My Big, Gigantic Drum Kit

“India Factory Workers Revolt, Kill Company President.” (via marathonpacks)

I’ll admit this is far more intuitive leap than specific, supportable connection, but I couldn’t help but interpret the Regency Ceramics incident in light of a conversation I recently had about this article on Apple’s outsourcing of tech jobs.  Apple may claim “It isn’t just that workers are cheaper abroad” and pin their outsourcing on “flexibility, diligence, and industrial skills of foreign workers,” but it’s still fundamentally a matter of cheap labor, as long as U.S. companies are getting all of that flexibility, diligence, and industrial skill at a bargain. In the case of Apple, this means Chinese workers in Foxxcon living in dorms, working 12-hour days/6-day weeks, and earning around $17-a-day. There may be plenty of U.S. workers just as flexible, diligent, and skilled, but, quite reasonably, few would be willing to work under those conditions.

Like I said, this is certainly more of an intuitive connection (China vs. India, tech vs. ceramics, U.S. outsourcing vs. locally-owned company), but that a wage dispute could—perhaps understandably, if not justifiably—inspire an outright attack on a company president (to say nothing of the murder of a union leader) demonstrates the very real differences in labor treatment here and abroad. I don’t think it’s out of line to question any U.S. corporation who claims outsourcing isn’t about cheap labor.