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Apple To Help Foxconn Improve Factories
An anonymous reader writes "In a welcome move, Apple has agreed to help share initial costs with Foxconn in improving the factories being used to manufacture iDevices. From the article: 'Foxconn chief Terry Gou did not give a figure for the costs, but the group has been spending heavily to fight a perception its vast plants in China are sweatshops with poor conditions for its million-strong labor force. It regards the criticism as unfair. "We've discovered that this (improving factory conditions) is not a cost. It is a competitive strength," Gou told reporters on Thursday after the ground-breaking ceremony for a new China headquarters in Shanghai. "I believe Apple sees this as a competitive strength along with us, and so we will split the initial costs."'"
Actually, it will...because the truth is that Foxconn is not at all bad when you look at working conditions in China across the board. So, if Apple publicly does this and makes Foxconn a great place to work, they can then turn this whole perception around by highlighting what it's like for the workers who make HTC/Samsung/Motorola/etc devices.
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
Do honestly think Apple would be doing this if they didn't think it would increase their profit margin in the medium to long term at least?
So what? If people's lives are improved, does it really matter what motivations are behind it? If this increases Apple's profit, that is a good thing, because it will set a good example for other corporations.
Yes, some companies care about conditions of the workforce.
If they gave a fuck about the conditions of the workforce, they'd do their manufacturing in the US. Or some other 1st world country with laws that protect their workers.
--Jeremy
Jesus was a liberal