Alexa being built by students, who's schools are paid for their work

[Zak33]

OK.. brace yourselves - has a certain ring of truth to it. Lets be honest.. a Dot is a cheap item of advanced technoloy.

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All taken from a Guardian article today

16 and 17 year old students are alegedly working in the Foxconn factory, making Alexa units, and being paid dire money, while their schools are allegedly being paid proper income for keeping them there. This is in addition to normal schooling hours

extract

Speaking to a researcher, she said she was initially told by her teacher that she would be working eight hours a day, five days a week, but that had since changed to 10 hours a day (including two hours’ overtime) for six days a week.

“The lights in the workshop are very bright, so it gets really hot,” she said.

“In the beginning, I wasn’t very used to working at the factory, and now, after working for a month, I have reluctantly adapted to the work. But working 10 hours a day, every day, is very tiring.

“To fulfil the shortage of the labour force and lower the cost of labour recruitment, we would like to cooperate with local schools to recruit student interns,” read one document before listing the advantages of recruiting schoolchildren.

“Low labour cost, can hire a large amount of labour at once, easier to reassign additional workers to other positions, strong ability to learn new things.”

Company documents show that Foxconn pays interns a total of 16.54 yuan an hour (£1.93) inclusive of overtime and other add-ons, with a basic salary of £1.18 an hour.

https://www.theguardian.com/global-d...-alexa-devices

“Nightshift line leaders should check in with student interns and teachers more often, and report back any abnormal situation so that teachers can persuade students to work nightshifts and overtime.”

If children continued to refuse to work the additional hours, the meeting was told that teachers should file a resignation letter on their behalf.

//sigh

[Spud1]

It does indeed ring true - but I think this should also be qualified that whilst the Guardian only mentions Amazon devices here, the same applies to pretty much all technology produced in China, particularly from Foxconn, who make many many components and assemble many devices from major corporations including Apple et al.

it's bad, it's wrong, but if you have ever bought any tech made in china, its likely been partially built by a student or a modern slave or similar.

This article shoudl not be used to "bash" Amazon specifically, but all major tech companies (I'm not suggesting you are Zak33, just making the point )

[Saracen999]

Sounds like a 21st century version of using kids as chimney-sweeps or down mines, recruited from the poor house or orphanages.

But to what extent are consumers to blame? I mean, even on here there's regular moans about how much things cost, and how they'd be better if cheaper. Yet, those same people would quite rightly say they don't know this happens ('coscI sure didn't, not in tech firms anyway).

But is that any excuse? After all, the abuses in garment and fashion workshops are famous, so why should tech be any better?

[TooNice]

Not that I am okay with it (I am not), but perhaps due to not being too surprised by something like this occuring, what got my attention the most is the term used:

The Guardian: "Schoolchildren", "Children".

Foxconn: "Interns".

Zak: "16-17 years old students".

Yes it is wrong on multiple level, yes they should be penalised for it, but you'll probably find even worst where children (pre-adolescent) are exploited for cheap labour.