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Apple Is Making Life Terrible In Its Factories (theregister.co.uk)
An anonymous reader writes: Pressure from Apple to lower costs is driving worsening conditions for workers at the company's manufacturing partners.
This according to watchdog group China Labor Watch, which says that under CEO Tim Cook, the Cupertino giant has asked the companies that assemble its products to cut their own costs, and those demands have led them to cut back on worker pay and factory conditions. Specifically, the group reports that Pegatron has been passing on financial pressures from Apple by committing multiple violations of Chinese labor laws on fair pay and workplace safety.
"Working conditions are terrible, and workers are subject to terrible treatment," China Labor Watch writes. "Currently, Apple's profits are declining, and the effects of this decline have been passed on to suppliers. To mitigate the impact, Pegatron has taken some covert measures to exploit workers."
This according to watchdog group China Labor Watch, which says that under CEO Tim Cook, the Cupertino giant has asked the companies that assemble its products to cut their own costs, and those demands have led them to cut back on worker pay and factory conditions. Specifically, the group reports that Pegatron has been passing on financial pressures from Apple by committing multiple violations of Chinese labor laws on fair pay and workplace safety.
"Working conditions are terrible, and workers are subject to terrible treatment," China Labor Watch writes. "Currently, Apple's profits are declining, and the effects of this decline have been passed on to suppliers. To mitigate the impact, Pegatron has taken some covert measures to exploit workers."
As long as the employees are not forcibly coerced to work there, I fail to be outraged.
I don't respond to or upvote ACs
I'm no Apple fanboy (just actually switched most my stuff away) but it's worth noting that the Register are well known for having an anti-Apple bias in their reporting.
Other companies use the same manufacturers - I would argue that consumers in general wanting lower priced tech is causing this, not specifically Apple - they just get a lot more scrutiny with being such a huge tech company.
Where independent unions are banned.
Basically when China and Russia gave up on socialism, they created a version of capitalism in the image of what they imagined capitalism to be; not the kind of liberal society you find in advanced Western democracies with their regulated market economies and worker's rights guarantees.
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Don't you remember the good old days when companies would grow profits by innovating? Even Apple used to be there not too long ago. It seems the the whole world has run out of ideas and so there's one last idea to run into the ground: squeeze suppliers.
If life in an Apple contracted factory is bad, it must be even worse working for lower margin companies. Where is the outrage about the working conditions in the factories that supply the thousands of other companies that source their manufacturing in China?
If the Chinese people are unhappy with their worker and environmental protections, the Chinese people need to make those changes. We, in the west, can not and should not change China to what we feel is the "right" way.
Where independent unions are banned.
Basically when China and Russia gave up on socialism, they created a version of capitalism in the image of what they imagined capitalism to be; not the kind of liberal society you find in advanced Western democracies with their regulated market economies and worker's rights guarantees.
Actually the Chineese Capitalist system looks remarkably similar to the American "Gilded Age." The horrible exploitation of labor during this period is what gave rise to Unions and the "Progressive Era." How things are going to play out with China's single party system is anybody's guess but so far the Ruling party has shown little tolerance for Organized labor. Russia is a very different story, their economy is based largely on exploitation of natural resources, mostly oil. As John McCain put it "Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country". They have little on the way of private Capital investment, the linchpin of a Capitalist system
Where independent unions are banned.
Independent unions are not banned in China. They were before 2008, but labor rights in China have changed a lot since then. Most importantly, unions now have the right to declare strikes against private companies (but not at SOEs). These strikes are generally tolerated by the government, especially at foreign owned companies. Pegatron is a foreign company (Taiwanese).
I am skeptical about the claims made in TFA for several reasons. First, in the past, these sorts of claims have often turned out to be fabricated. Second, the only actual evidence is some photos of employees drying their clothes by hanging them up. News flash: 90% of the world dries clothes that way. Third, most labor centers in China, including Shenzhen, Shanghai, etc. are suffering from labor shortages, and if conditions at Pegatron were really bad, the employees could cross the street and get a better job in about 10 minutes.
How things are going to play out with China's single party system is anybody's guess but so far the Ruling party has shown little tolerance for Organized labor.
And they will continue to quash it hard. They see how unions in the west are often political organizations as well and that the most well-meaning of unions eventually become political machines. Obviously the CCP is having none of that! Even if the politics could be kept out of it, the idea of a large organization of people is reprehensible to the CCP. Turns out that if people are unified and they start to disagree with the administration's policies, unrest and upheaval are not far away. The CCP has one mission: keep the CCP in power.
Xi's administration has made a public crusade out of stamping out corruption but while doing so, he has tightened the screws on control. Censorship has been worsening since my first visit in 2011--and that's impressive considering how bad it was the first time. This year, I found it utterly unbearable.
There are a variety of online articles that contradict your claim that independent labor unions are allowed in China such as this one , this one, and this one. Perhaps Chinese labor unions are defined in law but protections are not enforced in practice like their environmental regulations.
Given Chinese censorship of news and social media it is difficult for anyone including Chinese citizens to know exactly what takes place in that country. I am more inclined to believe the accusations of dissidents than the wealthy authoritarian party's propaganda.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be-T J