American work ethic

EDITOR: In Friday's paper you ran a column by Thomas Friedman in which he patronizes downtrodden American workers claiming "average isn't enough in today's economy." One of the examples he lauded is the production output of the iPhone factory in China. What he failed to mention is the factory, Foxconn, has recently been the subject of numerous exposes targeting the exploitation of workers.

Workers live in dormitories, up to 10 people each, and make about $140 a month. Some employees are as young as 13 and work more than 60 hours per week. There have been so many suicides that Foxconn erected nets around the perimeter of their buildings to catch falling bodies.

The American worker Friedman puts down in favor of foreign sweatshops is still the world's most productive worker (GNP divided by number of employees). Friedman should be ashamed, not because he wouldn't survive a single day in a Chinese factory, but because he is both ignorant and contemptuous of the work ethic that made America great.

TONY ALVAREZ

Santa Rosa