HP has demanded more stringent regulations for its factories responsible for manufacturing its products in China. Outsourced labor has always been criticized for lack of regulations and "under-the-table" dealings for underage workers. However, there has been a movement among leading producers in the tech industry such as Apple and HP to require better standards overseas. Underage workers are often recruited by agencies on the basis of internships and temporary assignments. However, it is common practice that documents are forged and not permitted to leave on their own accord. Now, HP is demanding that suppliers must allow students to leave whenever they want, student employment will be limited, and all Chinese labor regulations will be followed. The real question is why this wasn't the case before. But for what it's worth, I think it is important for Apple and HP to be paving the way for other companies and industries as well. With these new regulations and future regulations, will more companies consider production domestically?
http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/08/technology/hp-china-student-labor/index.html?iid=SF_E_River
2 comments:
Outsourcing has become more and more popular over the years in big economies like US or EU due to high labor costs of domestic production. This is good news as it signals a movement towards higher standards in goods produced overseas which I believe accounts for the good portion of goods in the US. I wonder, though, if this is going to raise the price of goods in the long run.
I also believe that it is a great thing to see large, well-known companies lead the way in regulating outsourced jobs. Despite these new regulations, I don't think companies will consider production domestically anytime soon. It is still cheaper to produce overseas. Unless our federal government raises incentives for domestic production, I don't think the US companies would shift back to domestic production anytime soon. After reading the article, I do believe the current generation in Asian countries are more knowledgeable about how their work conditions are worse compared to other countries. In that respect, I think more and more strikes will occur and unions will demand more power. I think this will be more influential than foreign companies coming in. Don't get me wrong, I believe foreign companies will help, but the main push for stronger regulations I think will be from domestic pressures.
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