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Foxconn has multiple plants with more than 200k workers. 4k workers on strike must be a small enough thing for them.

by norswap 14y ago

potatolicious 14y ago
2% of your entire workforce being on strike is not insignificant - imagine if 2% of the US population suddenly took to the streets! This, followed by the riots at other Foxconn factories, labor action, and becoming the whipping boy of the Chinese government, local labor, and international rights groups. No, I think this whole labor business is a big friggin' deal for Foxconn right now.
- norswap 14y ago
  In Belgium where I live, 10% of prison wardens and 50% of the public transportation sector go on strike at least thrice every year. Here at least it's not a big deal. Sad country, I know. I agree it's probably more significant in China, where they are not used to this kind of behaviour.
  - africandawg 14y ago
    That is very bad. I was always curious how life is in Europe (being the first world) but didn't think that's how the state of affairs would be. Is it because of unions?
    - TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
      It's not "Europe", it's parts of it. France is particularly bad I hear, supposedly paralysed by unions. In the UK things are much better because unions lost a lot of their power in the 80s under Thatcher.
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
      - moe 14y ago
        Unions are not universally bad. As with all things it's a matter of dosage. Germany has pretty strong unions, too...
      - barrkel 14y ago
        FWIW, France has a lower proportion of unionized workforce than the US, and a lot lower than the UK in the public sector. It's more about cultural differences than any single thing like unions.
        TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
        Oh, I didn't know that. I've just heard bad things about it. Although I might be confusing this with the government business laws in France, which are also a bit messy. There's a reason lots of French companies have exactly 49 employees.
        barrkel 14y ago
        I found it amusing that, when in college, the only people who objected to the on-campus bar's pool table usage scheme - "winner stays, loser pays" - in the whole four years I was there, were French :)
    - sjwright 14y ago
      It's also because of unions that far few people are losing their life at the workplace. Seems like a reasonable trade-off to me.
blackjack160 14y ago
Up to a rumored 450K workers per factory zone... 1.2M employees in total at last count... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17429786 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17429786
MichaelApproved 14y ago
Consider that this is an assembly line. So 4k workers going on strike will prevent others in the assembly line from getting the parts they need to continue working. 4k on strike can easily trigger a large work stoppage.

Foxconn has multiple plants with more than 200k workers. 4k workers on strike must be a small enough thing for them.

by norswap 14y ago

Foxconn has multiple plants with more than 200k workers. 4k workers on strike must be a small enough thing for them.

2% of your entire workforce being on strike is not insignificant - imagine if 2% of the US population suddenly took to the streets! This, followed by the riots at other Foxconn factories, labor action, and becoming the whipping boy of the Chinese government, local labor, and international rights groups. No, I think this whole labor business is a big friggin' deal for Foxconn right now.

norswap 14y ago
In Belgium where I live, 10% of prison wardens and 50% of the public transportation sector go on strike at least thrice every year. Here at least it's not a big deal. Sad country, I know. I agree it's probably more significant in China, where they are not used to this kind of behaviour.
- africandawg 14y ago
  That is very bad. I was always curious how life is in Europe (being the first world) but didn't think that's how the state of affairs would be. Is it because of unions?
  - TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
    It's not "Europe", it's parts of it. France is particularly bad I hear, supposedly paralysed by unions. In the UK things are much better because unions lost a lot of their power in the 80s under Thatcher.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
    - moe 14y ago
      Unions are not universally bad. As with all things it's a matter of dosage. Germany has pretty strong unions, too...
    - barrkel 14y ago
      FWIW, France has a lower proportion of unionized workforce than the US, and a lot lower than the UK in the public sector. It's more about cultural differences than any single thing like unions.
      - TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
        Oh, I didn't know that. I've just heard bad things about it. Although I might be confusing this with the government business laws in France, which are also a bit messy. There's a reason lots of French companies have exactly 49 employees.
        barrkel 14y ago
        I found it amusing that, when in college, the only people who objected to the on-campus bar's pool table usage scheme - "winner stays, loser pays" - in the whole four years I was there, were French :)
  - sjwright 14y ago
    It's also because of unions that far few people are losing their life at the workplace. Seems like a reasonable trade-off to me.

blackjack160 14y ago

Up to a rumored 450K workers per factory zone... 1.2M employees in total at last count... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17429786 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17429786

MichaelApproved 14y ago

Consider that this is an assembly line. So 4k workers going on strike will prevent others in the assembly line from getting the parts they need to continue working. 4k on strike can easily trigger a large work stoppage.