Charlie and the Apple Factory

The assembly line in Foxconn

The nets went up in May, after the 11th jumper
in less than a year died here.

After spending an hour listening to the very (un-necessarily) descriptive episode Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory it got me thinking about how terrible life must be working at the factories in Shenjin, China. For example such as how a worker died at the Foxconn factory after working a 34 hour shift. How they live in stacked up beds with barely enough space to squeeze into. That they even had to put nets along the walls outside there factory because so many workers were committing suicide. That main part that baffles me is how Apple claims to have no idea about what is happening at the factories, that when they do there "check ups" everything appears to be perfectly fine. Also that if you are found to be part of a "labor union" in China, you will go to prison for a very long time, just because you want to help stop the highly unfair treatment of labor upon the workers at factories such as Foxconn. I find it ridiculous that they are allowed to have workers as young as 12 year olds, that they use as nuero-toxin that causes peoples nerves to disintegrate just to help dry of the screen just a little bit faster then alcohol would. This is a problem that needs to be addressed but probably never will. China has such a huge impact on the worlds economy that pulling out of China or cutting of there resources would just ultimately lead to an economic downfall. If we decided to make all of these items in America it would cost 100 times more because we actually have labor laws and a union. Where as in China the labor for companies is practically free. It is a sad but necessary sacrifice to meet the demands of the world we live in. In the end would everybody really choose to give up there expensive Apple products just to end the misery of a few thousand (or more) people they have never met? I honestly have to say that the majority of people today would not.