Workers Suing iPhone Manufacturing Partner Over Chemical Poisoning

[Speedy2]

Well sorry @speedy2 that you had to read something about people suffering illness because the were forced to work in poor conditions....... I suppose they should go bother someone else??? Just a tad bit insensitive there...

Oh, is it political correctness time again? Sorry, I must check my watch.

The headline reads "Workers Suing iPhone Manufacturing Partner Over Chemical Poisoning". I didn't read the article. Yeah, these things are bad, they are happening every single all over China. Don't pretend you really care, because you'd have to stop buying cheap China-manufactured goods then.

 

[Earendil]

Yeah, because the person who makes the decision ALWAYS takes the fall when something goes wrong.

/sarcasm

Sarcasm noted. However you missed the point. I'm not saying the manager is necessarily to blame for the entirety of the situation. However its safe to say that the company is to blame. Think about it, if this were Apple's fault in any way, the company would be attempting to wiggle out of this and divert the lawsuit towards Apple, not fire good managers. Firing a good manager does not help them point the finger At evil Apple.

However, if the company knew that they were to blame, they may want to fire someone, anyone, to show that they are dealing with a problem. By firing the guy they are admitting that the company had a problem, and they are announcing that firing him is how they are dealing with it. It's a straight up admission of guilt.

Besides, Apple can't isn't going to mandate that the workers not wear masks and gloves, and it's not Apple's job to provide such items. However the managers of these employees could easily be pocketing a few hundred by "losing" an order of masks, and demanding that the employees do their job anyway.

 

[motoroid]

During the SARS and swine flu scares you saw Asians wearing masks on the streets, but n-hexane is no big deal I suppose.

 

[EchoTheDolphin]

Chinese workers are treated as expendable commodities by Chinese companies and the government.

People need to realize that human life has an incredibly low value in China, suing for more workers rights is more than likely going to cause you to get imprisoned than change anything, it's the sorry state of the world and no one to blame but themselves.

 

[kellen]

Who would vote this positive?

 

[gnasher729]

I think it is complete responsibility of Wintek, but Apple I thought was pretty good at making sure the working environment was healthy for the manufacturers that provide the core products. I thought Apple was doing audits, etc on this stuff. Either way, I don't see Apple playing any legal role in this, but may step in to settle it at their expense and look like the good guy.

This started apparently in August 2009. If Apple does annual audits say every July then they wouldn't have noticed anything (yet). But companies really should know that something like this cannot go unnoticed and unpunished forever.

I don't think Apple will settle anything at Apple's expense. Apple might remark to Wintek how unfortunate it is that all these people got sick, and that Apple wouldn't like to work with a company whose workers get sick and then aren't paid any compensation. And that paying compensation to sick workers after firing the person responsible would make Wintek look very good.

People need to realize that human life has an incredibly low value in China, ...

The life of a person responsible for lots of workers getting ill isn't valued too high either.

 

[kiljoy616]

Yeah, because the person who makes the decision ALWAYS takes the fall when something goes wrong.

/sarcasm

But they do, really they do, how can you say that those who do the crime never do the time. no that can't be how the world works, look around you that not it, no no no.

/sarcasm is so much fun.

 

[Nebulance]

I hope that these employes win, assumming these claims are true. Apple needs to step up and take responsibility for their actions along with the company making the screens.

OK, so it's not Apple's fault that Wintek can't carry out proper safety procedures. It's like saying it's the DOE's fault if someone at a national lab like Argonne, or Jefferson Lab, or some other national laboratory, takes in too much radiation, causing serious damage. They can only go so far as to safety precautions. It's the individual's responsibility after that. However, these workers may have a case against Wintek if they did <not> provide a safe work environment.

Again, not Apple's fault.

 

[GQB]

I hope that these employes win, assumming these claims are true. Apple needs to step up and take responsibility for their actions along with the company making the screens.

As long as you amend to say "Apple, and Google and Dell and HTC etc etc".
There is absolutely nothing unique to Apple's manufacturing that doesn't apply to all of them.

That said, yes, they should all take responsibility for manufacturing safety of their subcontractors.

 

[Full of Win]

During the SARS and swine flu scares you saw Asians wearing masks on the streets, but n-hexane is no big deal I suppose.

Ummmm...they always wear mask over there. Its very common to see asians wearing mask on the street and in public; actually the last time I came back from there, a lawyer from Tokyo that sat next to me on the plane wore one the entire trip.

 

[Theseanything]

Oh, is it political correctness time again? Sorry, I must check my watch.

The headline reads "Workers Suing iPhone Manufacturing Partner Over Chemical Poisoning". I didn't read the article. Yeah, these things are bad, they are happening every single all over China. Don't pretend you really care, because you'd have to stop buying cheap China-manufactured goods then.

What does this have to do with being "politically correct"??? I just said you were being insensitive about the issue... If you wanted to ask for legal page, you could have asked on any of the other patent dispute posts.

 

[PsudoPowerPoint]

... Why on earth these workers weren't wearing masks I haven't the slightest clue. ...

The gloves are a good idea (it protects the workers and the product), but a mask won't help, n-hexane will pass right through. When working with more than a small quantity, it should be used under a fume hood, preferably one with a down draft as n-hexane vapor is more dense than air.

 

[ranReloaded]

Ummmm...they always wear mask over there. Its very common to see asians wearing mask on the street and in public; actually the last time I came back from there, a lawyer from Tokyo that sat next to me on the plane wore one the entire trip.

In Japan many people are allergic to flower spores. They were these fabric masks for weeks during the season.

I don't think it's the same kind of mask. We are talking about filtering small particles like dust and spores against filtering organic molecules of a highly volatile chemical.

Well, fame me for being 'socialist' or whatever, but I think it's time we realize what's the prize to pay for all the inexpensive technology we so conveniently get living in the industrialized world.

I can only hope workers' rights and living conditions will improve in every country, in the end. I don't know if fierce capitalism is the key, but widespread democracy and individual freedom definitely is.

We let china into the WTO despite all the Human Rights issues.

 

[notjustjay]

The life of a person responsible for lots of workers getting ill isn't valued too high either.

Indeed. Remember the melamine tainted milk? Factories were adding melamine to fraudulently increase the protein levels of the milk with blatant disregard for the poisonous effects it had on the people who consumed it. Several people were executed as a result.

 

[darkplanets]

The gloves are a good idea (it protects the workers and the product), but a mask won't help, n-hexane will pass right through. When working with more than a small quantity, it should be used under a fume hood, preferably one with a down draft as n-hexane vapor is more dense than air.

When I meant mask, I meant full face respirator, as is required in the US. While undoubtedly a fume hood is good, that really only works nicely for us chemists-- i doubt their facility has adequate ventilation in that particular cleaning area. Additionally, 3M does make filters that will work for hexane; type ABEK (EN14387) respirator filters are needed. (Yay MSDS!) As someone said though, it is because they got cheap and cut corners that this happened; clearly they wouldn't want the cost of buying respirators for these employees.

 

[Bleubird2]

I work with n-hexane all of the time (well actually a mixture of the hexanes, but I digress here) and have great ventillation systems in my work environment. Maybe the problem isn't use of the n-hexane itself but a lack of engineering safety controls at their facility. Either way WinTek will have to make some changes.

 

[Clayne]

You can't expect the end workers to know the dangers of the things they're working with. The employers should know this, they should take precaution. Since they didn't, they should take responsibility.

 

[xlii]

china has been losing manufacturing jobs for years. africa and the middle east are the next low wage frontiers

True. The real criminals are the owners of these companies that move manufacturing to the lowest cost country because they know the reason for the low cost is the corner cutting on livable wage, worker safety, pollution controls... and they don't care. Their excuse is... "we are following the laws of 'insert favorite poor 3rd world country here'."

China is 100 years behind the US in labor laws. The Chinese worker is an expendable cog in the machine. OSHA, what's that. Get sick, get injured at work... too bad... we'll get someone else to do the work you can no longer do. Like what happened here in the US... China will have it's labor movement... and conditions will improve. Until then it is worker beware.

 

[Halopend]

Sarcasm noted. However you missed the point. I'm not saying the manager is necessarily to blame for the entirety of the situation. However its safe to say that the company is to blame. Think about it, if this were Apple's fault in any way, the company would be attempting to wiggle out of this and divert the lawsuit towards Apple, not fire good managers. Firing a good manager does not help them point the finger At evil Apple.

However, if the company knew that they were to blame, they may want to fire someone, anyone, to show that they are dealing with a problem. By firing the guy they are admitting that the company had a problem, and they are announcing that firing him is how they are dealing with it. It's a straight up admission of guilt.

Besides, Apple can't isn't going to mandate that the workers not wear masks and gloves, and it's not Apple's job to provide such items. However the managers of these employees could easily be pocketing a few hundred by "losing" an order of masks, and demanding that the employees do their job anyway.

Even though it's somewhat doubtful Apple is in anyway at fault, your logic is flawed since Wintek needed someone to fall on their sword. I doubt Apple would do so gracefully and there is all that money they have in contracts with them which they would certainly lose. Also consider that blaming Apple still leaves them (or at least the manager) responsible since they would be complicit to Apple's request. No, in situations like this, it's always the person directly related to the incident that falls first in a attempt to show "corporate responsibility" and hopefully create a distance from the incident by blaming a "rogue" manager. You take firing the manager as an admission of guilt when I say it's more likely passing the guilt along to where it's the least likely to blow up in their faces.

Heck, I'm wondering at this point if Apple will do the same as Wintek and show some "corporate responsibility" themselves by moving their contract to another company that doesn't poison their employees. Doubtful with the iPad production woes.

 

[phillipduran]

I uDse n-hexane al2!l the timfffe.

Notvvhing bad h4as happenkkkked to m000e.

 

[SockRolid]

The People have found the Comrade guilty of Counter-Revolutionary and Subversive activity. Wintek must strive to remain a shining example of The Party's commitment to the perpetuation of the true Workers' Paradise.

Any further disruptions to the orderly and efficient flow of revenue to The State will be punishable as activities against The State and The People.

 

[spatlese44]

Despite the alarm raised by the story, n-Hexane is hardly at the top of the list for hazardous air contaminants. Allowable emission rates for a single facility can be on the order of over a million pounds per year. Remember, we're talking about small screens here. Ventilation would have had to have been extreemly poor.

 

[espanta]

I use hexane all the time in the lab. It's a great non-polar solvent.

Why on earth these workers weren't wearing masks I haven't the slightest clue. While its not necessary at all on a small scale (ie lab), if they're spraying down large quantities of screens with this stuff, logic would say to wear a mask and some gloves. After all, "Extensive peripheral nervous system failure is known to occur in humans chronically exposed to levels of n-hexane ranging from 400 to 600 ppm, with occasional exposures up to 2,500 ppm."

More than likely this is Winteks fault entirely, and has nothing to do with Apple or its contract stipulations. More than likely the upper management caught wind of the delays or cost overage and wanted to cut corners, and that manager fired was just a fall guy following orders.

I used to use it daily in the lab too. We always had to use it under a hood. Common sense really...
Who would want to breathe in ANY chemical all day while they work. Good for the employees in a communist country to stand up for their rights, wait, sorry... they don't have any. Good luck!

 

[4nNtt]

Even if Apple requested the change, I'm sure they intended the workers to use proper safety gear when working with the chemical.

I used to use it daily in the lab too. We always had to use it under a hood. Common sense really...
Who would want to breathe in ANY chemical all day while they work. Good for the employees in a communist country to stand up for their rights, wait, sorry... they don't have any. Good luck!

They did stand up for their rights as they should have. Kinda proves that democracy works in China if it is in the governments favor. It's not the same kind of democracy we are used to, but it works if your problems are with your company and not with the state. The communist philosophy was created to give workers more rights compared to an upperclass. It was just subject to corruption and doesn't scale well. China isn't purely communist anyway because pure communist systems just don't work at all. Besides being communist doesn't mean that workers don't have any rights. Their rights are just different then ours because they are determined by their leaders instead of the people. I'm sure their leaders don't want workers to die from poor working conditions.

 

[skate71290]

and clean, cool water with lint free cloth can't be used because? it works fine for me when i need to clean my iPhone