The new tech slaves of Brazil?
Posted by By Mark Hillary at 25 April, at 14 : 12 PM Print
I sat down in my local café at the weekend and picked up the Folha de São Paulo newspaper. They featured a frontpage splash about a Foxconn manufacturing plant in China and how it looked more like a military base than a factory producing iPads and other Apple products.
Foxconn has been under the microscope in Brazil since their recent proposal to invest $12bn in manufacturing facilities here. The subtext of the newspaper story is that Brazilians really don’t want that kind of manufacturing done here – slavery ended in Brazil in 1888.
However, anyone working in the technology industry will know about the reputation of Foxconn. Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, has gone to great lengths to defend Foxconn as a responsible contractor after a series of suicides at manufacturing plants in China.
Foxconn and Apple have spent a great deal of time explaining that they are not modern slave-drivers, but what should Brazilians think as Foxconn prepares to enter Brazil?
It is a fact that a company like Apple would not maintain a relationship with Foxconn if they did not believe that employees are treated fairly. More than a decade ago the Canadian journalist Naomi Klein published her seminal book ‘No Logo’ which shone a light on manufacturers exploiting cheap labor in Asia. The backlash against manufacturers – particularly sportswear manufacturers – that grew from Klein’s book means that it is difficult for any manufacturer to engage with lower cost environments in the same way today.
Working conditions – and expectations – in China are not the same as those in the USA, Europe, or even Brazil. Manufacturing workers in Brazil largely have the protection of labor unions so pay is fair and employees are treated fairly – on the whole. It would not be possible for Foxconn to import Chinese labor practices – such as migrant labor living in dormitories at the factory – to Brazil, so it seems sensationalistic for local newspapers to be writing about Foxconn in a horrified tone.
As a European, I wouldn’t personally want a job based on the conditions that Foxconn in China considers to be normal. But, like Steve Jobs, I can see that in the Chinese market they are offering jobs and a regular income to people who may well have migrated in search of work. People faced with poverty at home wouldn’t complain so much about work conditions in the factory, but is that morally right?
Where you draw the line on abuse is difficult to agree on. Some believe that the rights enjoyed by European workers should be afforded to everyone across the world. Why then do Americans only ever get a fraction of the vacation time away from work that Europeans enjoy – is that also an abuse of employees? Why should Americans or Europeans even feel it is their right to comment on labor in China?
Steve Jobs is ultimately the arbiter in this case. While a company as revered as Apple considers that Foxconn is a company they can do business with, dissenting voices will be just noise.
Foxconn, welcome to Brazil.
Photo by Wendell licensed under Creative Commons
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IT Decisions, 1 year ago
Is Foxconn just creating slave labor jobs in Brazil? What do you think? http://bit.ly/eF59Q2 #apple
Mark Hillary, 1 year ago
RT @itdecs: Is Foxconn just creating slave labor jobs in Brazil? What do you think? http://bit.ly/eF59Q2 #apple
Preet Chandhoke, 1 year ago
RT @itdecs: Is Foxconn just creating slave labor jobs in Brazil? What do you think? http://bit.ly/eF59Q2 #apple
Brazilintel, 1 year ago
The new tech slaves of Brazil?: Working conditions – and expectations – in China are not the same… http://bit.ly/fhvcJv #Brazil #China
IT Decisions, 1 year ago
@valor_economico Foxconn é a criação de escravos no Brasil? (em Inglês) http://bit.ly/eF59Q2
IT Decisions, 1 year ago
Foxconn is investing $12bn in Brazil, but some don't like how they operate in China http://bit.ly/eF59Q2 #apple
Mark Hillary, 1 year ago
RT @itdecs: Foxconn is investing $12bn in Brazil, but some don't like how they operate in China http://bit.ly/eF59Q2 #apple
IT Decisions, 1 year ago
When is factory labor fair and when is it slave labor? http://bit.ly/eF59Q2 #apple who creates these moral business rules anyway?
Ana Carolina Merighe, 1 year ago
Foxconn is investing $12bn in Brazil, but the working conditions/expectations are not the same as in China. http://bit.ly/eF59Q2 @itdecs
Innoveur, 1 year ago
Foxconn is investing $12bn in Brazil, but the working conditions/expectations are not the same as in China. http://bit.ly/eF59Q2 @itdecs
Diego de Souza Costa, 1 year ago
RT @itdecs: Foxconn is investing $12bn in Brazil, but some don't like how they operate in China http://bit.ly/eF59Q2 #apple
Diego de Souza Costa, 1 year ago
RT @itdecs: When is factory labor fair and when is it slave labor? http://bit.ly/eF59Q2 #apple who creates these moral business rules an …
L K Tucker, 1 year ago
The suicides at both Foxconn in China and at France Telecom in France are caused buy a design problem known to cause mental breaks for forty years.
There were no slave labor conditions in either location.
Again, the problem was discovered and solved forty years ago.
Mark Hillary, 1 year ago
Thanks for your comment. Do you mean that both organisations had the power to prevent the suicides if they had instigated different working conditions or procedures then? What was the discovery from 40 years ago that you mention?
IT Decisions, 1 year ago
@tomforemski hi-tech slaves of brazil http://bit.ly/eF59Q2
Mark Hillary, 1 year ago
@BBCClick @dannsimmons yes, what about the new factory in brazil! http://bit.ly/eF59Q2
Mark Hillary, 1 year ago
Is Foxconn creating expectations of slave labour in Brazil? http://bit.ly/eF59Q2
IT Decisions, 1 year ago
Is Foxconn creating expectations of slave labour in Brazil? http://bit.ly/eF59Q2
Diego de Souza Costa, 1 year ago
RT @itdecs: Is Foxconn creating expectations of slave labour in Brazil? http://bit.ly/eF59Q2
Diego de Souza Costa, 1 year ago
RT @markhillary: Is Foxconn creating expectations of slave labour in Brazil? http://bit.ly/eF59Q2
Alistair Kershaw, 1 year ago
Foxconn and the "new tech slaves of Brazil" http://ow.ly/4IhKt
IT Decisions, 1 year ago
@folha_com features in @itdecs comment http://bit.ly/eF59Q2
Diego de Souza Costa, 1 year ago
RT @AlistairKershaw: Foxconn and the "new tech slaves of Brazil" http://ow.ly/4IhKt
Manoel B H Carvalho, 1 year ago
Brazilian aren’t slavables. We have stringent labor laws. Foxconn will change their culture here.
IT Decisions, 1 year ago
@folha_com Foxconn em Brasil "the new tech slaves of Brazil" (em Inglês) http://bit.ly/eF59Q2 @folha_tec
Foxconn demands incentives to invest in Brazil | IT Decisions, 1 year ago
[...] are also questions over the exact amount of the investment, which several analysts and commentators have considered excessive. Brazilian science and technology [...]
Felipe Albertao, 1 year ago
That’s absolutely correct. Furthermore, I am convinced that an employee at Foxconn is in a much better position than most factories in China. They get better pay (20% to 50%), good benefits, and are fairly treated (“fairly treat” in China means that their employer pays them on time and plays by the rules and laws).
The problem in China is not necessarily the lack of rights: The laws are actually pretty progressive and fair. The problem is the enforcement of the laws: The workers are not educated about the law, and they are taken advantage of. For example, it is common to hear news about the police having to go to factories to force the boss to pay their employees. Corruption is also another factor. Foxconn has to play by the rules because the exposure they have due to their relationship with Apple, etc… In other words, the “No Logo” factor you mentioned.
I don’t care about Foxconn — I don’t work there, and I have no interest in defending them. It’s just that by living in China and seeing how hard people work for little to no rights (like in Brazil), I feel the need to make that point.