>> I thought the people who built and assembled computers were highly skilled
>> tecnicians, even overseas.
>>
>> Betty D
>
>Sorry to tell you, Betty, but computers and microchips are usually built
>by "legal" or "illegal," female, immigrant workers from the "third world"
>who have little to no education, get paid atrociously low wages, get no
>health or benefits, and are not allowed to organize themselves. The working
>conditions are horrendous. The production of microchips, for example,
>requires the workers to look through a microscope the entire time they
>are working (they are forced to work something like 12-18 hours a day),
>which destroys their eye sight and after a few years they go blind. Also,
>working on microchips requires some kind of "welding" which in the
>process produces poisonous gases and the workers have to breath them
>because their employer does not provide adequate protection.
>
>And as for your "even overseas" part of your post, do I sense racist,
>elitist undertones, here?
>
>-Susan
Sorry, but I've been away for awhile and am just catching up.
Any racist or elitist overtones you see in my post are strictly your own. I
was simply recognising that many have the impression that plant workers in
other countries are poorly paid, when in fact relative to their own
economies they are quite well paid, as is the case here and much of Europe.
Betty D
