[doublepost=1459497517][/doublepost]
Somehow I don’t think the image is a typical representation of workers in the factory.
“Apple’s way” is still severely lacking. It’s wishful thinking the number represents a “department” number, more likely an employee number, no name, just employee number. The fine stripes and number is reminiscent of a prison uniform, but with an Apple-esque styling that is fit for website propaganda.
[doublepost=1459498153][/doublepost]
Wrong. Apple’s extended offshore factory workers should get equivalent or better working conditions and pay. Let’s clear up the hyperbole and some inaccuracies.
Wages
- The
wage of an Apple factory worker
in China is about
$310 USD per month. (2000 Chinese Yuan per month, but somewhere between 850 Chinese Yuan per month to 2030 Chinese Yuan.)
- The
wage of a factory worker
in the USA is about
$3900 USD. (Notice the extra zero?)
Hours of work
- The
hours of work in
Apple’s offshore factories are at least
60 hours with records showing Apple’s offshore factory workers can frequently work up to more than 100 hours in a week.
- The
hours of work in the
USA is around
40 hours.
Buying an iPhone
-
iPhone SE 16GB price
in China is
$510 USD. (3288 Chinese Yuan.)
-
iPhone SE 16GB price
in the USA is
$399 USD.
So a summary:
- Apple’s offshore factory workers are receiving a tiny fraction of the equivalent wage in the USA. (< 8%, $3590 less in wages each month.)
- Apple’s offshore factory workers are working up to and more than twice the permitted hours than the equivalent in the USA. (150% - 250%, 20 - 60 extra hours worked per week.)
- Apple’s offshore factory workers will need to pay at least a quarter more than customers in the USA to buy an iPhone. (127%, $111 USD more.)
There’s no question, that’s corporate exploitation. No one can deny that here. Apple has nothing to be proud of with this current record and shareholders should be worried about future claims for compensation. This doesn’t even factor in other missing working conditions at Apple’s offshore factories.
Apple’s offshore factory workers are working incredibly longer hours, for incredibly less pay. Clearly Apple’s offshore factory workers are being exploited, getting a morally bankrupt raw deal out of life.
Just because Apple’s employees work under a shell company such as “Foxconn” or “Pegatron”, does’t mean they aren’t Apple employees. If your sole job daily is to manufacture parts and products for Apple, guess what, you’re an Apple employee no matter how many shell companies your employment structure is buried under. These people deserve at least the equivalent or better working conditions and wages to those working in the USA.
I’m speaking here for those who can’t speak for themselves and because I’m disgusted with anyone trying to defend Apple’s engagement in poor practice. Apple can do much better.
EDIT: I've received a complaint for not providing sources. Actually, I did mention the agencies for the sources below, but I now provide links:
Apple
http://www.apple.com
BBC
China File
https://www.chinafile.com/reporting...hina-apple-supplier-pays-workers-less-foxconn
China Labor Watch
http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/report/107
CNET
http://www.cnet.com/au/news/low-wag...persist-at-iphone-factory-claims-labor-group/
Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timwors...ndia-then-las-15-minimum-wage-will-cost-jobs/
Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/average-cost-factory-worker_n_1327413.html
Market Watch
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/it...-wages-to-afford-10000-apple-watch-2015-03-10
[doublepost=1459498295][/doublepost]
Some time ago, a lot of Apple’s manufacturing occurred in the USA. Take the iMac for instance, it was manufactured in the USA by Apple employees for many years. Today the most standard order iMacs are manufactured in offshore Apple factories. These offshore factory workers are still Apple employees, still manufacturing Apple products, the only difference is that they are paid so very poorly, working many, many more hours of overtime, working in poorer working conditions.
Apple could easily ramp up production inside the USA as they do in China, the only difference is that Apple wants to pay the least amount it can for production and work every inch out of the factory workers located in special economic zones guarded by security. Not open not transparent operations clearly. Factories such as Foxconn are moving to places like India because wages are even cheaper. Apple has been a wholly complicit partner in this and a direct or indirect contributor to driving down wages and conditions through its factory negotiations. It’s a shameful aspect of Apple. It’s a reason I hold on to my devices as long as possible. Apple could be much better. It needs to end this entrenched form of discrimination and this modern pseudo slavery.
[doublepost=1459498382][/doublepost]
There is no privacy issue here, just a straw argument. Thanks for your own experience, but I suspect your client and supplier relationship doesn’t lead to compensation that is less than 10% of the amounts typically expected.
[doublepost=1459498423][/doublepost]
Yes, all lives are valuable. “..always eventually results in more harm than good” is a ridiculous statement. No, paying people correctly is not harmful. What is harmful is paying people < 10% the typical payment and working them more than double the maximum hours.
[doublepost=1459498458][/doublepost]
Apple is very good at carefully crafting there public relations strategy and putting out convincing press releases. Thank you for clarifying this.
[doublepost=1459498490][/doublepost]
Yes, good point. Exactly. Standards should be set at the best practice, not a race to the bottom. Yes, bring standards up to Australian levels or even those in France, Germany, Netherlands or other places that value human beings as people.
[doublepost=1459498541][/doublepost]
That argument displays a morally bankrupt view of the world. Also, there is no such thing as a free market with unbalanced laws governing trade. If someone is living in poverty, you give them a hand, you don’t entrench them into an exploitative system with incredibly low wages, extensive work hours in poor working conditions such that of Apple’s factories offshore. The natural order which sets humans apart is the ability to intellectualize problems and create an intellectual response that is more beneficial to everyone involved.
[doublepost=1459498591][/doublepost]
Truth hurts. Not a delusional socialistic pipe dream, but an open reflection of the situation at hand. Accuracy and honesty is what counts here, not canned statements like that.
[doublepost=1459498664][/doublepost]
Yes, you have got that right: lots of companies [like Apple] “use” [or abuse] Foxconn.
Apple is in an incredible position of power to pay and give employees great wages and conditions. So it should.
I refuse to believe some Apple Executives are in any way comfortable with the production standards it accepts at Apple offshore factories.