Post by Shrikeswind on Oct 23, 2012 0:36:01 GMT -5
So, I was on my way to work this afternoon, listening to talk radio (okay, making a valiant but fruitless attempt to tune out talk radio.) There was a caller who mentioned Nintendo, which, of course, immediately catches my interest. He says that Nintendo's manufacturer hires underaged workers. It'd been bugging me since, so I decided when I got home that I'd do some research. Here's what I found.
As you may or may not know, most major electronics companies outsource production. One of the manufacturers that gets the job is Foxconn (trading name.) Foxconn is a Taiwanese company with factories in Latin America, Asia, and Europe, notably, Foxconn has 13 Chinese plants. These plants, in total, produce roughly 40% of consumer electronics in the world. A list of major companies that outsource to Foxconn is at the end of this post. One of these companies is Apple, who has done a number of investigations. Some are sourced below.
Macworld report, June 12, 2006
The Guardian report, March 29, 2012
Bloomberg report, September 26, 2012
The Guardian report, October 17, 2012
Particularly important to our interests is this brief report by MarketWatch, May 28, 2010, and this also brief report by Gizmodo, October 18, 2012.
So what does this mean? Well, most obviously, that any company to use Foxconn should be viewed with some scrutiny. But which ones do? Sadly, many well-known ones, including Acer, Amazon, Apple, Cisco, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Nintendo, Nokia, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, and Vizio. You'll notice all three major video game hardware companies are on that list, as well as a number of important computer companies and cell-phone/smart-phone companies. As the 10/18/12 article by Gizmodo states, Nintendo is currently looking into labor issues with Foxconn over reports of underaged interns being used to manufacture the Wii U.
That's all there really is to say on the matter, I suppose. I know I'll probably get a lot of flak for posting this, but I feel that it's my duty to make sure we're all aware of what's going on.
As you may or may not know, most major electronics companies outsource production. One of the manufacturers that gets the job is Foxconn (trading name.) Foxconn is a Taiwanese company with factories in Latin America, Asia, and Europe, notably, Foxconn has 13 Chinese plants. These plants, in total, produce roughly 40% of consumer electronics in the world. A list of major companies that outsource to Foxconn is at the end of this post. One of these companies is Apple, who has done a number of investigations. Some are sourced below.
Macworld report, June 12, 2006
The Guardian report, March 29, 2012
Bloomberg report, September 26, 2012
The Guardian report, October 17, 2012
Particularly important to our interests is this brief report by MarketWatch, May 28, 2010, and this also brief report by Gizmodo, October 18, 2012.
So what does this mean? Well, most obviously, that any company to use Foxconn should be viewed with some scrutiny. But which ones do? Sadly, many well-known ones, including Acer, Amazon, Apple, Cisco, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Nintendo, Nokia, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, and Vizio. You'll notice all three major video game hardware companies are on that list, as well as a number of important computer companies and cell-phone/smart-phone companies. As the 10/18/12 article by Gizmodo states, Nintendo is currently looking into labor issues with Foxconn over reports of underaged interns being used to manufacture the Wii U.
That's all there really is to say on the matter, I suppose. I know I'll probably get a lot of flak for posting this, but I feel that it's my duty to make sure we're all aware of what's going on.
