JennyChan.PhDThesis.2014.FINAL

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in supplier factories by reiterating their commitment to good governance in an attempt to distance themselves from responsibility and burnish their reputation internationally. This is in part a response to the growing anti-sweatshop movement in the electronics industry from within the United States, Europe, and more recently Greater China. 38 Many image-conscious technology companies, probably none more than Apple in our digital age, have professed noble ideals of corporate citizenship, environmental, labor and social responsibility in their supplier codes of conduct. Violations of factory workers’ fundamental rights in export-oriented industries nevertheless remain intractable, prompting scholars and practitioners of corporate responsibility to promote the leverage of private and public power to create “just supply chains.” 39 The main effort of public-private partnerships is to call on a shared commitment of national governments, transnational corporations, and non-governmental labor organizations to better protect workers. Frederick Mayer and Gary Gereffi suggest that the consolidation of capital in China potentially strengthens state regulation or “public governance” of transnational firms. 40 Similarly, Richard Locke understands the Chinese government to be incentivized to “play a positive role in promoting collaborative buyer-supplier relations” in its pursuit of sustainability and global competitiveness. 41 I challenge this assessment, which tends to downplay capitalist contradictions and power relationships in transnational production on the one hand, and the strong collaboration between capital and the state in wealth accumulation on the other hand. Chinese workers, as discussed in the empirical chapters (from chapters 3 to 10), unveil the harsh reality behind the mainstream discourse of “corporate ethics” and “social harmony.” 42 Research Methodology My project is about the conditions of labor in China as seen through the words and actions of employees, including particularly rural migrant workers and student interns, who are most central to the hidden abode of production. This sociological 38 Ralph A. Litzinger, 2013, “The Labor Question in China: Apple and Beyond,” The South Atlantic Quarterly 112(1), pp. 172-78. 39 See for example, John Ruggie, 2013, Just Business: Multinational Corporations and Human Rights, New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company; Boston Review, 21 May 2013, “Forum: Can Global Brands Create Just Supply Chains?” http://www.bostonreview.net/forum/can-global-brands-create-just-supply-chains-richard-locke 40 Frederick Mayer and Gary Gereffi, 2010, “Regulation and Economic Globalization: Prospects and Limits of Private Governance,” Business and Politics 12(3), pp. 15-17. 41 Richard M. Locke, 2013, The Promise and Limits of Private Power: Promoting Labor Standards in a Global Economy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 19. 42 Hexie shehui ( 和諧社會 ). 12
intervention is political because the company I have chosen as my research site, Foxconn, makes things for famous names, through supply chains where responsibility is uncertain, where passing the problem to others is part of a game, where the reality of working conditions is contested, and a shared or common evidence base is never accepted. Therefore the researcher must enter this world with personal integrity, and not expect the gathered data to be received without political scrutiny and challenge, because in this environment, knowledge is very much power, and can have causal effects on the lives of workers. “To a large degree,” leading technology brands “use many of the same suppliers, as opposed to other industries where one company may have a clear set of proprietary suppliers.” 43 I have chosen to look at one large final-assembly supplier that is Foxconn, and not the myriad of suppliers that feed components to this firm. This in-depth case study is significant, because Apple’s competitors, as we will see in the following chapters, are heavily involved with Foxconn, and many of the arguments made in this dissertation about the relationship between Foxconn and Apple could equally be applied to them. In the language of statistical representation, my findings on transnational corporate power can be generalized to a broad understanding of the buyer-supplier dynamics in outsourced electronics production. My research orientation is critical engagement with a contentious subject: the conditions of workers in contract manufacturing in China. Within this terrain, large firms rule, but are unequally positioned within the supply chain. In thinking about “what is a case?,” 44 I frame Foxconn as a representative or archetypical case of a global labor regime in the contemporary Chinese political economy. The mystery that my investigation seeks to explore is not only the “inside story” of Foxconn; it is also the nature of the relationship between Foxconn and its brand-name buyers, as well as that between Foxconn and the Chinese state. These are the relationships that shape conditions on the factory floor and ultimately workers’ lives. A study of the most powerful electronics contractor enables me to draw out the deep contradictions among labor, capital, and the Chinese state in global production. Discussing the ethnographer or the ethnographic self in social inquiry, Michael Burawoy notes that “everyone carries and uses social theory, cognitive maps of the 43 Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition, 2009, “2008 Annual Report — Collaborating to Promote Social and Environmental Responsibility in the Global Electronics Supply Chain,” p. 3. http://www.eicc.info/documents/2008AnnualReport.pdf 44 John Walton, 1992, “Making the Theoretical Case,” What is a Case? Exploring the Foundations of Social Inquiry, edited by Charles C. Ragin and Howard S. Becker, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 121-37. 13
Page 1 and 2: The Labor Politics of Global Produc
Page 3 and 4: Contents Abstract Acknowledgements
Page 5 and 6: Acknowledgements Professors Chris S
Page 7 and 8: Chapter 1 Introduction To die is th
Page 9 and 10: and second-class citizens. In their
Page 11 and 12: Pressed and squeezed so tightly I c
Page 13 and 14: mobility from within rural and urba
Page 15 and 16: who were born in the 1960s and who
Page 17: Foxconn’s meteoric rise to become
Page 21 and 22: company leaders have now been made
Page 23 and 24: My selection of two Foxconn mega fa
Page 25 and 26: Overview of Chapters This dissertat
Page 27 and 28: I anticipate that in the long run w
Page 29 and 30: aspects of the government’s labor
Page 31 and 32: Nationalist Party brutally suppress
Page 33 and 34: marked the re-opening of the domest
Page 35 and 36: Chinese society as in the West, wor
Page 37 and 38: (1966-1976) and its unprecedented a
Page 39 and 40: define away labor issues as those o
Page 41 and 42: survey. In all cases, however, migr
Page 43 and 44: levels. In fact, from the 1990s, pe
Page 45 and 46: Capital transforms favoured rural a
Page 47 and 48: American, European, Japanese, and S
Page 49 and 50: workers are opening up. As capital
Page 51 and 52: Chapter 3 China’s Rise and Foxcon
Page 53 and 54: has been tightly bound with Chengdu
Page 55 and 56: enhanced Chinese export competitive
Page 57 and 58: Both the Chinese state and workers
Page 59 and 60: Soon after the Spring Festival, the
Page 61 and 62: Foxconn 60 th in 2011, 43 rd in 201
Page 63 and 64: successive revolutions in informati
Page 65 and 66: Figure 3.1 Foxconn Employees and Re
Page 67 and 68: subsidiaries, was located in Xixian
Page 69 and 70:
In many provinces, Foxconn runs mul
Page 71 and 72:
Local governments in Sichuan set up
Page 73 and 74:
Besides underwriting Foxconn’s hi
Page 75 and 76:
iPhones and iPads for Apple and ear
Page 77 and 78:
Chapter 4 The Foxconn-Apple Connect
Page 79 and 80:
from the fourth floor. 293 Miraculo
Page 81 and 82:
store outside the United States) at
Page 83 and 84:
Table 4.2 Apple’s Revenues by Ope
Page 85 and 86:
global production network. While Ap
Page 87 and 88:
In this era of the mobile technolog
Page 89 and 90:
circuit boards, and assembly, to re
Page 91 and 92:
long-term workers to raise producti
Page 93 and 94:
Foxconn management, facing stiff pr
Page 95 and 96:
In a vast construction site of half
Page 97 and 98:
Apple in the opening line of its Su
Page 99 and 100:
the Sichuan Provincial Propaganda D
Page 101 and 102:
information and power asymmetries t
Page 103 and 104:
sealed tightly in cement burying my
Page 105 and 106:
20 percent were between 26 and 30.
Page 107 and 108:
The spatial organization of modern
Page 109 and 110:
work itself. “We cannot move past
Page 111 and 112:
At about 8 a.m. on 17 March 2010, Y
Page 113 and 114:
After the basic wage increase in Ju
Page 115 and 116:
New workers at Foxconn receive a th
Page 117 and 118:
adding up to some 800 Yuan.” “I
Page 119 and 120:
Militaristic Management System Mana
Page 121 and 122:
often remind assembly-line workers
Page 123 and 124:
and urge us to speed up.” Line le
Page 125 and 126:
By December 2009, “unions had bee
Page 127 and 128:
management. Since learning of this
Page 129 and 130:
Chapter 6 Students Interns or Worke
Page 131 and 132:
and school teachers. In this way, F
Page 133 and 134:
was a young man with whom she did n
Page 135 and 136:
We’re depressed. We’ve paid for
Page 137 and 138:
students regardless of field of stu
Page 139 and 140:
province were made to work at Foxco
Page 141 and 142:
Table 6.1 Government Recruitment As
Page 143 and 144:
government support to expand its in
Page 145 and 146:
4. The Public Security Department c
Page 147 and 148:
One year later, in October 2013, mo
Page 149 and 150:
electronics companies 563 ), in the
Page 151 and 152:
ought up. Yang cultivated a strong,
Page 153 and 154:
A Foxconn dorm room houses six to 1
Page 155 and 156:
Yu’s roommates all came from othe
Page 157 and 158:
Chen Ximei 575 lives in the Foxconn
Page 159 and 160:
For a two-room unit, the monthly re
Page 161 and 162:
Street hawkers at the West Gate of
Page 163 and 164:
percent in 1990 to 30 percent in 20
Page 165 and 166:
Chapter 8 Legal Activisms: Taking F
Page 167 and 168:
assignment; otherwise Foxconn shoul
Page 169 and 170:
observed that labor dispute arbitra
Page 171 and 172:
especially in cases where outcomes
Page 173 and 174:
at all levels have directed workers
Page 175 and 176:
Foxconn abandons its employees, it
Page 177 and 178:
for specialized diagnosis. He under
Page 179 and 180:
In an October 2012 company statemen
Page 181 and 182:
stated a 2008 Foxconn company repor
Page 183 and 184:
worked at the site for two years, w
Page 185 and 186:
collective actions in the street, t
Page 187 and 188:
Justifying the use of paramilitary
Page 189 and 190:
control and, often, 12-hour shifts
Page 191 and 192:
Group Fighting and Work Stoppage In
Page 193 and 194:
competition and will likely cause t
Page 195 and 196:
finally talked the protesting worke
Page 197 and 198:
thus far been directed exclusively
Page 199 and 200:
early 2000s 658 and Walmart retail
Page 201 and 202:
failed workers time and again. The
Page 203 and 204:
Chapter 10 Conclusion Few in China
Page 205 and 206:
development of the western part of
Page 207 and 208:
workers at Foxconn, not unlike thei
Page 209 and 210:
Corporate Social Responsibility in
Page 211 and 212:
to monitor compliance at Foxconn.
Page 213 and 214:
A number of the most impressive cas
Page 215 and 216:
market competition and rising costs
Page 217 and 218:
Appendix 1 Suicides at Foxconn in C
Page 219 and 220:
4. Cui Hong M, 1987, Hunan 5. Zhang
Page 221 and 222:
42. Chen Ximei F, 1992, Guizhou 43.
Page 223 and 224:
29. Liu Shihan F, 1993, Sichuan 30.
Page 225 and 226:
2. Manager Chen M, 24 3. Manager Zh
Page 227 and 228:
Appendix 3 Foxconn Locations around
Page 229 and 230:
Select Bibliography (Books, journal
Page 231 and 232:
Baldoz, Rick, Charles Koeber and Ph
Page 233 and 234:
Chan, Anita. 2009. “Challenges an
Page 235 and 236:
Chan, Ming K. et al., eds. 陳明
Page 237 and 238:
Diamant, Neil J., Stanley B. Lubman
Page 239 and 240:
Gaetano, Arianne M. and Tamara Jack
Page 241 and 242:
Harvey, David. 2010. The Enigma of
Page 243 and 244:
Hurst, William. 2004. “Understand
Page 245 and 246:
Lee, Ching Kwan. 1998. “The Labou
Page 247 and 248:
Locke, Richard M. 2013. The Promise
Page 249 and 250:
National Bureau of Statistics of th
Page 251 and 252:
Pun, Ngai, Chris King-Chi Chan and
Page 253 and 254:
Seidman, Gay W. 1994. Manufacturing
Page 255 and 256:
Solinger, Dorothy J. 2009. States
Page 257 and 258:
Tong, Yanqi and Shaohua Lei. 2014.
Page 259 and 260:
Wilson, Jeanne L. 1990. “‘The P
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