacturers have slave labor issues. It is nothing new.

Why is Sony being singled out? The Chinese still have a lot of hate towards the Japanese. South Korea hasn't forgiven the Japanese either.
 
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All Chinese Manufacturers have slave labor issues. It is nothing new.

Why is Sony being singled out? The Chinese still have a lot of hate towards the Japanese. South Korea hasn't forgiven the Japanese either.
It's not like Sony alone has ever been faced with this controversy. At this point, everybody knows that MS, Sony, Nintendo, Apple, etc. all are in the same boat. That said, this is hardly the first time interns have had to do things irrelevant to their field. Happens in America too.
 
It's not like Sony alone has ever been faced with this controversy. At this point, everybody knows that MS, Sony, Nintendo, Apple, etc. all are in the same boat. That said, this is hardly the first time interns have had to do things irrelevant to their field. Happens in America too.

Did they have to wear blue dresses and spit out the, uh, company secrets?

On a serious note, this is awful if it's true, but not entirely unsurprising.
 
LOL most of the comments on that article are about Microsoft having 10% of their components being built by Foxconn, and others trying to justify the labour practices due to high demand?
 
There's tons of these humongous fabricating companies. I think Foxconn is the big one with 1,000,000 employees!

Love em or hate em, these places make electronics cheap as possible.

Great to hear about people chiming in about how bad these places are (cheap wages, iron fist management), but let's see if their wallets do the talking buying local.

Would you rather pay $400 or $500 for a PS4 or X1? Or $600 and $700 if it was made in the good 'ol USA?
 
Well... computers in general used to be far more expensive and not nearly as powerful as today. I'm not sure more expensive equipment is that big a deal.

If anything, it might slow down the development cycle. Each Console Generation would probably be in the market much longer and the next Gen is more gradually rolled out.
 
Foxconn is the Devil, and Sony is in service of the enemy just like everyone else too unwilling to opt out of Foxconn's cheap manufacturing and assembly costs. Sony loses my respect for this. Choosing Foxconn is a terrible no-no.
 
While Sony should probably deal with this as it is not exactly a great thing to be associated with, I doubt the majority of the consumer base will ever really know about this. I don't suspect many people ever knew about what was going on with Foxconn and Apple, and if they did it sure died over quickly.
 
While Sony should probably deal with this as it is not exactly a great thing to be associated with, I doubt the majority of the consumer base will ever really know about this. I don't suspect many people ever knew about what was going on with Foxconn and Apple, and if they did it sure died over quickly.
Very true. The reality of it is, for most people, even if they know about it they just don't care.
 
I can't imagine any one person at Sony gave the contract to Foxconn knowing their business practices.

What I mean is that these things go through many people in many departments, the manufacturers place bids and as with all businesses the lowest bid wins. At least that's my understanding of how these things work but I could be entirely wrong here so feel free to correct me.

Still, Sony would do well to get out in front of this and do their best to find a new company to assemble their product(s).
 
I can't imagine any one person at Sony gave the contract to Foxconn knowing their business practices.

What I mean is that these things go through many people in many departments, the manufacturers place bids and as with all businesses the lowest bid wins. At least that's my understanding of how these things work but I could be entirely wrong here so feel free to correct me.

Still, Sony would do well to get out in front of this and do their best to find a new company to assemble their product(s).
After the press Foxconn has gotten over the past few years I have a hard time believing anyone in charge of selecting manufacturers wouldn't know about the companies business practice. I'd have to say that anyone that didn't know the business practices of their manufacturers or suppliers shouldn't be in the position they are in, ignorance is seldom a viable excuse.
 
I do not think it is right, here is another
http://rt.com/news/foxconn-china-use-children-646/
Foxconn, a major Apple supplier, has admitted to using underage interns in factories in China, employing children as young as 14. It’s the latest in the string of scandals surrounding the company’s activity in the country.
The violation was revealed during a Foxconn probe over various media reports, which said that interns from 14 to 16 were working at the plant in the eastern Shandong province for about three weeks.
The company’s administration admitted in a statement that their investigation “has shown that the interns in question … had worked in that campus for approximately three weeks."
The employers were in fact breaching national law, which states the working age starts at 16.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...st-at-Apple-manufacturer-Foxconn-factory.html
Foxconn, which manufactures gadgets for the likes of Apple, Sony, Nintendo and HP, among many others, has had a grim history of suicides at its factories. A suicide cluster in 2010 saw 18 workers throw themselves from the tops of the company's buildings, with 14 deaths.
In the aftermath of the suicides, Foxconn installed safety nets in some of its factories and hired counsellors to help its workers.


they have 1.2 million workers
they use nets on tops of their buildings to keep workers from jumping
their pay is very low and they do use child labor
 
http://www.neowin.net/news/foxconn-overworking-interns-ahead-of-sony-playstation-4-launch

Foxconn, a name nearly synonymous with scandal and dubious work practices, is in the middle of another controversy surrounding its manufacturing process. This time Apple’s iPhones have nothing to do with it, but another super popular device does: Sony’s Playstation 4.


Add the fact that students aren't so much recruited as obliged to work if they want to graduate and this turns into a classic controversy.

they do not have a choice
 
The way interns are exploited here, I can't imagine what it is like at Foxconn.
 
There's tons of these humongous fabricating companies. I think Foxconn is the big one with 1,000,000 employees!

Love em or hate em, these places make electronics cheap as possible.

Great to hear about people chiming in about how bad these places are (cheap wages, iron fist management), but let's see if their wallets do the talking buying local.

Would you rather pay $400 or $500 for a PS4 or X1? Or $600 and $700 if it was made in the good 'ol USA?

It's pay more if it were made here.
 
Maybe they volunteered to work with the PS4 ? It could be like work experience or something. You can't always believe what you read in the papers and the net. Maybe after all this Sony will give them all a free PS4 knowing how generous they are :)
 
Maybe they volunteered to work with the PS4 ? It could be like work experience or something. You can't always believe what you read in the papers and the net. Maybe after all this Sony will give them all a free PS4 knowing how generous they are :)
You don't know much about Foxconn do you?