From corporation-watch at countercorp.org Wed May 26 07:38:51 2010 From: corporation-watch at countercorp.org (Corporation Watch) Date: Wed, 26 May 2010 04:38:51 -0700 Subject: [Corp. Watch] Suicides at world's largest factory spotlight inhuman conditions Message-ID: <61EFF443-DD9C-4C12-B02E-D50E1CD15BD8@countercorp.org> Why Have Suicides Spiked at Apple iPad Supplier Foxconn in China? 9th employee killed himself Tuesday at Chinese electronics supplier Foxconn, which makes the Apple iPad and Sony Ericsson phones, turning attention to working conditions at the firm's huge complex By Peter Ford (Christian Science Monitor, May 25) -- A spate of suicides among Chinese workers making the Apple iPad, Sony Ericsson phones, and other electronic items has drawn fresh attention to working conditions in the factories supplying consumers worldwide with must-have gadgets. At 6:20 on Tuesday morning, 19-year-old migrant worker Li Hai threw himself to his death from the roof of a building at electronics manufacturer Foxconn in the southern boom town of Shenzhen. He was the ninth company employee to kill himself this year. Two other would-be suicides have survived their injuries. Foxconn's massive complex, employing more than 400,000 people, has a reputation for strict discipline, says Geoffrey Crothall, spokesman for the Hong Kong-based "China Labour Bulletin," which monitors working conditions in China. "It's a tough place to be, and you have to be tough to survive." Terry Gou, founder of Foxconn's Taiwanese parent company Hon Hai Precision Industry, insisted Monday that his firm does not run "a blood and sweat factory." Pays social security, offers cheap housing By Chinese standards, Foxconn is not a bad employer. The company pays social security contributions for its employees, offers cheap housing and food, and pays overtime at the legal rate. It has no difficulty attracting young migrant workers from the countryside. Company officials, professing bafflement at the recent suicides, recently took reporters on a tour of the newly built dormitories and swimming pools that Foxconn offers its workers. But a report in the respected 'Southern Weekly' newspaper in Guangzhou, China, earlier this month, written by an intern who spent a month working undercover at Foxconn, painted a grim picture of alienation. Workers are required to stand at fast-moving assembly lines for eight hours without a break and without talking, the journalist reported. Workers, sharing sleeping accommodations with nine other workmates, often do not know each others' names. They do not have much time to get to know each other. The basic starting pay of $130 a month -- barely enough to live on -- can be augmented to a more respectable $295 only by working an additional 30 hours overtime a week. "Today's migrant workers have higher expectations than their parents, but reality has not changed," says Liu Kaiming, a workers' rights advocate with the Institute for Contemporary Observation in Shenzhen. "They cannot bridge the gap between their dreams and reality." The string of suicides this year at Foxconn "is not all that shocking in terms of numbers," since it is "not grossly abnormal" compared with the national suicide rate, according to Michael Phillips, head of the Beijing Suicide Research and Prevention Center and the leading foreign authority on suicide in China. He puts the national suicide rate at about 15 per 100,000, based on incomplete data. By comparison, the U.S. rate is 11 per 100,000. Apple connection The episode has drawn widespread attention in the local press, however, because of Foxconn's work for Apple, says Crothall. The company has taken a number of steps to try to halt the suicides, ranging from setting up a helpline and offering rewards to employees who point out their colleagues' unusual behavior, to hiring counselors and bringing in Buddhist priests to exorcise the factory and pacify the spirits of those who died. Dr. Phillips, however, worries that a copy-cat effect has set in, with each suicide prompting another, which will be hard to break. In the longer term, argues Liu, companies such as Foxconn "must be encouraged to make their factories places with social networks, with sentiment, where people feel they can fit in." Crothall believes the solution might be simpler. "If [they] raised basic wages to a decent level, workers would not feel the need to do excessive overtime," he suggests. "Then they would have more time to socialize, to be with their friends and just generally to have a life, which at the moment they don't have." From corporation-watch at countercorp.org Sat May 29 20:44:52 2010 From: corporation-watch at countercorp.org (Corporation Watch) Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 17:44:52 -0700 Subject: [Corp. Watch] BP violated its probation, and top executives should go to jail Message-ID: <0F854CC6-23EF-4788-BCC6-032407AD3244@countercorp.org> Punishments that Fit BP's Crimes by Phil Mattera (Dirt Diggers Digest, May 21) -- Few things enrage the American public more than hearing about a criminal who is given a light sentence and then commits another offense. But this scenario is not limited to murderers and rapists -- corporations can also be recidivists as well, and we're currently contending with such a culprit in the (corporate) person of British Petroleum (BP). The oil giant's apparent negligence in connection with the ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico comes on the heels of two previous major accidents in which the company was found culpable: a 2005 explosion at a refinery in Texas that killed 15 workers, and a series of oil spills in 2006 at its operations in the Alaskan tundra. Those earlier cases were not just another blot on BP's blemished track record. In both instances, the company was compelled to plead guilty to a criminal charge and not only heavily fined, but also put on probation for three years. On a single day in October 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice announced those plea agreements, along with the resolution of another criminal case in which BP was charged with manipulation of the market for propane. In the latter case, prosecution of BP was deferred on the condition that the company pay penalties of more than $300 million, and be subjected to an independent monitor for three years. In other words, at the time that BP engaged in behavior that contributed to the Gulf catastrophe, it was already under the supervision of federal authorities for three different reasons. Although the terms of the probation and independent monitor agreements refer to the parts of BP's business involved in the offenses, federal law (18 USC Section 3563) requires that "a defendant not commit another federal, state, or local crime during the term of probation." Given the distinct possibility that BP will face new criminal charges, the question arises: What would be a suitable punishment? When an individual violates his or her probation by committing a new offense, the usual result is imprisonment. Federal sentencing guidelines say that when an organizational defendant commits such a violation, the remedy is to extend the period of the probation. That hardly seems adequate in the case of an egregious repeat offender such as BP. Just as an individual loses certain rights when imprisoned, so should a corporate probation violator face serious consequences. Here are some possibilities: ? Ineligibility for federal contracts -- BP is currently among the top 30 federal contractors, and should lose the privilege to bid on federal contracts. ? Ineligibility for federal drilling leases -- Having shown itself to be reckless when it comes to drilling, BP should no longer be able to obtain leases to drill on public lands or in public waters. ? Ineligibility for federal tax incentives -- Like other oil companies, BP receives a variety of special tax advantages such as write-offs of intangible drilling costs, and should be denied such benefits. ? Suspension of the right to lobby -- According to the Open Secrets database, BP spent nearly $16 million last year on federal lobbying. As a probation violator, it should be barred from trying to influence public policy. ? Moratorium on advertising -- As the Gulf debacle continues, BP is spending heavily on advertising to try to salvage its tarnished image, and convey the message that it is doing everything in its power to stop the spill. Once it is designated a probation violator, it should be barred from marketing during its probation. ? Public admission of fault -- At the point that BP pleads guilty to another criminal offense, an appropriate penalty might be to force it to take the money now being spent to repair its image and use it to run ads admitting its misbehavior. Nothing would be more satisfying than hearing BP admit that its purported devotion to corporate social responsibility has been a sham. No doubt there are legal barriers to such measures, but we need to go beyond the current wrist-slapping approach to the punishment of corporate crime and create deterrents that once and for all get the likes of BP to take safety and environmental regulations seriously.