High Tech Misery In China 876
theodp writes "Think you've got a bad job? Think again. You could be making keyboards for IBM, Microsoft, Dell, Lenovo and HP at Meitai Plastic and Electronics, a Chinese hardware factory. Prompted by the release of High Tech Misery in China by a human-rights group, a self-regulating body set up by tech companies will conduct an audit of working conditions at the factory. In return for take-home pay of 41 cents per hour, workers reportedly sit on hard wooden stools for 12-hour shifts, seven days a week. Overtime is mandatory, with workers being given on average two days off per month. While on the production line, workers are not allowed to raise their hands or heads, are given 1.1 seconds to snap each key into place, and are encouraged to 'actively monitor each other' to see if any company rules are being transgressed. They are also monitored by guards. Workers are fined if they break the rules, locked in the factory for four days per week, and sleep in crowded dormitories. Okay, it's not all bad news — they're hiring."
Well at MY place, (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Film at 11... (Score:5, Funny)
It's one of the jobs offered to you if you're one of the many people laid off in the US by IBM...
Re:Damn it.. (Score:5, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
even worse.... (Score:1, Funny)
1. Workers who have found favor with their superiors (often attractive young women) are notoriously assigned the plum task of fitting the heavy-duty "Control", "Alt", and "Delete" keys, at premium pay of 43 rather than 41 cts/hr.
2. 1.1 seconds per key may seem long enough, but occasionally the "Caps Lock" key gets stuck and workers have to scramble to redo their last dozen or so key sets.
3. That guy in Silicon Valley who keeps ordering Dvorak keyboards.
4. Each keyboard must be manually inspected for fitting errors, such as mis-slotted keys. When a mistake is found, the entire assembly line stops and the factory PA system drones "Abort? Retry? Ignore? Fail?" over and over until the problem has been corrected.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Film at 11... (Score:5, Funny)
...taking away as it did the only vestige of civilisation in the US.
You misspelled "civilization".
Re:Well at MY place, (Score:1, Funny)
Having humans means you're creating jobs. This thinking is why America is number 2.
Re:10% of a dim bulb (Score:3, Funny)
Sorry, It's hard to post intelligently under these conditions.
Re:Well at MY place, (Score:2, Funny)
Exactly instead they bitch that Mexicans are stealing the jobs they don't want to do in the first place.
Re:Film at 11... (Score:5, Funny)
I bought 4 IBM model M keyboards on Ebay 10 years ago, and fully intend to keep using them until I can get a neural implant.
Buy quality, and buy it once.
Buy crap, buy it new every year.
Now, now, let's be fair. You bought quality, and you bought it four times.
Re:Well at MY place, (Score:2, Funny)
We owe them a lot of money, and at any time they could call that debt in on us, and presumably (if they wanted to and probably could) ship us off to China to work in their factories, so we can pay them off. Not only is that a possibility, should our economic downturn continue, they might just do that.
I've got some bad news for you. I showed your comment to The Chinese and they were pissed off. Now you need to spend the rest of your life working in an iPod factory.
Re:Film at 11... (Score:3, Funny)
Hmm, so after the apocalypse you and your descendants will be sure to have Model M keyboards. Hell in the short term you have two spare ones to use as melee weapons against looters that break into the compound.
Re:Well at MY place, (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Film at 11... (Score:5, Funny)
I bought 4 IBM model M keyboards on Ebay 10 years ago, and fully intend to keep using them until I can get a neural implant.
Neural implants don't click. I went right back to the model M.
Re:Film at 11... (Score:2, Funny)
Welches im Allgemeinen als eine schlechte Sache angesehen wird da sie die einzige Spur der Zivilisation in den USA weggenommen hat.