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Ben- One reason why I really liked this article was the statement at the end of the piece that really connected back the problems in China to what we just finished learning about:

"In that respect, China isn't much different from the United States of a century ago, during its transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy. It took decades to raise labor standards to where they are today."

I think this statement really summarizes why Mr. Bolos showed us these articles about Apple during our unit on industrialization. We focused on all of the problems about the industrialization in the west, and I think the author of this article is trying to appeal the us in that way, as he author understood that most people have learned about the west's industrialization. I think it is really interesting to look back at western history and relate it to another aspect of the world around us.

Another part of the article that really shocked me was the the story at the beginning of the article that talked about a previous article in the New York Times:

"A remarkably detailed story in the The New York Times recently described an explosion of aluminum dust at a Chinese iPad factory that killed four people, including a young engineer whose face was so horribly burned his girlfriend recognized him only by looking at his legs. The Times reported that Apple had been warned about conditions at the factory two weeks before the explosion, but that no steps were taken to make it safer."

Although I knew about most of the problems with these factories, I had no clue that Apple simply neglected the problems which were reported to them (If only, it was that easy to neglect Apple's devices). It really shows the mindset that producers have that people are very easily replaceable in the workforce.

-Aaron F.

— Aaron F.
Aaron-
I very much agree with you. The comparison the author made between the United States of a century ago and China of present day is why this article caught my attention. I believe the point the author is trying to make is that labor standards cannot be changed overnight. He argues that it takes an extensive ammount of time. In drawing this parallel between China and the US of a century ago, it makes us realize how far as a nation that we have come in terms of improving our workers rights. More importantly, it suggests that in time the labor rights for Chinese workers will steadily increase just as they did for us in America. Although the stories we hear about the conditions in these factories (such as the one you mentioned about the aluminum explosion,) are simply horrifying, the author seems to suggest that things are in fact getting better for Chinese laborers, and that over time they shall see an increase in their rights. In my opinion it is already starting to happen. These stories about the appalling conditions of these factories have received an overwhelming amount of media attention here in the US, and many people are now speaking out against the factories. Hopefully, this will result in factories such as Foxconn improving their working conditions. The article suggests that this is the case, and that “Foxconn announced over the weekend that it was raising worker salaries as much as 25% and cutting back on excessive hours.” Hopefully that will be a continuing trend.
— Ben C
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