[groan] This meme again?
The wages are significantly higher than prevailing wages in the area/culture.
People normally work such hours around there, if not much more.
Living on site during the workweek is normal.
Napping at your workstation is normal there.
Suicide rates are _lower_ than the local average.
It’s a whole lot better than their alternatives, and things in general around there won’t get much better until businesses grow into better wages & conditions. Were they to impose US standards in that company overnight, the local disruption would be enormous - rendering those not working there into relative abject poverty (from what was otherwise a pretty decent living wage), screw up the economy of relative values (prices skyrocket), and making loss of such a job traumatic.
Worth repeating from the late tjic.com:
Say that we had first contact with some super (economically) advanced aliens.
…and pretty soon they set up factories here.
…and I was offered a job in one of these factories, doing software engineering.
The pay is $400k/year.
The work week is 20 hours long.
The work environment is far better than I’m used to – great internal decoration, well tended plants, a zen-like water garden near my desk, massages every other day.
…and then left-wing alien “sentient being rights activists” started protesting, because I was being forced to work for less than a quarter of the prevailing wage in Alpha Centauri, and my work hours were twice as long as the legal norms in Alpha Centauri, and I didn’t have every mandatory benefits like “other other year off”, and “free AI musical composition mentoring”.
…and then left-wing alien “sentient being rights activists” wanted to make it illegal for my employer and I to contract with each other at mutually beneficial terms.
…then I would be rip shit that some elitist who had never visited me, or knew of my actual alternatives on the ground presumed to decide that I shouldn’t have this opportunity.
Which brings me to my core point: Chinese factory conditions may not be the exact cup of tea for a San Francisco graphic designer or a Connecticut non-profit ecologist grant writer … but they’re, by definition, better than all the other alternatives available to the Chinese workers (or the factories would find it impossible to staff up).
Butt out, clueless activists.
If Apple hasn’t been paying pre- and post- shift carryover time, they have a problem. That has been litigated here down to even 5 minutes carryover time. My company was sued and lost for that very problem, and we are a major supplier to Apple.
#13 Plus you like having your belly scratched.....
Big Bang ref
“Say that we had first contact with some super (economically) advanced aliens.”