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Tim Cook 'Deeply Offended' by BBC Documentary on Apple Factory Conditions
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Didn't say it was OK. But it's ridiculous to expect Apple to need to deal with all of this.
So what you expect them to do, because 'they can afford it', is:
Because Foxconn can't be trusted to adhere to Apple's regulations with working hours and consent (the documentary showed that they were told to tick 'I consent' or they get fired), Apple should monitor them constantly to ensure that everything's going to work. So in other words, with the work that is required to ensure everything is hunkey-dorey, Apple will essentially be building/running their own manufacturing plant. Which sort of defeats the purpose of hiring somebody to build it.
But not only that! No, they'll have to make sure that all of the materials sourced from 20 different suppliers is all ethical. But not immediately ethical -- each one of those 20 suppliers have another 20 suppliers, and each one of those have another, and another, and another.
What you are proposing is simply uneducated armchair economics. You seem to think that because Apple have billions in the bank, this means they can pull off something like this immediately. Notwithstanding the massive demands for the supply chain, for Apple to clean this up they'll have to start again -- from the very bottom -- and pretty much do everything themselves. From sourcing, to production, to manufacturing, to hiring; they can't do that. Nobody can do that.
Hey, when I go to the petrol station to fill up with petrol, that hasn't been sourced from badgers' farts and children's laughter. To ensure a 100% 'clean' purchase you might as well suggest I drill the oil myself. That's exactly as ludicrous as what you're suggesting Apple need to do.
Is this an issue I'd like to see Apple address? Of course, human rights and morality is very important. But to imply that this is a quick process, or even vaguely feasible just because Apple have loads of money, is utterly laughable.
this is just disgusting and irresponsible journalism. here's the bbc trying to put a stain on one of the companies in the world who's actually actively improving worker conditions at their suppliers. they don't have to do this - we know most companies don't - but they do it anyway. horrible.
I classify Foxconn workers in the same area as Wally World workers. Society feels so sorry for those people on how badly they're treated for what little they're paid.
But here's reality: I highly doubt either Foxconn nor Walmart are forcing anyone to work for them. People CHOOSE to work for these types of companies therefore they get what they get.
End point.
But here's reality: I highly doubt either Foxconn nor Walmart are forcing anyone to work for them. People CHOOSE to work for these types of companies therefore they get what they get.
End point.
this. apple can only do so much. they do not own foxconn or these mining companies and they do not control the labour laws in these countries or control what some of these people will do for money. it's sad to see these conditions and the people getting rich off of it but it's not just apples problem but samsung and a lot other companies are connected to it.
by the way, i bet at least 95% of you are wearing something made in Thailand, China, or Vietnam. You don't think the people making your clothes are in conditions similar?
Where is the expose about Samsung? Sony? Panasonic? LG? HTC?
Most companies don't do anything about their subcontractors and partners. At least Apple is doing something. If the ****** media has a problem with working conditions, they should take it up with China NOT Apple!
Most companies don't do anything about their subcontractors and partners. At least Apple is doing something. If the ****** media has a problem with working conditions, they should take it up with China NOT Apple!
problem is even if apple is "better" than most companies that operate in China that does not mean its "good"
Is it really a choice when your only options are work a ****** job or don't work at all?
Dont worry all this will be a thing of the past soon once we are all 3D printing our own iPhones by repurposing the old one.
Old one goes in one end, crunch crunch new one comes out the other... no kids were harmed or made to work in the manufacture of this iPhone
Old one goes in one end, crunch crunch new one comes out the other... no kids were harmed or made to work in the manufacture of this iPhone
Tim: stop banging on and on about human rights and how moral and ethical your company is. Then maybe you wouldn't feel so "deeply offended."
As for the comments in these threads, I'll just say it: if the workers had blond hair and blue eyes you guys would react a very different way.
As for the comments in these threads, I'll just say it: if the workers had blond hair and blue eyes you guys would react a very different way.
Apple can insist that the companies that assemble the product with Apple's brand on them comply with certain standards, or they'll take their business elsewhere. If it costs Apple more to have their products made ethically, Apple has the choice. It's Apple's image that is being hurt here, and rightly so.
Thanks for pointing out the problems with labor that produces other goods, but right now, we're talking about how Apple products are made.
There is a limit to what Apple can do, but they're nowhere near that limit, by their own choice. There is also a limit to what they can do to protect their intellectual property when they put that IP in the hands of these factories that aren't really a part of Apple. But when there's an unauthorized leak of a new apple product, don't you think Apple makes phone calls and threatens consequences for the company that allowed the leak to occur? If they don't give as much weight to the conditions under which their products are made as they do to the security around those products, the I will judge Apple harshly for "doubling down" on a truly messed-up set of priorities.
This is one of those times when I wish Apple was back to the days of secrecy. There's no need to even comment on that hatchet job.
This BBC video is full of skepticism and lies. I've been to these countries and many others, Apple can't control what kids do, especially when they will sit in those mines for work just to make 10cents. The people that hire them or even let them work without pay are at fault, not Apple or any other major corporation doing similar things.
I love how big companies always get attacked because someone else is jealous, or it's a privately funded attack to berate competition...probably Samsung or another up and comer.
Look at the Chinese companies making competition iPhones for cheap, their environments are worse, yet no one does anything about it. The Chinese government is to blame, they treat their citizens worse than the companies do, and they blame Americans for not taking care of them when it's truly Chinas duty.
This just irritates me to see this false propaganda.
I love how big companies always get attacked because someone else is jealous, or it's a privately funded attack to berate competition...probably Samsung or another up and comer.
Look at the Chinese companies making competition iPhones for cheap, their environments are worse, yet no one does anything about it. The Chinese government is to blame, they treat their citizens worse than the companies do, and they blame Americans for not taking care of them when it's truly Chinas duty.
This just irritates me to see this false propaganda.
Look, I get this is an Apple centric community and there's going to be a lot of knee jerk defense of them around here, but there's nothing wrong with anyone making them the focus of this kind of subject. Sure, companies like Samsung should also be scorned for similar practices, but Apple is on a higher pedestal, much of that due to a self proclaimed standard, so they're going to get the more focused attention. I think some of the argument is that they're not actual doing much of anything to mend the problem. And it makes complete sense for a media company/outlet to swing the focus to the corporations who have a control in all of this. It makes the subject matter more personal to the viewer. I'm sure the vast majority of us don't have any real connection to China, its citizens, and their lives. But we all buy these products.
Exactly! This was the reason probably quoted for Apple rising its prices across product lines for compensating their supply chain work force with better work life balance. While the margins remained same or more, the conditions did not improve if this report is true.
You take it up with China. The media is saying Apple needs to do more, and I agree. They need to double-down on ethical treatment of the people who make the products that bear the Apple logo.
Serious only when reports like this come out. Apple should be sending people in, undercover, to all suppliers - if they took it seriously. Taking away ID cards in China is akin to indentured servitude, as you are 100% screwed without it.
If you don't believe the entire video was faked, and true apple defenders I'm sure do think it was all faked, tells a damning story.
Just because you want to sleep better at night cozying up,to your Apple products, doesn't make the pitiful plight of factory workers and children miners in Apple's supply chain, any less true.
Unfortunately brainless idiots here in the UK 100% believe everything the media tell them and can't think for themselves.
If you think this BBC report is bad and you want to see some really bad reporting pick yourself up a copy of the Daily Mail or jump on their website.
If you think this BBC report is bad and you want to see some really bad reporting pick yourself up a copy of the Daily Mail or jump on their website.
Apple's already been double-downing, IMO.
How about some media fire to get other companies to double-down like Apple has been doing, instead of saying "Apple's not doing enough... they should quadruple-down"?
Well said.
Apple isn't more evil than the others or the only one as a perpetrator. But at the same time, the company still has blood on its hands. Was Steve Jobs as cut throat and evil as Bill Gates? Probably not, but few CEOs out there would be as callous as those two so when talking about them, they are in a very small category of modern robber barons in a highly unregulated industry that inadvertently encourages that. At the time, you had a vice president who was talking about high tech deregulation in a way that would have made Ronald Reagan proud. Due to the international nature of trade and the decentralization of high tech manufacturing, there needed to be a way to make stuff on the cheap in order to let high tech survive through hard times later on. So in that way maybe Al Gore did make the internet happen (legislatively). Somebody invented the routers/switches and software, but in order to make it work and make it legal, it has to come from up top. I think all that turned into the likes of Apple and Microsoft getting in on coattails and aiding our contracts with near slave labor in China.
Let's see where Tim Cook takes this since we already know that Steve Jobs looked the other way. At the same time it may also be something completely out of the reach of the CEO. How things are done in those countries may have no reaction to how American CEOs feel about it. It's possible as some have suggested that the awful conditions of these workers is still better than what the average worker in those countries face on a day to day basis.
Apple has certainly lost a lot of their luster as the "good" company, but most people don't care and simply want to best software, computer, cellphone, tablet and not worry about social issues.
If you want to get ugly, let's see how similar workers are treated who make HPs, Dells, and Sonys. Somehow I don't think Apple is "worse" than the others. Had Steve Jobs been a nice guy, and we all know he was a nasty piece of work, I don't think we would even talking about the factory conditions.
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