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Much of the world that, with the considerable help of the Chinese
government, Foxconn and Huawei have built is beginning to change as
this stage in the dynamic electronics industry supply chain faces growing
turbulence that is likely to impact the cloud-computing industry. The
quiescence of a poor, rural, immigrant workforce, cut off from their homes
in some cases by thousands of miles, is coming to an end. Working condi-
tions that generated big proits for Foxconn and built big cloud-computing
companies have taken their toll on workers who endure long workdays of
twelve hours or more with at best one day off per week—and not even that
during peak demand periods. In 2010 Foxconn made headlines around
the world when fourteen workers reportedly committed suicide because
of stress produced by long hours and low pay. Photos of how the company
dealt with the issue made even more headlines. Instead of moderating
working conditions, the Foxconn plant in Shenzhen installed nets around
the roof of the building to make it more dificult for workers to take their
own lives. While reported suicides did decline, worker protests spread.
Foxconn generally ignored them or called on the police and the military
to maintain order.
In January 2012, the New York Times reported on systematic viola-
tions of basic worker rights, including the hiring of underage workers
and routinely requiring greater than sixty-hour workweeks over long
stretches without a day off. It also cited Foxconn's failure to comply
with minimum standards of workplace safety that led, in one case alone,
to injuries to 137 workers at plants manufacturing Apple products and
to explosions at other Apple plants that killed several workers (Duhigg
and Barboza 2012). Apple itself reported that in 2012 children worked
at eleven of its manufacturing facilities (Bradshaw 2013). A May 2012
report by a workers' rights group that examined company documents and
interviewed 170 workers concluded, “Exhausting workloads, humiliat-
ing discipline, and cramped dormitories are still 'the norm' for workers
at Foxconn factories in China” (Musil 2012). Workers who refused to
follow strict discipline were made to read “confession letters” aloud and
to clean toilets. Foxconn did nod to worker demands by supplying stools
so that they would no longer have to stand for entire shifts. However,
the company insisted that workers sit on only one-third of the stool in
order “to remain nimble” (ibid.). Living conditions remained cramped;
typically twenty to thirty people shared a three-bedroom apartment
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