Tim Cook Responds to Report on Working Conditions at Suppliers' Factories

[PsykX]

So, he responds with denial. "That's not who we are." Don't forget, Tim Cook was one of the main architects of moving all of Apple's manufacturing from the U.S. to China back in 2002. He is undoubtedly more ruthless, and apparently more dishonest, than Steve Jobs himself.

He did it because it was the right thing to do at the moment to remain competitive. When the competition does it and saves money, you need to do it too. You think globalization is bad, but it actually gives jobs to those people in underdeveloped countries. The problem about the poor conditions actually has little to do with Apple. It has to do with China’s government that doesn’t do anything for their people and it has to do with Apple’s subcontractors. However, when a company is as big as Apple, it does have influence on its subcontractors and now is the right time to use it to make the conditions better.

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We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain.

Bull

Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern.

Bull

Oh, they do care. If they don’t care because of their values, they will end up caring because it causes losses of money to have accidents, when you need to train another person to replace him/her in the chain, and it causes quality and productivity problems to have unhappy/non-motivated people working for you.

 

[applesith]

The manufacturing in Asia and its conditions are no secret. Everyone knows it's not the best compared how to people in the USA & Europe live. Barely any of the general public really care enough to do anything like pressure with boycotts or something. I'm sure many read the NY Times article and temporarily think to themselves "oh wow those people making my iphone aren't very well off" but then people forget and go about their day and use the devices that make everyday tasks easier.

No one wants to pay higher prices. No one wants production to come to the USA only to be less efficient and have lower output. iDevices are in shortage enough. Production in the USA for electronics can simply not be scaled the way it can in other areas of the world. It's called a comparative advantage and nothing is going to change this overnight. Just look at the progression of manufacturing leaving the USA. Look at the progression of service oriented jobs with higher pay enter the USA.

All of these articles about working conditions should be taken with some grain of salt (size may vary) because there are agendas being pushed both ways- making exaggerations inevitable.

 

[Clubber]

Trouble

For many, purchasing an Apple product is an emotional decision. People want a great product and a good price by a company that has good values. This could potentially be a huge blemish on that emotional decision.

I hope they do the right thing, but this stuff has been going on for quite a while. Is it getting better? Probably. Would someone still be sick if they saw first hand, the raw nature of those factories? Possibly. I like Apple a little less since this stuff has been coming to light, and I really don't want to.

Please get your act together and respect human rights. Do what you do with your products, blow away expectations, use your pull to get it done right. It's one of the reasons I like you, Apple.

 

[ericinboston]

Oh, they do care. If they don’t care because of their values, they will end up caring because it causes losses of money to have accidents, when you need to train another person to replace him/her in the chain, and it causes quality and productivity problems to have unhappy/non-motivated people working for you.

Apple does not employee them...the manufacturers employee those employees.

And we're not talking about a factory of 22 people...we're talking about a factory of THOUSANDS or TENS OF THOUSANDS of UNSKILLED folks...people who snap a screen together or screw in a bolt or connect a wire. That is unskilled labor. If 1 person out of 1000 falls and breaks his arm then it's cya later alligator. 1 person or 10 people is not going to slow down those lines because there are thousands waiting to get that job.

As far as working conditions, Apple cares about its image. Period. Apple (like many other US companies) has been using China for decades to build products. Those working conditions did not suddenly appear in 2011...they've been that way for a loooooooong time.

As folks say here, and I agree...it's the countries that allow the extremely poor working conditions and it's their laws. HOWEVER, Apple chose to outsource there so it's Apple's image/pride/press that is going to get the backlash.

 

[brewcitywi]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A405)

Our company has some minor production done overseas, mostly apparel. I have no idea what the conditions are, nor have we toured the factories. So, sometimes I wonder about what responsibility I have for the conditions. Do their factory owners have primary responsibilities too?

However, Apple is practically the largest company in the world, with huge profits. There have also been huge issues with Nike and various clothing lines which revolve around working conditions. So, Apple must be a leader. Plus, Apple and Steve Jobs have had a reputation for being strict with suppliers.

I think Tim Cook is doing an excellent job so far. For goodness sakes, let him get some of his policies in place before we pounce. Something tells me that Apple might help to create the guidelines which truly begin to define the ethics for the next 20-50 years, but let's allow Apple and other industry leaders to look at themselves and create some new rules.

What happens when each country begins their own labor movements and the incentive to go overseas levels out? Are we 10, 20, 50 years away from that? Am I naive? Will there always be a country that will have a lower priced workforce?

I envision a time when it won't be quite as cost effective. Should companies be more like Intel, having a mixture of US and overseas manufacturing?

 

[Aldonin]

What about bonuses

Tim Cook just gave away important bonuses to full time and part time employees at apple for both iPads and iMacs.
I think this has been a great way of thanking workforce for those great results.

But what about Foxconn's employees? just because they don't hold an Apple badge they don't deserve part of this bonus? Probably an iPhone spends more time in the hands of someone at Foxconn than anyone else during the selling process.

It would be great to have Apple achieve the equation shareholder's treat = stakeholder's treat.

This is a Dogma, and we know Steve's word on dogma.

 

[Small White Car]

This probably won't be a popular reply, but having lived for 5 years in China for purchasing in the furniture industry, i'd like to say working conditions in China are really not that bad.

ive seen hundreds of factories from Guangdong, to Shanghai, Wenzhou, Chengdu and Hangzhou. Ive come accross one time a case of child labour. Only once. Of course we did not cooperate with this factory and made very clear they should stop this at once.

Working and living conditions improve every single year, and a lot has to do with the lack of workers in for ex. Guangdong province. If a worker is badly treated, they will simply pack up and go and work for a different factory. There are so many factories and they all desperately need workers to work for them. Chinese wages go up and the dormitories improve vastly.

Wow, someone who has first hand EXPERIENCE and is sharing it rather than just making stuff up.

What a concept. I'm not sure the internet is ready for this.

 

[samcraig]

PR spin is PR spin. What else would you expect the CEO to write to his employees. I don't doubt Apple cares. There's also a difference between caring and acting. And they've set their own criteria which is on their website for all to see. So when they fail to live up to their own criteria - it makes you go hmmmm.

What did anyone expect him to say/write, "Yes - we know what's going on and we do what we can" ??

Being "on top" as Apple is - you have to take the good AND the bad. The slaps on the back and the punches in the gut.

You can talk about other companies that do the same - but all eyes are on Apple as a "leading player." Can't have it both ways.

Also - 2 (or more) wrongs don't make a right. Just because other companies do x y or z, doesn't mean another is "innocent."

I sincerely hope Apple lives up to the criteria it has set forth for its partners and they enforce their guidelines. Not just at Foxconn - but across the board.

This is one area I would LOVE to see every OTHER company be a "copy cat"

 

[bbbb4b]

Before it's said here 10,000 times I want to clarify that we all understand that other tech companies use Foxconn too. But if you want to tout your sales numbers and profits, you have to deal with the criticism too. You aren't an underdog anymore, Apple.

So you're saying that other tech companies don't tout their sales numbers and profits? So you are saying Apple "was" an underdog? Well, at that time, who was the "top dog"? Please show me the media scrutiny on that companies manufacturing chain. Or are you saying it only applies to Apple; everybody else gets a free pass (that's all I hear).
Truth:
This is nothing more than a media and hater driven meme. Everybody knows it.

 

[codyc815]

Take 6 months and go over there and get a job. See for yourself. We take so many things for granted here. It's hard for us to even imagine genuinely unsafe working environments, ready exposure to toxins (and no one in management caring), etc. For every story about toxic lead paint on a kids toy driving a recall, there are abundant numbers of Chinese people applying that paint (being exposed to that danger) every day. For every story about toxic drywall lawsuits, there are abundant numbers of Chinese making that drywall every day. We even find it hard to imagine working 12-16+ hour days for relatively nothing. If an American factory suffers an explosion, those that survive are probably going to get a life-changing amount of cash. When Chinese factories blow up, you never hear about survivor's getting a big fat settlement. In America, we generally assume surviving a negligent, unsafe working environment accident is a ticket to a fat settlement. I bet no one assumes that in China.

So many unemployed people in this country. You're right: China does make just about everything. It seems the simple answer to our unemployment issues is to go there and apply for those jobs. Why don't we? Why isn't there a mass exodus of Americans to China in search of jobs? Certainly, going where the jobs are is not an unknown or completely original concept. There's reasons most don't go.

If someone doesn't want to actually go try it, take a little vacation over there. See the tourist sites but try to take at least or day or two to delve off of the tourist-recommended paths to get a much better picture of what life is really like there. Even the simplest of things like clean restrooms, safe water, even electricity can be an issue off the beaten path. Spoiled by only knowing the standards of America makes one assume many of our standards exist everywhere. They do not.

Look no further than the forever flow of peoples from all over the world trying to get into America- even during this recession/depression- vs. the trickle flow of Americans trying to get out. For my lifetime, it's always been an almost entirely one-way flow. If things are almost as good elsewhere AND the jobs are elsewhere, why do they keep coming here? And why aren't many of "us" desperately trying to go there?

I never said it wasn't bad, I'm just wondering why the attention is primarily focused on Apple and the tech industry. I never said China had the same standards, I was just curious as to how desperate these people are for employment, and what their options are.

 

[blackcrayon]

They are so concerned they keep dumping billions into suppliers that treat workers worst than animals and follow zero environmental guidelines. Rather than getting everything built elsewhere.

The cost argument is bull. Somehow Intel and IBM are able to produce chips in the US for the most part. That is a much more difficult process than slapping some chips on a PCB. Intel is even producing the new FAB 42 in the US.

Then why, pray tell, do almost all of the major tech companies have product factories in the same factories that Apple does? When it's all a big scam and they could just as inexpensively (or even conceivably) produce the products in their own countries? Chip manufacturing is obviously not the same thing as product assembly. Even Samsung uses Chinese factories to produce some of their products.

 

[nostradukemas]

If Cook was so upset about the legitimacy of NYT reporting, why didn't Apple choose to answer questions on the issue any of the several times the company was asked to comment on the story?

Seems odd for them to pass on a free opportunity to tell their side of the story.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A405)Will there always be a country that will have a lower priced workforce?

Yes. Unless someone buys into the "one world order" where the same rules & regulations would apply to every country & company on the planet, there will always be countries with lower-priced labor. China & India alone are packed with people who assume making a fraction of what an American would demand for the same job is "good money". There are plenty of countries with impoverished people just dying to be next in line. It will probably be this way until the acquisition of stuff and/or wealth is no longer our principal driving force.

Somebody- Apple?- needs to build one of those (Star Trek) replicators to obsolete Capitalism. When we can simply have anything we want, the focus on profit at any cost won't make sense any more. That completely solves these kinds of problems (along with hunger, medicine shortages, housing, etc). If we can simply create all the gold (or pieces of paper with dead presidents on them) anyone can want, the concept of "who has the most wealth" will no longer drive us anymore. Apple's trying to build us tricorders when what the world really needs is replicators.

 

[applesith]

This probably won't be a popular reply, but having lived for 5 years in China for purchasing in the furniture industry, i'd like to say working conditions in China are really not that bad.

ive seen hundreds of factories from Guangdong, to Shanghai, Wenzhou, Chengdu and Hangzhou. Ive come accross one time a case of child labour. Only once. Of course we did not cooperate with this factory and made very clear they should stop this at once.

Working and living conditions improve every single year, and a lot has to do with the lack of workers in for ex. Guangdong province. If a worker is badly treated, they will simply pack up and go and work for a different factory. There are so many factories and they all desperately need workers to work for them. Chinese wages go up and the dormitories improve vastly.

It's easy for the media to exaggerate about the conditions because there is no penalty for them lying. Most people reading these articles sadly want bad news because that's what people like to hear. News is always depressing. It's almost impossible for people to verify the working conditions themselves because of how far these factories are from the readers.

 

[PeterQVenkman]

Did we all forget the story from a couple of weeks ago when it was reported that Apple has joined the Fair Labor Association? They are the FIRST technology company to join and have given their list of suppliers to the Fair Labor Association for independent auditing.

I don't think Apple's perfect by any means, but at least give some credit where it is do.

Apple's the biggest and the best. We like to see them lead in this area. We'd like to see them continually get better, too.

 

[carlgo]

Just remember: $22 to assemble an iMac here, $5 in China. The real problem is tax-dodging and no pollution code requirements.

Love the story about how Steve didn't like the screen on the iPhone, so the factory workers were gotten out of bed, given a muffin and sent back to work so that Steve could be happy about the thing. This "flexibility" made overseas production so much better...

Or, of course, not running a giant corporation on whims and tears might have been better yet.

 

[ericinboston]

Tim Cook just gave away important bonuses to full time and part time employees at apple for both iPads and iMacs.
I think this has been a great way of thanking workforce for those great results.

But what about Foxconn's employees? just because they don't hold an Apple badge they don't deserve part of this bonus? .

Correct...Foxconn people DO NOT DESERVE AN APPLE bonus. I'm not sure where you have lived in the past 100 years but companies do not give SUPPLY CHAIN VENDORS BONUSES. I'm not sure about your reply, but it sounds like the typical "I'm entitled to everything!" attitude of so many 15-30 year old people in the USA right now. I'm not picking on you...just saying.

Discounts to Apple products? Sure. That's popular.

Those Foxconn employees may or may not deserve a bonus FROM FOXCONN depending on their role, title, time with the company, work performance, etc. Remember, Foxconn is a company...they are in the business of building stuff. They should (hopefully) treat their employees properly.

 

[jackc]

As long as it's voluntary employment, it's all good. People in poor countries work crappy jobs, you can't just wish it away. Every developed country went through the same process.

Now start making some iPads.

 

[iBug2]

They really won't. China has supply of raw materials, great infrastructure, stable legal framework, flexible workforce, huge ports for shipping, reasonable reliable supply of electricity, etc.

If they wanted only cheaper labour, they would go to Vietnam.

Well it wasn't really my opinion. It's something I've read on world policy related books. And I didn't say it'll happen tomorrow.

 

[FilipH]

Love the story about how Steve didn't like the screen on the iPhone, so the factory workers were gotten out of bed, given a muffin and sent back to work so that Steve could be happy about the thing. This "flexibility" made overseas production so much better...

People should also keep in the difference in culture in mind and not look at these situation from a Western point of view. When you live in China, life and mentality is different. People don't mind to do the work as described as above.

My family in law are Taiwanese for example. They would not see one thing wrong with this. They would very happily do this. If they pay a bit extra, they would prefer it. They would probably want to do the day shift after this as well and would be disappointed if they have to "rest" as the western world would think is fair.

Chinese want to move ahead in life. to prosper. To improve their life and their childrens life. They see extra work as an opportunity they dont' want to waste. Many westerners see it as a obstacle they rather avoid. All this crap about working to many hours and overtime is the Western perspective that would have zero support in the workers mind and heart.

 

[kenbrickley]

It is difficult for one company to lead in China

Because the Chinese government doesn't encourage many changes (labor unions are illegal in China) it is difficult for external companies to impose standards on Chinese companies. Many of the workers are very wage driven since they send much of their income back to their families. There have been individual companies that tried to unilaterally restrict overtime and their workers just quit and went to work for competitors who allowed them to work overtime. The companies like Apple, Samsung and others need to agree on standards that ALL OF THEM will follow. If only one changes it might create competitive imbalances or draw the wrath of the Chinese government. I think the companies are trying to do this through organizations like the EICC (Electronic Industry Code of Conduct).

It is easy for us to judge a country like China when our standards developed over many decades (China is equivalent environmentally to where we were in the 60's before the EPA was formed). I think the focus should be on encouraging the Chinese government to become more aligned with modern standards. Companies are part of this discussion but no single company (even Apple) can do it alone.

Cheers.

 

[Will do good]

Couldn't agree more with the use of atrocities. These conditions make Darfur look like a Day Camp.

Really? You have been to these China factories and Durfur?

 

[paul4339]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A405)

.... Plus, Apple and Steve Jobs have had a reputation for being strict with suppliers.

I think Tim Cook is doing an excellent job so far. For goodness sakes, let him get some of his policies in place before we pounce.....

Yes, I completely agree... One of the things we've seen from Cook that contrasts SJ is his ability to communicate. Without good communication to your staff and the outside world (investors, media) it makes it look like Apple is ignoring the problem or don't care.

By communicating well, it allows Apple to acknowledge that there are problems and that they have plans to fix some of them. Without doing this, people/media will just make assumptions or make up stories about Apple's policies and activities.

Furthermore, with Apple becoming so big and profitable, it's becoming a poster child for all of industry (for good or bad).

.

 

[Popinbottles]

Get real!

So, he responds with denial. "That's not who we are." Don't forget, Tim Cook was one of the main architects of moving all of Apple's manufacturing from the U.S. to China back in 2002. He is undoubtedly more ruthless, and apparently more dishonest, than Steve Jobs himself.

Signed, the sad owner of a Macbook Pro, an iPad, and an iPod touch.

You should sell your Apple products and buy something made in a factory with excellent working conditions. Good luck

 

[hkenneth]

Chinese government actually tried to fix the problem in its Guangzhou Province, but just like in the US, each state or province in China has its own policies and political environment. When the Guangzhou government starting to look in Foxconn's factories, Foxconn simply shut that factory down and opened another one in a different province where the local government aware little of the working condition problem. There are far more places in China that is less developed than Guangzhou and local governments there are so eager to have any "investments" from the outside so that its people can have a better life, relatively speaking. Sadly maybe, the cheap labor for China nowadays is just like foreign colonies for the UK and Africa American slaves for the US in the last century when they were still at the stage of blooming their capitalization. It is just the very essence of capitalization people!