Apple- DO SOMETHING!

Recently, on January 2, 2012, around 300 Wuhan workers fled to the top of a factory building in order to get their way. They threatened their employers with mass suicide of jumping off the tall building over low wages. The workers were employed through Foxconn Technology Park in Wuhan in the Hubei province. This company was a manufacturing partner to Apple, Sony, and Microsoft. The employees had asked their bosses for a raise, but their employers told them to quit or keep their jobs at their normal salary pay. According to Huffington Post, Foxconn factories in China have been the scene of several suicides by workers in the past, including 14 in 2010 alone at its Shenzhen plant, after complaints of low pay and poor conditions. 

The Labor conditions that are happening in companies such as the Foxconn Technology Park should NOT be happening. According to a 2010 company report, Foxconn said it promotes "employee respect, an atmosphere of trust, and personal dignity,” but apparently not. I feel that if Foxconn is not going to keep an eye on the labor laws and follow them, then the sub-companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and Sony should enforce them, or get out. There are so many holes found in the system, its nuts. I could not imagine having to work in any of the conditions they do, such as starting to work at FoxConn at age 13, living in a three room apartment with 20 other employees, or having 84 hours of overtime a month, according to statistics at ProPublica. Labor Laws should be enforced by the companies the laborers work for.

            40 percent of the world’s consumer electronics are manufactured by FoxConn. If the companies aren’t going to step up to help the employees in need of higher wages and better working conditions, then maybe America should. Wuhan workers go on strike to get themselves better wages, and even threaten to create a mass suicide. Would it be so hard for America to strike the companies involved? If the population took the initiative to help those in need, we could put a dent in the Tech companies in no time, with the amount that FoxConn is manufacturing. I know that life without technology seems unbearable, but is it worth the lives of others? Is it worth letting other human beings work 34 continuous hours on electronics for the more fortunate? I think not.

            I feel that most of America, such as the companies that work for FoxConn only care about the money aspect. It’s much cheaper to pay FoxConn to manufacture their products because FoxConn works their employees too hard, and for very little pay, even if the employee has a college education. They aren’t thinking of the personal conditions the workers are going through. They are just sitting in their office enjoying the money that Low Wage FoxConn workers are making for them. Some disagree and think that Apple and other companies aren’t to blame, such as an article from The Loop, but I say they are. 

A Week in the Life of Me.

               As I have said before, I am in the distance dental hygiene program. I really do have to take each minute at a time to get through my weeks, but I seem to be making it okay. Since this was the second week, we were done going over our syllabus, which is always a sad day, and on to learning new material. My week started slow, but I knew as the days went on, the activity was going to progress.

                I had clinic on Monday where we continued to practice probing and exploring into our partners gingival, which is scary, and kind of hard. Probing has been easy for me because I am basically just jabbing a blunted instrument into my partner’s gums, but when it comes to exploring and feeling for calculus, I’m a bit dumb founded. It just is not making sense to me to put a curved pointed tip into the gums and keep it in there. I did it fine on our Frank (which is a dummy with teeth and gums to practice on), but actually going into healthy gums is difficult! Not only do I just have the stress of not being able to do it, we have a skill evaluation next week which is a make or break it test. I cannot fail, or I’m out. On top of that, I studied Monday night for a Radiology quiz which I had no idea how to study for, nor a desire.

                When Tuesday rolled around, I did not do so hot on the quiz because to me, radiology is boring. I will have to learn to like it though if I’m going to keep up this program business. I spent ANOTHER night on Tuesday studying for the upcoming Periodontics test we were going to have on Thursday, and then ANOTHER night studying for it again on Wednesday night. Wednesday night studying was a little tricky because it was my nephew’s one year old birthday, and I REALLY wanted to go eat pizza, and watch him dig into a very messy strawberry cake. So, of course personal life is ranked higher than school, and I did. It was fun being sociable, since the last two nights, I really wasn’t. If I have a test coming up, I have to lock myself in my room, make a huge pot of coffee to concentrate and talk to myself about the material, so I retain it. Weird, I know. Anyway, I went over and hoped that Briley would make a mess out of the cake. He didn’t, though, at all. He touched it and got disgusted, and then he tasted it, and was disgusted. Obviously sprinkles and strawberry cake was a very bad idea, so I left disappointed to go and lock myself in my room again to study. I ended up getting a 94% on my test! Woot! I guess pizza and cake were a good judgment call after all.

                 Now it’s Friday, my week has been long and stressful, and after sitting in a very long nutrition class today, I drove home, and decided I needed to relax. I made myself a big ol’ salad, packed with mushrooms, bright red tomatoes, sliced pickles, olives, cucumbers, carrots, and balsamic vinegar dressing. Yum. And to top it off, a glass or two of Moscato wine in a very pretty glass, I might add, because pretty glasses are what makes wine so fun to drink. Now, I promise I am not an alcoholic, and drink alcohol at 11:30 am every day, but today I felt it was needed. After eating such a healthy lunch, I decided to counteract it with a nice chunk of chocolate cake, with extra chocolate icing, and another glass of wine. BEST LUNCH EVER. Then I drifted off into a nice long nap. Now I’m writing this blog, and trying to get ready for the weekend of festivities with no work, thank goodness, and Briley’s birthday party, and more relaxing, before another week of crap starts ALL over again on Monday. :)

Introduction:)

Hi!
My name is Aubree, and I am from the boot heel of Missouri. I am a dental hygiene student and am currently attending the distance MSSU Sikeston Dental Hygiene Program. I am 21 years old, and I have a 4 year old. Her name is Tinker, and she is a Bicha-Poo puppy. I love her like a child. :) I do have two nephews, an 11 month old, and an 8 year old, whom I love to death! Also, this is my first online class, so I am very nervous to be doing everything through the computer, with no visual contact! All in all, I am very excited for the spring semester to begin.