At a recent gathering in China the CEO of FOXCONN, one of Apple’s manufacturers in China, referred to his workers as animals.
For the uninitiated, FOXCONN is the manufacturer of all Apple products in China. It assembles iPhones, iPods and iPads, employing about 1 million people. In addition to Apple, it builds Playstation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 consoles for Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft.
PHOTOS: 13-Year-Olds Build Apple Products In China
FOXCONN is the largest exporter in China and in the Czech Republic; and besides being famous for manufacturing all of our favorite devices; it is also famous for the suicides of its workers, so much so that suicide nets have been erected at its factories and dormitories.
Workers, some as young as 13, spend upwards of 16 hours a day assembling things, sometimes destroying their hands.
FOXCONN’s CEO Terry Gou, who is also the chairman of Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry, FOXCONN’s parent company, allegedly made this comments five days ago:
“Hon Hai has a workforce of over one million worldwide and as human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache.”
STORY: Apple Takes An L In China
WantChina Times translated Gou’s remarks, which have since been clarified by FOXCONN.
There have been some media reports regarding a conversation that Foxconn Technology Group Chief Executive Officer, Terry Gou, had with the Director of the Taipei Zoo, Chin Shih-chien, at an employee event organized by Foxconn on Jan. 15 in Taipei to benefit a range of charitable organizations through a contribution of $1.4 million. In an effort to encourage his management team to learn from all aspects of life, Mr. Gou did say that, since all humans are members of the animal kingdom, it might be possible to learn from Mr. Chin’s experience as his team looks for lessons that can be applied to business. Mr. Gou’s comments were directed at all humans and not at any specific group.
While some reports on Mr. Gou’s comments in Mandarin were taken out of context and do not accurately reflect the full scope of that conversation, Mr. Gou does understand how these reports could be misinterpreted and seen as insensitive and he sincerely apologizes to anyone who might be offended by them. At no time did Mr. Gou seek to portray Foxconn employees in the negative context some media reports have suggested.
We’re not buying it, and neither should you.
SOURCE: PC Mag
