JennyChan.PhDThesis.2014.FINAL

More documents

Recommendations

Info

List of Illustrations Map 3.1 Foxconn’s Locations in Greater China 60 Tables 3.1 China’s Minimum Wages in 12 Cities, 2009-2013 50 4.1 Apple’s Revenues by Product, 2011-2013 76 4.2 Apple’s Revenues by Operating Segment, 2011-2013 77 6.1 Government Recruitment for Foxconn, 2010 135 Figures 3.1 Foxconn Employees and Revenues, 1996-2013 59 4.1 Distribution of Value for the iPhone, 2010 78 4.2 Distribution of Value for the iPad, 2010 80 4.3 Operating Margins: Apple and Foxconn Compared, 2007-2012 84 5.1 Foxconn Floor Plan (Shenzhen Longhua) 100 5.2 Foxconn Management Hierarchy 113 6.1 Foxconn Internship through Government and School Mobilization 138 8.1 Arbitrated Labor Disputes in China, 1996-2011 167 iv
Chapter 1 Introduction To die is the only way to testify that we ever lived Perhaps for the Foxconn employees and employees like us we, who are called nongmingong, 1 rural migrant workers the use of death is simply to testify that we were ever alive at all and that while we lived, we had only despair. —An anonymous Chinese rural migrant worker 2 During 2010, 18 workers attempted suicide at Foxconn Technology Group’s facilities where Apple and other branded products are fine-tuned and assembled in China. They ranged in age from 17 to 25 — the prime of youth. Fourteen died, while four survived with crippling injuries (see Appendix 1 for a list of suicides at Taiwanese-owned Foxconn). These shocking events focused world attention on the manufacturing supply chains of China’s export industry and the experience of working within them. What had driven these young rural migrant workers to commit such a desperate act? After the spate of suicides, and facing a storm of public and international criticism, Foxconn strove to minimize reputational damage by claiming that the suicide rate at its plants was below the national rate of 23 per 100,000 people. 3 Liu Kun, the corporate public communications director, pointed out that Foxconn had “more than 1,000,000 employees in China alone [in 2010],” and that the reasons for suicides were multiple. The workers who attempted suicides suffered from individual psychological problems such as poor mental health, depression, distress over heavy debts, or family and other personal problems. “Given its size, the rate of self-killing at Foxconn is not necessarily far from China’s relatively high average,” reported The Guardian newspaper. 4 But it is impossible to ignore the fact that the suicides were by young people employed by a single company, the majority working in one industrial district of Shenzhen, on the northern border of Hong Kong. The Foxconn 1 Rural migrant workers (nongmingong 農民工 or mingong 民工 ). 2 The blog post entitled “Zhiyou siwang zhengming women cenjing huozhe” ( 只有死亡証明我們曾經活著 ) was removed three days after its first appearance online on 27 May 2010. 3 Michael R. Phillips, Xianyun Li and Yanping Zhang, 2002, “Suicide Rates in China, 1995-99,” The Lancet 359, pp. 835-40. 4 Jonathan Watts, 28 May 2010, “Foxconn Offers Pay Rises and Suicide Nets as Fears Grow Over Wave of Deaths,” The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/28/foxconn-plant-china-deaths-suicides 1
Page 1 and 2: The Labor Politics of Global Produc
Page 3 and 4: Contents Abstract Acknowledgements
Page 5: Acknowledgements Professors Chris S
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 and 18: Foxconn’s meteoric rise to become
Page 19 and 20: intervention is political because t
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
show all

JennyChan.PhDThesis.2014.FINAL

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?