A new look at the Foxconn factory where they make iPads and Macs

The tour of Foxconn's Shenzhen factory in the south China province of Guangdon was given to Re/code, but with some restrictions. The actual factory floor where iPads and Macs are made was not part of the tour but it did show where workers lived while on the campus, along with its 24/7 support system. The company is still dealing from fallout after a number of Foxconn workers committed suicide in 2010 due in part to poor working conditions. From Re/code:

For workers who suffer from clinical depression, Foxconn offers mental health counseling and a 24-hour hotline at its care center. This support system was put in place years after a consulting group, Business for Social Responsibility, originally proposed setting up worker hotlines in 2006 so that employees could report abusive working conditions or seek help, the New York Times reported.

A look at one of the worker's dormitories, which can have up to eight people per room, is also part of the tour:

We entered one first-floor room (without obtaining the occupants' permission, according to our translator) where four roommates occupy identical metal bunk beds, with thin mattress and mosquito netting on top, and a desk and storage underneath. A handful of garments hung from a rod suspended between the beds as a makeshift closet. It's hardly ornate, but it didn't give off a scent of rot, either.

The campus also has amenities such as a swimming pool, an outdoor track, and a main street with fast food restaurants, banks and an Internet cafe where Foxconn workers can play PC games and even watch pornography in private areas.

Source: Re/code

John Callaham

I have been writing professionally about technology and gaming news for 14 years.