Simple fix. Require US companies to pay workers in those countries at least the same minimum wage as is in the US. If they dont, they get taxed twice the difference with corporate taxes. So if US minimum wage is $8 an hour, and they are paying a worker $1 an hour in India, they get taxed $14 per hour for not paying the US minimum wage.
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Apple Places Supplier Wistron on Probation Following Worker Unrest in India [Updated]
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Seems like you've never been to India or any similar country.
So, the USA government would have to send an army of accountants to audit the third party companies that actually make the products, in sovereign countries that are not the USA? Simple, indeed.
US government can look at the books of US companies. Apple knows exactly how much their sub contractors are paying their employees. Apple can easily enforce higher wages by not awarding contract to companies that don't follow the laws the US government applies to US companies. It about time western governments take action to stop the practice of companies from their countries using slave labor from 3rd world countries to get rich. Apple is just another company that would rather make billions off the back of cheap labor, than do what is right. Their propaganda that they actually care about the world is nothing more than corporate BS.
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Good for India. It’s long past time that companies doing the off-shoring be held responsible when their suppliers inevitably skirt local labor and environmental laws.
Pffft, you make your own luck. And Apple have been digging a big fat greedy hole for quite a few years now. I'd say there's quite a few people that are after them actually, no conspiracy theory required.
Why is it political, and not economics? Because how the economy is handled is a core part of politics. It's capitalism vs socialism. Big business vs unions. An entrepreneur's right to make money unfettered, vs the workers' rights to be treated fairly. It's core political.
It sounds like three sides were in the wrong on this one. The employees for the destruction, the employer for the wrongdoing, and Apple for rewarding bad behavior.
Apple should not be supporting employees that destroy company property due to a dispute. Would they also support US employees that have a beef and start ransacking their stores?
Maybe the employees had legitimate grievances, but destruction is the wrong approach, and should have been dealt with through whatever legal/criminal means were available in India. Apple should have stayed out of it.
Apple should not be supporting employees that destroy company property due to a dispute. Would they also support US employees that have a beef and start ransacking their stores?
Maybe the employees had legitimate grievances, but destruction is the wrong approach, and should have been dealt with through whatever legal/criminal means were available in India. Apple should have stayed out of it.
But actually, yes.
The cost of most items directly corresponds to the mol-miles involved in taking it from raw materials to the point of delivery.
Is China where the raw materials originate? Is China where the final delivery happens?
To have the lowest cost possible, mine as close to the final delivery as possible. iPhones are mostly sold in California? Mine and manufacture them in that area (maybe a nearby state if California is too congested, but there's a lot of desert in California, so I'd be surprised if that was the case.)
Human labor is expensive? Why are humans involved? Have the people involved in designing the phone (or whatever) work closely with the people who will design the assembly line - design the product with ease of robotic production being one of the considerations.
Many/most people think that setting prices works by taking the production cost and adding some percentage (like 10%) for profit, and that's how you get the price. That's not how things work, AT ALL.
Prices that items are sold at are set by ONE thing and one thing only:
How much people are willing to pay for them.That's it. The cost of production is irrelevant to how much you pay for them at the store. The only thing the production cost impacts is how much profit the company makes, and if the cost of production is too high (or in the worst case, is higher than what people are willing to pay), then the company just doesn't make/sell them.
Have you ever noticed that cost of Apple products is just high enough to make you feel like "this is a bit overpriced", but never too much that makes you say "no way, I'm not buying this".
This feeling is carefully calculated to get you to pay the maximum amount you're willing to, without pushing it too far so you don't buy at all. And the more locked-in you get to Apple products, the more likely you are to go just a little bit higher next time.
I do think they have stepped over into the ridiculous territory for some of their recent items, like the Magsafe Duo charger and the AirPods Max. Those are just absurd prices. $350 for headphones was already pushing it.