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Article

27 Dec 2011

Author:
Apryl Gibson, The Morningside Post [USA]

Confessions of cognitive dissonance in a modern jungle: apples or angels? [Czech Republic]

...Angel is Roma. Roma face intense discrimination all across Europe, and their unemployment rate is high...Faced with few choices...Angel left for the Czech Republic to work for Foxconn [part of Hon Hai]...Foxconn has long endured allegations of misconduct and employee mistreatment. Workers are apparently subjected to long working hours with little pay. In 2010, eighteen Foxconn employees in China attempted suicide. Fourteen were successful...Angel...had to work 12 hours...five or six times a week...A few weeks later, he confessed that his hand had become immobile. He’d been packing laptops all day and he was having a hard time moving his fingers...[T]here had been a snag in the assembly line, and he didn’t have any computers to pack for a few minutes. He decided to take a rest in a nearby chair. During that brief moment, a floor lead walked by and caught him sitting down. She demanded his supervisor punish him by curtailing his salary...Apple is not the only electronics manufacturer to contract out to Foxconn... [also refers to Dell, HP]