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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."
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.
It makes sense, Apple is known to have the largest profit margin by far in the tech industry (close to 40% gross, 20% net), so there is no "room" for them, they have to pass on any drop in revenue to their suppliers. Well, I mean, there is no room if they are adamant at maintaining the largest, by far, profit margin...
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
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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Yeah, they're perfectly free to go back to dire poverty and hunger if they want. No one is holding a gun to their heads to force them to feed their kids and have basic shelter.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
As long as the employees are not forcibly coerced to work there, I fail to be outraged.
I really have a hard time calling these students "volunteers"
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Having a fiduciary duty to make a profit does not extend to or excuse a violation of law, or asking others to violate law. That's what you "fiduciary duty" people seem not to get; that duty does not supercede law, ethics or morality in any way. Stop making excuses for the sociopaths making the world a worse place for your kids to live, and stop holding their actions up as a paradigm that you and everyone else should follow. Seriously. Just stop.
You are assuming we exist to serve an economy. But an economy isn't a living thing and that's not how it works. An economy has no rights.
The economy exists to serve the people. It has no other justification.
Not all coercion is in the form of physical force. Work for slave wages or starve, for example, is a form of coercion.
Unions are a worker's way of reminding management that without workers, they would have to actually labor themselves or starve.
Why do you need a union? As long as there isn't work coercion, if you don't like the pay rate, or the quality of the workplace, leave.
Unions are sometimes very good for society. Sometimes management is abusive or corrupt. Sometimes there aren't any good jobs available even if someone wants to leave. Sometimes the company is making excessive profits at the expense of workers. Sometimes unions can correct power imbalances. It's very trite to say "if you don't like the situation leave" but that's not realistic for many people. Many people cannot easily leave their job even if they want to. Unions can be very effective at correcting management abuses and protecting those who are likely to be taken advantage of. Many of the features of the modern working life exist thanks to unions including 40 hour work weeks, paid time off, worker safety laws, engineering standards, and much more.
Are unions always a good thing? Absolutely not. Sometimes unions forget about the health of the company and make excessive demands. Sometimes unions make the companies economically uncompetitive. Sometimes unions protect dead weight or problem workers who really shouldn't be protected. Sometimes unions engage in corrupt behavior.
Unions become a problem when they forget their purpose and get too greedy. Management gets unions when they forget about caring for their employees and get too greedy.
Apple should be negotiating the best rates it's from its suppliers. In fact, being publicly traded, it would be unethical not to.
Woah... hold on there. Just because a company can legally do something does not make it automatically ethical. Maximizing profit is routinely at odds with ethical and responsible behavior. The fact that Apple management has a fiduciary duty does NOT mean they have no other legal or ethical obligations. Fiduciary duty is merely one among many legal and ethical obligations of a company. In fact getting the best piece rate from a supplier often is actually counterproductive. Squeezing a supply chain for every penny actually results in unhealthy suppliers and is bad for the Apple in the long run.
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
"unless they are being coerced"
Funny how much like coercion an empty belly is.
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