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All posts tagged "workers"


Friday, February 11, 2011

Nokia Workers Use Their Flex-Times Hours to Digest Windows Phone 7 News

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Windows Phone News" @ 10:25 AM

http://www.geek.com/articles/mobile...otest-20110211/

"After the announcement of the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft this morning workers voiced their concern with the deal by walking out of Nokia facilities. It is believed that as many as a thousand workers marched out today (or took the day off using flex time) so that the company would know that they don't believe the partnership is in their best interest, even after CEO' Stephen Elop's startlingly frank "burning platform" memo earlier this week."

I'd never applaud someone losing their job, but it's clear that Nokia needed to make a serious change in direction if they wanted to have a future in the mobile industry. A lesser company would have waited until things got so bad that they did it out of desperation rather than as a carefully considered decision.

UPDATE: I've amended the headline because it's not quite the "walk out" I thought it was. From a Nokia spokesperson who contacted The Next Web:

"Some of our employees - not thousands - in Tampere and Oulu decided to take advantage of Flexitime and left the office at around 14.00. This is completely understandable: we have announced major news today, and understand that employees may want to digest this. We will continue active employee communications over the coming weeks, to further engage our employees with the new strategy, and to report on the progress of strategy implementation planning."


Friday, May 21, 2010

The Cost of Our Shiny Gadgets

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Talk" @ 01:00 PM

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/21/...hts-on-foxconn/

"It's obvious, by now -- or it should be -- that something's going on at Foxconn -- the owners of massive factories in China which most famously assembles Apple products (though it's also responsible for many, many others). There have been several suicide attempts this year -- at least a few of them successful (though it's been pointed out that the number is pretty much on par with the rest of China) -- and over the past few days we've seen what can only be called a shocking expose by a worker who went undercover there."

Engadget's Laura June shares her thoughts on the real cost of the gadgets we know and love - because this Foxconn issue isn't just about Apple; they make products for HP and other big OEMs. I share June's thoughts that I'm not an economist; I know enough about wages to know that they need to be appropriate for the country the workers are in...you can't just take a North American minimum wage figure and use that. On the other hand, I support the concept of a "living wage" no matter what country we're talking about - if someone can't make a reasonable living working 40 hours a week, then they're not getting paid enough (and that applies to my own country as well).

I'd be a hypocrite if I said that the plight of the workers making my gadgets was at the forefront of my mind when I opened the package on a new device, but it's definitely something I've been thinking about more lately. Do I like cheap gadgets? Yes. But would I be willing to pay 10% more, knowing that money would make its way back to the workers in the form of better pay (which would be hard to do, but possible)? Yes, I absolutely would. Would you?


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