# Foxconn using unpaid student interns to build the PS4



## Desmond (Oct 10, 2013)

Looks like old habits die hard. Foxconn is at it again.



> If reports in the Chinese press are to be believed, Sony’s next-gen games console may be being assembled using some very outdated labor practices. According to Hong Kong’s Oriental Daily, thousands of students from an IT engineering program at the Xi’an Institute of Technology are being forced to work at Foxconn’s Yantai plant assembling the Sony Playstation 4. Students have been told if they refuse to participate, they lose six course credits, which effectively means they will not be able to graduate.
> 
> Officially, the program is considered an “internship” and it is publicly recognized and promoted by the school. But students have said that once they got to Foxconn, they were assigned to jobs that had no relation whatsoever to their fields of study, including grunt work like distribution and shipping. One student, for example, majored in finance and accounting but has been assigned to a job that entails glueing together parts of Sony’s Playstation 4. Another was assigned to a job that entails peeling of the PS4′s protective plastic and putting stickers on it. Still another, a computer science major, puts the PS4′s various cords and the instruction manual into the console’s box. Moreover, students say that their working hours are exactly the same as regular workers. The only difference is that unlike the workers, the students aren’t being paid.
> 
> ...



Source : Report: Foxconn using forced student labor to build Sony's PS4


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## icebags (Oct 10, 2013)

at least they get industrial exposure. besides, which engg student likes to learn/ study if he is not forced ?


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## Desmond (Oct 10, 2013)

Internship and forced labor are two different things.


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## debarshi (Oct 10, 2013)

icebags said:


> at least they get industrial exposure. besides, which engg student likes to learn/ study if he is not forced ?



Just because he's a engg student, but that doesn't mean he will be forced to work in places without pay.

And no, proper engineering students after the 2nd/3rd year really likes to know about these things


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## sujoyp (Oct 10, 2013)

in china you can not refuse...all works on money and permit


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## Desmond (Oct 10, 2013)

Not only the PS4, Foxconn has been assembling the new XBox One as well.

Foxconn is already assembling the new Xbox for Microsoft | Games | Geek.com


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## Flash (Oct 10, 2013)

debarshi said:


> And no, proper engineering students after the 2nd/3rd year really likes to know about these things





> But students have said that once they got to Foxconn, they were assigned to jobs that had no relation whatsoever to their fields of study, including grunt work like distribution and shipping. One student, for example, majored in finance and accounting but has been assigned to a *job that entails glueing together parts of Sony’s Playstation 4*. Another was assigned to a *job that entails peeling of the PS4′s protective plastic and putting stickers on it*. Still another, a computer science major, *puts the PS4′s various cords and the instruction manual into the console’s box*.



We don't need a engineering degree to do these things..


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## Desmond (Oct 10, 2013)

Imagine if you that the college you were studying in mandates that you have to do manual labor, say building walls, otherwise they will not allow you to graduate because some building company paid your college for this. How would you feel?


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## saswat23 (Oct 10, 2013)

Gearbox said:


> We don't need a engineering degree to do these things..



Then you dont get workers who do these things for free either


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## arpit60 (Oct 10, 2013)

i wouldn't mind a free PS4 at the end of the internship though


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## icebags (Oct 11, 2013)

DeSmOnD dAvId said:


> Imagine if you that the college you were studying in mandates that you have to do manual labor, say building walls, otherwise they will not allow you to graduate because some building company paid your college for this. How would you feel?



i would have learned enough to assemble my own customized xbox 540, instead of buying one xbox 360 from M$oft. 

i believe not all engg students are assigned to pulling out stickers or connecting wires blindly, it that was it, they could have hired BA students, not engg students.


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## Hrishi (Oct 11, 2013)

I really don't know the inside reality , but somehow I get a feeling that brutality is at its peak in that country. I don't see how thats a measure of development.


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## Extreme Gamer (Oct 11, 2013)

In any country with fair labour practices, you are paid, and paid rather well, for internships and co-op programs 

This is actually slave labour, not forced labour, if you ask me.


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## Hrishi (Oct 11, 2013)

^ in that country lots of things aren't even close to being called fair.  What I am scared about is that the trend happening in that country spreading to other places , due to cheap/inexpensive/free labour and blah blah blah.


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## Mr.Kickass (Oct 11, 2013)

The typical candidates would've been those mobile repairing guys but definitely *NOT* an engineer


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## Desmond (Oct 11, 2013)

Foxconn is alleged to have employees 14 year old kids to work at one point. Also, the working conditions are known to be questionable. Apple had stopped them from manufacturing their devices because of this. But, they still build devices for many other companies.


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## saswat23 (Oct 11, 2013)

So, Foxconn is a Manufacturing company or its a Pcakaging/Assembling company?


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## Anorion (Oct 11, 2013)

^whats the diff?
Foxconn still makes stuff for Apple, Sony, Amazon, HP, MS, Google...
All internships, including 14 year olds. Dont see whats so wrong about it. 
Hard work never killed anyone


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## Desmond (Oct 11, 2013)

saswat23 said:


> So, Foxconn is a Manufacturing company or its a Pcakaging/Assembling company?



Both I guess.



Anorion said:


> ^whats the diff?
> Foxconn still makes stuff for Apple, Sony, Amazon, HP, MS, Google...
> All internships, including 14 year olds. Dont see whats so wrong about it.
> Hard work never killed anyone



I don't believe students should do manual labor, at least not unpaid. Besides, that internship is a guise to get cheap (free) labor.


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## Mr.Kickass (Oct 11, 2013)

Anorion said:


> All internships, including 14 year olds. Dont see whats so wrong about it.
> Hard work never killed anyone



You need to dig a little more. No internship makes headlines except for the huge stipend that they have to offer. This isn't the reason why its in the news



DeSmOnD dAvId said:


> that internship is a guise to get cheap (free) labor.



This is the short answer


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## Gollum (Oct 11, 2013)

holy ****, I'm not gonna buy the first gen ps4 then. a console made by rookies with have serious issues like cold solder and loose wires.


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