Apple to Contribute Toward Costs of Improving Working Conditions at Foxconn Facilities

[laserbeam273]

People here are buying the spin, apple's manufacturing in China almost exclusively is massively problematic with china crushing human rights, political dissent and loss of jobs where apple had prior made things in the US and EU.

Here is an article at Peace Love & Apple Pie! Hope you like.

Why Apple Must Manufacture In USA

http://www.peaceloveapplepie.com/apple-must-manufacture-in-usa/

So in summary, Apple must manufacture in America because America is more important than the rest of the world. Even if it costs them more - people must donate to poor Uncle Sam.

To sample a nice quote from the article:

If a company slashed most of its blue collar jobs in favor of international manufacturing, are they really being responsible to the greater economy? Not at all, the globalization of manufacturing has had a material damage to local economy where many companies like Apple, GE, Cisco, HP and many more are based. When the greater economy heads into disaster, it is hard for many businesses to succeed.

Sorry, but the "greater economy" is the WORLD economy! By Apple moving its manufacturing out of the States to places like China (GDP per capita of 48k vs 5k respectively), they are finally spreading out some of the wealth to developing nations.

If America wants to get major manufacturing back in, they need to get more competitive at manufacturing. This might mean lower minimum wages - seems stupid to have minimum wages while companies walk off to get their manufacturing done cheaper, leaving high unemployment. If companies were to stick with America regardless of very uncompetitive costs, then America will only continue to get more uncompetitive, as they clearly won't need to compete with the rest of the world.

By the way, as an Australian, I happily substitute "America" with "Australia" for the above - we're going through the same issues, and if Australia doesn't get more competitive then we'll continue to lose more manufacturing.

As for the human rights issues, what Apple is currently doing with Foxconn is probably the most effective way to end them - a large corporation with lots of money telling local manufacturers how to operate ethically. The alternative is to walk away, let the human rights violations continue, and pretend your hands are clean. Much better that Apple gets its hands a bit dirty, and improves human rights in the long run.

I say all the above as I've lived overseas and seen serious poverty - places where if you earn USD 100 a month you're doing relatively well, because maybe you can afford a tiny home with a bare concrete floor. So I can't help but get irritated when people just want to build up countries like the US and Australia into economic mansions, and don't care for the figurative economic ghettos out there.

 

[fernan]

haha

I agree^^^

It does seem that since Cook took over Apple does seem to have more "heart". From a business point of view, if that sells more stuff, then fine. I'm more interested in actions, less in motivation. I don't particularly care why something good is done (selfish motives, increased sales), I just care that the good is done.



First Apple cares about selling stuff and making money for it's shareholders. That is their legal and fiduciary responsibility. Apple cares about it's customers to the degree that "caring" sells stuff. Frankly, Apple doesn't give a crap about you...and that's not their responsibility.

Please name ten of the "thousands of companies" to which you refer. And please support the "100 times worse" figure.

How do you know what it's like working for Foxconn? Have you worked there? Have you spent some time there?

"Choosing to work overtime" is a tricky concept. There is a saying..."rich and poor alike can sleep under the bridges of Paris. It's just that the rich don't choose to do so".

So that's the PROB with your post.

No, i haven't worked there thats true. But i dont understand why you hate apple so much. the world is bad nowadays and i mean , if you really feel terrible for the people being treated like crap , why dont YOU move to China and start helping them , make your own organization . IF YOU REALLY feel bad for these chinese ppl i suggest you move there and do something instead , tired of ppl who wants to stop every "evil" company but they themselves wouldnt even bother to put some act into it..

pz

 

[Shrink]

No, i haven't worked there thats true. But i dont understand why you hate apple so much. the world is bad nowadays and i mean , if you really feel terrible for the people being treated like crap , why dont YOU move to China and start helping them , make your own organization . IF YOU REALLY feel bad for these chinese ppl i suggest you move there and do something instead , tired of ppl who wants to stop every "evil" company but they themselves wouldnt even bother to put some act into it..

pz

There is so much illogic in this post, I'm not quite sure where to start.

I don't hate Apple. Apple is a for profit company. My comments about their legal fiduciary responsibilities to their shareholders is not criticism, it is a statement of fact. It is any public company's responsibility to it's shareholders to maximize income. That's how it works! (Whether this is good or bad is the subject of another thread)

My moving to China (!!) will not help anyone. (Not that it matters, but I have been to China to share my particular expertise with my colleagues there. Perhaps some of what I brought in my area of expertise did make a difference.) My skills (however meager) are not in the area of running a business. Your comment suggests that, for example, it would be inappropriate to comment on the quality of a movie because I can't make movies. Commenting about something does not require that one necessarily possess the skill set necessary to partake in the development of an improvement of that something. As long as the opinions are based on study and careful and analytic consideration. it is, IMO, valid. Additionally, any statements claimed as factual must be supported by decent backup.

In short...you don't have to be a whale to write "Moby Dick".

Also, note that my post only questioned the factual basis of your (hyperbolic) assertions. I asked for back ups to your "factual" assertions.