Apple Outlines New Ban on Bonded Labor at Supplier Factories in 2015 Progress Report

[CFreymarc]

And then Foxconn says "okay" and Apple loses a lot more than Foxconn. What? You think Apple snaps its fingers and they do whatever they want?

Being on the supply end of Apple in the past, it is a lot like dating the hottest girl in the high school.

You get a lot of attention being with her. The rewards from the relationship are great.

She has her mood swings and demands. If you give her too much crap about her behavior, you are dumped. Then other guys chase her and you're forgotten about in a week.

 

[PJL500]

Explain how Apple can dictate what another company pays their employees.

This entire article is about Apple dictating terms to many other companies.

 

[jm001]

Apple spends many billions on ridiculous solar farms but can't pay the workers a living wage in other countries.

One thing Apple is not is a humanitarian company which is why they spend a lot of time trying to tell everything they are.

You would think that Apple could use that money they spend on solar farms to help pay better wages and provide EXCEPTIONAL working conditions. After all, it is these folks that are the bread and butter of Apple.

I am sure I will get bashed, but unfortunately as much as I love Apple products, this is the sad truth.

The companies in those countries are the ones that pay the workers not Apple. Apple have contracts with those companies that supply the parts and the facilities that assemble their products.

 

[Michael Goff]

Being on the supply end of Apple in the past, it is a lot like dating the hottest girl in the high school.

You get a lot of attention being with her. The rewards from the relationship are great.

She has her mood swings and demands. If you give her too much crap about her behavior, you are dumped. Then other guys chase her and you're forgotten about in a week.

Are you suggesting Foxconn needs Apple to be relevant?

This entire article is about Apple dictating terms to many other companies.

Yeah, they can dictate a bit. But they can only do it so much, and the wages that most people here would want them to dictate are likely to get ä laugh com Foxconn.

 

[audieddie]

Ehhhhh. Sorry but this is still ridiculous. They were blessed with one rest day after seven working days? Terrific. How nice of them.

These poor souls are being exploited. Just call it what it is. Please. Thanks.

Whatever though, as long as the obnoxious shareholders and hedge fund crooks are happy.... That's all that really matters.

The irony lies in your sig.

"__________________
iPad Air 32GB / AT&T
iPod Nano 7th gen, space grey
"

Seems like you are the food source for said exploitation.

 

[Keirasplace]

Most are employees of the CM where labor laws are much different. In most of the USA, employer supplied, fill time housing is illegal (one of the few good things about FDR's New Deal) where you have dorm of employees living together and working in more of a commune / kibbutz style instead of a private housing.



The term has no meaning and it just another piece of PR schlock.



You'd be surprised when the PRC boys do when the cameras are off. If you are handing out money in public in China, I'm sure some officer will find or use the general "abnormal behavior law" (unconstitutional in the USA) to detain and question him. The some local party official will find out how much money you are worth, shake you up and then tell you not to do it again.



Such a general statement, not even worth of comment.

The reason these people live at the factory is the Chinese government doesn't give them permit to reside in the cities were those factories are. That's why their families are still in the countryside.

Employee in Apple factories probably have some of the highest wages of any factory jobs in China. That's why they are so sought after. To us, the salary may seem low. But, for them these are much more than living wages (and much much higher than what they had in the countryside).

 

[hleewell]

If you built these devices in the United States, you wouldn't have to completely redefine another country's labor practices.

Tax & union laws. And every other thing that makes US companies move overseas. How much is too much tax?

 

[Mycoolroy]

Happy for them.

 

[apolloa]

Well this is hypocritical IMO... I await to see what the documentary makers secretly film in the factories later in the year.

 

[rick987611]

If you built these devices in the United States, you wouldn't have to completely redefine another country's labor practices.

At this point it would be near impossible to build the iPhone in the United States. These factories are setup as cities. Cities that are larger than most US cities.

 

[paradox00]

Well this is hypocritical IMO... I await to see what the documentary makers secretly film in the factories later in the year.

How is it hypocritical? Apple releases these reports annually. If you think this ones hypocritical, you must have thought the same last year. Where's the documentary proving last years report was hypocritical, now that it's a year later?

 

[coolfactor]

Ehhhhh. Sorry but this is still ridiculous. They were blessed with one rest day after seven working days? Terrific. How nice of them.

These poor souls are being exploited. Just call it what it is. Please. Thanks.

Whatever though, as long as the obnoxious shareholders and hedge fund crooks are happy.... That's all that really matters.

Oh, give me a break. I'm self-employed in Canada, and I have ZERO rest days, and a below-poverty income. That's because 80% of my income goes right back into keeping my business running. Do you see me complaining about poor working conditions, endless hours? Nobody is forcing me to do this. It's my choice, with the DREAM that one day my sacrifice will pay off. It's the same for many of these people...

I've been befriending many Asian people, mostly Filipinos, over the past four years. For them, working 12-hour days, 6 days a week is status quo. They APPRECIATE their day of. They make the most of it. Most of them are doing that work by choice. They leave behind their families and loved ones to go do that. Sure, from our perspective, it seems like slave labour, and in some rare cases it might be, but the vast majority of it is just boring, monotonous work that pays a wage that they use to support their families back home.

You can try to instil our Western standards (2 rest days PER 7?) on these hard-working factory workers, but you need to realize that they have a very different lifestyle from us, and very different priorities. It's not slave-labour. It's committed work. They choose to make that sacrifice for their families. How many Westerners would venture off only to send most of their earnings back to their families in America? I'll tell you –*very few! That's a big difference between us and them, and Apple is defining stringent guidelines to ensure that they are not exploited by these companies.

 

[apolloa]

How is it hypocritical? Apple releases these reports annually. If you think this ones hypocritical, you must have thought the same last year. Where's the documentary proving last years report was hypocritical, now that it's a year later?

If you haven't been following the new on Apple's suppliers.....

https://www.macrumors.com/2014/12/15/bbc-one-apples-broken-promises/

I watched it and yes, Apple is hypocritical. So it will be very interesting to see if things change.

 

[coolfactor]

Tax & union laws. And every other thing that makes US companies move overseas. How much is too much tax?

And unreasonably high wages, particularly in the more advanced skilled trades, such as doctors, dentists and lawyers. There's no sane reason that they need to be making $100-500 per hour of work. I tell you - if dentistry costs were in reach of more middle-class people, we'd have a much healthier, happier world.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

LOL at that picture of happy clapping Chinese people, as if they were delivered this news.

Yep. Guy armed with AK47 off-camera... "smile for the camera!"

 

[Karma*Police]

Apple spends many billions on ridiculous solar farms but can't pay the workers a living wage in other countries.

One thing Apple is not is a humanitarian company which is why they spend a lot of time trying to tell everything they are.

You would think that Apple could use that money they spend on solar farms to help pay better wages and provide EXCEPTIONAL working conditions. After all, it is these folks that are the bread and butter of Apple.

I am sure I will get bashed, but unfortunately as much as I love Apple products, this is the sad truth.

I'm not bashing you, but your statements are not based on reality.

1) solar farms are not ridiculous. Burning fossil fuels which poison the air we breathe is. And those billions employ a lot of people.

2) the folks assembling iPhones are not the bread and butter of Apple; the geniuses who design and engineer them are. Any kid off the street can assemble an iPhone (with proper training) which is why they get paid crap wages

3) Apple never claimed to be a humanitarian company. If they were, people wouldn't have over $700 billion invested in them.

 

[Rogifan]

If you haven't been following the new on Apple's suppliers.....

https://www.macrumors.com/2014/12/15/bbc-one-apples-broken-promises/

I watched it and yes, Apple is hypocritical. So it will be very interesting to see if things change.

Because news outlets like the BBC, New York Times etc. are just relaying the facts and have no agenda. BS.

 

[apolloa]

Because news outlets like the BBC, New York Times etc. are just relaying the facts and have no agenda. BS.

yeah mate, that's right, the BBC have their own agenda ... you can apologise all you like, but the facts are the facts in the programme they made.

 

[japanime]

Ehhhhh. Sorry but this is still ridiculous. They were blessed with one rest day after seven working days? Terrific. How nice of them.

You're applying US standards on another country. Six-day work weeks are common throughout Asia, including here in Japan.

 

[WardC]

Remember when the Apple team looked like this?

 

[elmateo487]

Okay, the way they're handling it when they catch underage workers is awesome. Punishing the employer without punishing the employee who was just desperate for some money. Very nicely handled.

Yes. Let's reward the worker who lied about his age.

 

[joelypolly]

Yes. Let's reward the worker who lied about his age.

More like punish companies that fail to do their own due diligence

 

[Mycoolroy]

Oh boy, where to start.

1) You do realize that none of these people are in fact actual APPLE EMPLOYEES?

2) Apple does not claim to be a "humanitarian company". And what does that term even mean? In fact, I know of no company that does. This is simply a straw man argument.

3) Nothing stopping you from flying over to China and handing out $20 bills to employees leaving the factory. Anything is easy for the guy who doesn't have to do it.

4) People only get bashed for making stupid claims while trying to act superior.

Haha #3 is a really good point, people are so generous with other peoples money.

 

[H2SO4]

Bonded labour is just another form of slavery, literally. Bonded servants and indentured servants were the first slaves in North America. Bravo to Apple for using their clout to fight this scourge.

And to those trying to spin this into something bad, (with their billions Apple should..., or if they only made stuff in the US ..., etc.) name me one other company that is doing this sort of thing. Samsung? Microsoft? Google? GE? Toyota? Any company getting their systems, parts, or components from the third world doing anything approaching this? The answer is no. Nobody is doing as much either publicly or privately, and Apple does a lot behind the scenes without making a big deal about it.

Apple is leading the way on third world workers rights, on conflict minerals, and on environmentally consious operations. Whether they're doing it because it's the right thing to do or because it's good business is irrelevant.

Gotta be the. most ridiculous. statement. here.
Everything is a choice.

It is down to what a company can afford or thinks they can afford to do. There are millions of companies that do not, (whether by choice or by force), ship out to third world countries for labour. Their profit margin is lower granted but it goes to show you can build in house and still survive if you choose.

What Apple has done is to look at the amount of money they stand to lose and decided it’s not in their business interests to build at home and that how workers are treated is not quite important enough, that’s fine but plesse don’t spin it as ‘Apple are great and caring’. They could choose to build in the US, (I’m not even American so don’t care that much), and make less profit, if they wanted to.

 

[the8thark]

If you built these devices in the United States, you wouldn't have to completely redefine another country's labor practices.

You'd also be paying 5x the $$ you do now for your Apple products.