By HANNES KOCH [Der Spiegel] – They jog in orderly rows of twos through the industrial area. The young people, who look about 19 or 20, hope to be future builders of the iPad. Each of them holds a brown envelope in his or her left hand that contains their job application. At the foreman’s command, they turn a corner onto the steps of the recruitment office.
They are here because of electronic component manufacturer Foxconn, which is hiring tens of thousands of employees. The company has built new factories in the Chinese city of Chengdu to produce millions of iPads for Apple. The supplier is known for the strict rules it imposes on its employees. Last year, that strict discipline may have helped lead to the suicide of 13 workers at a Foxconn facility in Shenzhen. At the time, observers spoke of terrible working conditions there.
Spiegel Online paid a visit to the Chengdu plant to examine the question of whether the company is now treating its employees better.
“We are not allowed to talk while we are working,” says 19-year-old Wang Cui, whose name was changed for this story. She has prominent eyes and dark skin, and wears a blue vest with the Foxconn logo over her white plastic jacket. Her long fingernails are well cared-for. She does not work on the production line, but instead performs quality control on iPad housings.
Is she bothered by the strict rules? “Work is work, the rest is the rest,” says Wang, shrugging her shoulders.
Then she does talk, despite the ban.
Continued at Spiegel Online | More Chronicle & Notices.
