Report: College Students Forced To Make the PlayStation 4

[Ironman273]

Report: College Students Forced To Make the PlayStation 4





While the PlayStation 3 was originally produced in Japan, Sony now outsources its hardware assembling to Foxconn. So, the PlayStation 4 is being made in China. And according to reports, thousands of college students were forced to manufacture it.

 

Shanghai's Dongfang Daily (via China.com) reports that "thousands" of students from Xi'an Technological University worked at Foxconn's plant in the coastal Chinese city of Yantai as part of a work-study program that lasted from August to this October.

 

Chinese news reports state that the program was mandatory, and if they students did not participate, they would not receive their diploma. Some students said that leaving the program early would even cost them six college credits.

 

According to the students, they were given tasks and jobs that were unrelated to their majors or fields of study. Apparently, they also did manual labor.

 

China.com reports that student Wang Yiran said the program was a must for seniors and if it wasn't completed, regular fourth-year classes would not commence. First year and second year students, however, were also apparently in the program. According to Wang (via TechInAsia), she and her friends were put on the PS4 line, doing menial tasks all day long like removing the console's protective film and putting stickers on the machines.

"It's like being a robot," said Wang. Standing all day made her feet swollen, and she complained about the noisy factory floor.

 

Wang said the schedule was tough: Apparently, the students were working eleven hours a day?longer if there was overtime. Wang said there was a thirty-minute break at lunch, and there was a ten-minute break in the morning.

Another student, Li Xinzhou agreed with Wang, saying that he was forced to put PS4 manuals and cables inside the console's packaging as well as move and carry boxes. A couple students supposedly fainted.

 

 

The above photo, which reportedly shows college kids walking to the Yantai factory, is circulating on Chinese news sites.

 

Parents, China.com notes, were not happy and wondered why their kids had to go all the way to Yantai just to do manual labor.

 

The university does have a program with Foxconn, even praising 45 of its students for achieving the output of one thousand individuals at the factory (via TechInAsia). Back in fall 2012, however, the same Foxconn factory was accused of using teenagers to manufacture the Wii U.

 

Foxconn is refuting these latest allegations.Kotaku is following up with Sony and will update this article should the company comment.

 

Update: Foxconn told website Quartz (via TechInAsia) that an internal investigation revealed that the students were given night shifts and overtime. Both are violation of the company's policies. "Immediate actions have been taken to bring that campus into full compliance with our code and policies," said Foxconn. The company added that it was "reinforcing the policies of no overtime and no night shifts for student interns, even though such work is voluntary, and reminding all interns of their rights to terminate their participation in the program at any time."

 

Source: Kotaku

[StandingInAlley]

Had come to post this and then I saw that you had posted it here. Sony should really take it up like Apple does at times and keeps a check on them. 

[spenser.d]

Not exactly the first issue coming out of Foxconn.  It'd be nice if companies would stop sending them manufacturing contracts, but that seems unlikely.

[Nilus]

... and still I don't see anyone putting their hand up to pay more for their electronics :/

 

It is a shame this is what is has come to.

 

Funny how certain people who spam the Sony forum with good news seem to have 'missed' this one though.

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

This is pretty standard for Foxconn and to be honest its not like they are forcing them to do anything they are there willingly.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

... and still I don't see anyone putting their hand up to pay more for their electronics :/

 

It is a shame this is what is has come to.

 

Funny how certain people who spam the Sony forum with good news seem to have 'missed' this one though.

What is funny is I can easily flip your statement around and say it is funny how it was posted by a member who tends to only post good news about MS, but that was not necessary to do so. yet you felt the need to try and make it the other way around.

 

Not only that, but anyone who has been following the Foxconn debacle over the past few years knows this article is nothing but click bait considering the amount of electronics manufacturers out there use Foxconn. It is not just Sony who uses them...

 

It is, according to Wikipedia...

• Acer Inc. (Taiwan)[39]
• Amazon.com (United States)[7]
• Apple Inc. (United States)[40]
• Cisco (United States)[41]
• Dell (United States)[42]
• Google (United States)[43]
• Hewlett-Packard (United States)[44]
• Microsoft (United States)[45]
• Motorola Mobility (United States)[42]
• Nintendo (Japan)[46]
• Nokia (Finland)[40][47]
• Sony (Japan)[8]
• Toshiba (Japan) [48]
• Vizio (United States)[49]

 

It is pretty clear this was a click-bait article for Kotaku to get traffic since it is not only Sony who uses them, and it is only relevant right now since the PS4 is a hot topic in the gaming world. But hey, everyone needs to make a living.

[FriendlyBully]

Makes sense to me... you need to intern for a certain number of hours to get your credits.

 

Still sounds a heck of a lot better than what I had to deal with in the military. I had to work 14~16 hours a day, with every other weekend off for five months washing dishes and waxing floors. It was my food service during the period when a ship was coming out of a shipyard. I actually had to work a 24 hour day before too for a commissioning event. If we wanted to get off the shipyard for the day off, it was a three mile walk to get to the shipyard entrance, then a $20 cab ride to get to town. 

 

I don't think it's as bad as it sounds. Probably the privileged kids throwing a fit for what the poor people normally do. 

[Skiver Veteran]

Makes sense to me... you need to intern for a certain number of hours to get your credits.

 

Still sounds a heck of a lot better than what I had to deal with in the military. I had to work 14~16 hours a day, with every other weekend off for five months washing dishes and waxing floors. It was my food service during the period when a ship was coming out of a shipyard. I actually had to work a 24 hour day before too for a commissioning event. If we wanted to get off the shipyard for the day off, it was a three mile walk to get to the shipyard entrance, then a $20 cab ride to get to town. 

 

I don't think it's as bad as it sounds. Probably the privileged kids throwing a fit for what the poor people normally do. 

I feel very wrong for having this opinion in the event I am wrong but i thought exactly the same. Just sounds to me like most normal kids today, think the world owes them a living and not a clue what hard work is.

[firey]

As long as they weren't grumpy when they built mine and made it all ######.. I am fine with this.

[Showan]

Wow... Now this is one that can swing both ways..  If this is just good ol' fashioned work (interning, etc) to get your college credits, I say shut up and work.

 

But also,  all us gamers/geeks know of the shady things coming from Foxconn as of late.   And if they are 'forcing' these kids to do more than the program requirements and are dangling their futures over their heads as a control mechanism, well thats just not right.

 

It can be a case of kids over exaggerating..  Who knows...

[Ironman273]

What is funny is I can easily flip your statement around and say it is funny how it was posted by a member who tends to only post good news about MS, but that was not necessary to do so. yet you felt the need to try and make it the other way around.

 

Not only that, but anyone who has been following the Foxconn debacle over the past few years knows this article is nothing but click bait considering the amount of electronics manufacturers out there use Foxconn. It is not just Sony who uses them....

Well, I think that's kind of unfair.  Although I do prefer the Xbox I have posted (before I "returned") positive articles on the PS3 when they hadn't already been posted by someone like Audioboxer.  The thing is that by the time I ran across the article and checked here it was already posted.  I've also posted articles that were negative towards the Xbox.  It just so happens that I post articles as I come across them AND no one has posted them here.

 

Just because I prefer one console over another doesn't mean the sole reason for posting a pro or con article is to click bait or cause some invisible universal score board to check a mark for "my team."  I would've posted the article if it would've been about the Xbox, iPhone, Lumia or any other device I am interested in.

 

Coincidentally the reason I came on Neowin now was to post a "negative" article about how the Xbox One's Kinect is being trolled by people turning it off via audio.

[Growled Member]

That Foxconn is a sneaky snake of a company. It says a lot about our society that a lot of major companies use them to make their products.

[Osiris]

There interns, wtf do you think interns do.  Nothing to see here imo.

[spenser.d]

There interns, wtf do you think interns do.  Nothing to see here imo.

 

Hmm, yes.  All the colleges I know of force their students to work 11 hour days in order to get credit :rolleyes: