Comment: Re:Apple and Foxconn (Score 2) 182
My mistake on the salary.
According to this article, the average salary was raised to $293/mo. (293*12)/2080 = $1.69/hr @ 40 hr/wk.
But that's not an accurate reflection of the pay rate. The employees work 12 to 16 hours a day, 6 to 7 days a week. So their week will be 72 to 112 hours. That makes their effective hourly wage (293*12)/(72*52) = 3516/3744 = $0.93/hr (293*12)/(112*52) = 3516/5824 = $0.60/hr
That's not a pay rate. That's payment to fit into a loophole so slavery is legal. If you think it's fair, I'll happily employ you with the above average pay of $1.00/hr.
The US minimum wage isn't $25/hr. The US federal minimum wage is $7.25/hr. ($15,080/yr) That is based on what a fair living wage is, but still puts a family of 2 under the poverty line. With 25% of workers in the US (adjusted U-6 number) unemployed, it can easily be assumed an "average" family of 4 (2 working age adults, 2 children), would living under the poverty line ($23,050 w/ 4 family members).
Unions in the US came about because employees were working too many hours (70+ hrs/wk), and paid too little to thrive (under the poverty line). I'm not a fan of some of the methodologies that unions used, but they did help resolve problems in the past. They shouldn't even be needed any more, but they lobby to keep pay rates fair, so people can survive and thrive.
There are current proposals on the table to remove US minimum wage laws. Yup, then we could compete with the foreign manufacturing plants. We'd also be increasing our working poor population.
Now, if you don't mind, try to use facts, rather than regurgitating Fox News "reporting". It only makes you look like an idiot.