Last week, Apple released a document called The Supplier Responsibility 2011 Progress Report, in which they detailed findings of a series of audits of factories that make Apple hardware. Apple also laid out their intentions in the report for addressing the problems they discovered.
We’ve been down this road before. Every few years, some Western country is either shamed into disclosing or issues a report voluntarily about the ghastly realities of Chinese manufacturing. Everybody vows to try harder. The factories and outsource manufacturing firms claim to implement new programs to curtail abuses and violations. Workers get a raise (never mind that they’ll be forced to retire in their 30s so management can bring in younger, more timid and lower-paid workers).
And the Chinese government often announces bold new initiative and laws to fix the problems. Everybody is reassured, and then it’s back to business as usual.
The problems never really get fixed. There are three reasons why.
22 responses to “Why Apple’s Report Won’t Fix Chinese Manufacturing”
I love how people blame Apple for this though.
Or that the suicide rate at Foxcon is actually way lower than the national average.
Would be nice if all manufacturing could happen in the US, but we’d probably have to pay $3000 for our iPhones and they would break more often. Sad.
What an incredibly biased and slanted article this piece is. In fact its unbelievable how the author leaves out key facts and is a reflection of American arrogance. Lets start with the suicides. He fails to mention that the “facility” in question is actually a mid-sized city employing HUNDREDS of thousands of workers. The suicide rate is actually much lower than the US suicide rate. What does that say about the US as compared to these factories? Further, conditions and pay have improved in China exponentially over the last decade. (I know as I’m an American living in China.) To try to paint this picture through the foggy lens of a foreigner looking in from your lofty perch outside of China is not only grossly misleading, its dishonest. These workers in majority are happy to have jobs, are able to both save AND send money home to their families to better everyone’s life. They most often come from poor rural families looking for a better life and fare far better working in these jobs than staying in their impoverished hometowns.
In college I worked in US steel mills and auto plants during the summer and had far worse jobs such as working on top of hot smokey fire breathing furnaces, and at an auto plant working MANDATORY 7 days a week 10 hour shifts. I was happy to have such jobs! It helped me pay for college. Poor poor me.
Are there abuses in China. Of course there are. But just remember, the US doesn’t have such a pretty past either when it comes to labor abuses. And now many in government are trying to destroy the unions that were an outgrowth of those serious abuses. China is a country that is rapidly modernizing and changes won’t come over night. But to paint it as all doom and gloom is just utter nonsense and delusional, nay, ignorant.
I for one applaud Apple for their transparency and commitment to doing the right thing and working to improve the situation.
Whether I or Americans are arrogant is irrelevant. I made many points, and summarized many facts. Of all these, you chose to suggest that the suicides are statistically irrelevant. You didn’t have any comments on the rest of my facts:
Workers were exposed to the toxic n-hexane 137, which causes cancer and brain damage.
Many workers are working more than 60 hours per week and 7 days a week.
In the Pearl River Delta area, workers collectively lose about 40,000 fingers per year.
Many factories fail basic standards on emissions, hazardous material management and environmental permits.
Apple found more than 90 children working in its factories.
I described an enormous industry of consulting companies whose sole purpose is to help factories pass audits by falsifying environmental, labor, bookkeeping and other documents.
Which of these realities, in your opinion, are acceptable for China.
Most importantly, however: What’s your point? We shouldn’t be concerned about all this? We shouldn’t care about Chinese workers?
You did a great job of taking Alexandra Harney’s The China Price, the product of years of dedicated fieldwork, stripping its work of all context and presenting the troubling facts (along with other out-of-context facts that are the product of others’ hard work) in sensationalized single-sentence paragraphs.
People who are seriously concerned with the health and safety of Chinese workers and the ethical issues of outsourcing to China specifically should read The China Price and works by other people who are writing seriously about these issues. It’s too bad that this site has chosen to feature an article by someone who argues with emotional-laden sensationalism.
Man you’re one incredible asshole. As more of this garbage leaks out its becoming more and more obvious that Apple and the other big business bitches are underhandedly responsible for turning a blind eye to obvious human rights abuses all so they can collect larger profits from products. The only reason Apple has started to take a different approach is because they were shamed into it by a much smarter press. Considering Job’s original statement on the subject was Foxxconn wasn’t a hell house it’s obvious that neither him nor Apple gives a crap about worker abuse.
After all this mountain of proof it just boggles my mind how you and other so called Apple fanatics still choose to mindlessly believe whatever lies that Apple dishes out. Its as if Jobs is some tech messiah. I got news for you moron there was only ONE messiah and Jobs isn’t him. Jobs is just another greedy SOB living large from the sweat of the poor. You can’t handle the truth go bang your head against a wall like the lunatic you are until a coma sets in but don’t run around on the net spreading BS about what really goes on it China because nobody with a half a brain will believe you. In the end you only make yourself look ignorant.
Considering Apple originally denied there was ever a problem you’re applauding Apple??? Are you really that ignorant or are you just wasting everyone’s time by posting garbage for the sake of posting garbage? How is the article biased? Is it because the author actually stated the cold hard facts and chose to present a article that shows Apple and others in the industry are being less then honest to the public with whom they choose to do business with? Wake up and smell the coffee man a stupid tin covered piece of electronics isn’t worth someone getting poisoned, losing fingers, hands, or being mentally raped to the point they’re throwing themselves off a roof.
Another thing how the hell can you even compare your experience as a U.S. steelworker to the plight of these people? Steelworkers (ex steelworker here by the way) are far from rich and their jobs are hard and dangerous but they make enough to feed their families have benefits and live generally not to badly. As for your comment about being happy to have that job you should fucking be happy because it provided you enough money to get out of the mills get an education and get a less hazardous and more rewarding job. These Chinese workers don’t have a pot to piss in never mind trying to afford to go to college. Are you trying to say these Chinese workers should shut up and be happy with 16 hour days, low pay, militarist like run shop floor, and dangerous work environment? If that’s the case your post shows nothing more then your complete utter stupidity and is MUTE AND FAIL. Get your head out of Apple’s ass and try using your mind dipshit.
ok – you want hate speech lets have at it you foul mouthed ignorant asshole. you are another clueless moron who has no idea what they are talking about. I live here in China and know exactly what is going on. It is mindless twits like yourself that have no idea what the rest of the world is like! It is not life in the suburbs with two cars and 3 tvs per household. It is people who are coming up from absolutely nothing and are happy that their lives are improving. Apple has never denied there is a problem – where in the world do you get this crap? A key point of the author is that there are supplier / contract companies that are gaming the system and becoming very sophisticated at it. Apple knows this and is trying to do something about it – give them some credit. Again halfwit – the suicide rate at this factory, which is a mid-size US city with HUNDREDS of thousands of employees, has a lower suicide rate than in the US! What is it you don’t understand? There are troubled people everywhere you go! Your rant is as stupid as you are. Try to get yourself and education, or at least try to get out of your delusional shell more often and maybe see the rest of the world.
Excuse me Mike but let me take on the rest of your so called “facts” since you are so eager to hear more.
I didn’t say the suicides are “irrelevant” – every one of the them is tragic (as are the ones in the US as employees are dumped by their employers so that they can reduce costs while still making significant profits). What I said was that the rate of suicide is far lower than in the US. That is relevant because you are sensationalizing the “facts”.
Workers in one factory were exposed to toxic n-hexane 137 and that issue has been addressed in terms of stopping its use, but there is still work to be done to rectify the harmed employees. As shameful as it is, the problem was reported and fixed. Do you in all your infinite wisdom think that workers in US factories have never been contaminated by toxic chemicals? Have you ever heard of Love Canal? Or go rent Erin Brockovich if you haven’t seen it. Please, give us a break.
You state that many workers are working more than 60 hours per week and 7 days a week – like I said, I was REQUIRED to work 7 days a week, 10 hours a day at an auto plant. Does that make me slave labor? Or a poor exploited worker at the mercy of an evil system? I could have quit the job just like these workers can. And what about the many many workers in the US who work far more than 40 hours a week without compensation for fear of losing their jobs. Further to the point, Apple has clearly stated that they are working to identify and stop these abuses. By the way, American’s put in far more hours per week than workers in the rest of the western world – why aren’t you complaining about that?
Somehow you’ve forgotten to mention that these major factories that produce Apple’s products are also mostly very modern, and include extensive exercise and entertainment facilities. That their workers are not only usually provided with lodging, but meals or a meal allowance, along with health insurance. What a concept. Maybe we could adopt that in the US as well.
Although you quote 40,000 fingers a year lost in the Pearl River Delta, might this number be suspect since there is no official reporting mechanism? By the way, this is an area of 120,000,000 people so not sure how that number would compare statistically to other areas in the world. Do you? (Again, not trying to dismiss this loss – any loss is tragic.) And are you trying to imply that these horrible losses occurred in the manufacture of Apple’s products? – Who exactly are you accusing when you bait the headline and article with Apple’s name?
Environmental hazards? Please, I worked on top of coke ovens at the steel mills – equivalent to smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day according to the EPA scientists that were monitoring our plant. The list of toxic chemicals, along with the asbestos used, would fill a few pages of text. The byproducts included methane and butane gases, tar, carbon monoxide, sulfuric acid, etc. etc. etc. I had to wear thermal underwear and wooden clogs to keep the heat off in the middle of summer! I would certainly call that toxic environmental hazards, and right there in the good old USA.
Wow – found 90 children working in their factories! You fail to mention that that is out of HUNDREDS of thousands of employees at those factories. Further, have you forgotten what you wrote – they had forged documents! And this is somehow Apple’s fault? And who found that they were there? Oh yea, Apple.
I NEVER said that we shouldn’t be concerned about this. We should. But we need to do it within the context of the real world, and what is truly going on outside of your very slanted article. Apple, as well as many other companies, are obviously concerned about this. Obvious to anyone who is closely following this situation. DRAMATIC changes are taking place rapidly in China and will continue to do so. The point is that you are trying to paint the whole world with the brush of an American suburban elitist in your little cubby there in Silicon Valley. I suggest you actually come to China and visit the people you are writing about, along with the rural villages they come from, and take a good hard look at how the majority of these workers lives have actually improved significantly over the past decade or two. (This is still a country of approximately 800 MILLION peasant farmers.) The progress is remarkable and will only continue to improve. What are you saying? We should turn our backs on this part of the world and not do business there? How would that solve anything?
Excuse me Mike but let me take on the rest of your so called “facts” since you are so eager to hear more.
I didn’t say the suicides are “irrelevant” – every one of the them is tragic (as are the ones in the US as employees are dumped by their employers so that they can reduce costs while still making significant profits). What I said was that the rate of suicide is far lower than in the US. That is relevant because you are sensationalizing the “facts”.
Workers in one factory were exposed to toxic n-hexane 137 and that issue has been addressed in terms of stopping its use, but there is still work to be done to rectify the harmed employees. As shameful as it is, the problem was reported and fixed. Do you in all your infinite wisdom think that workers in US factories have never been contaminated by toxic chemicals? Have you ever heard of Love Canal? Or go rent Erin Brockovich if you haven’t seen it. Please, give us a break.
You state that many workers are working more than 60 hours per week and 7 days a week – like I said, I was REQUIRED to work 7 days a week, 10 hours a day at an auto plant. Does that make me slave labor? Or a poor exploited worker at the mercy of an evil system? I could have quit the job just like these workers can. And what about the many many workers in the US who work far more than 40 hours a week without compensation for fear of losing their jobs. Further to the point, Apple has clearly stated that they are working to identify and stop these abuses. By the way, American’s put in far more hours per week than workers in the rest of the western world – why aren’t you complaining about that?
Somehow you’ve forgotten to mention that these major factories that produce Apple’s products are also mostly very modern, and include extensive exercise and entertainment facilities. That their workers are not only usually provided with lodging, but meals or a meal allowance, along with health insurance. What a concept. Maybe we could adopt that in the US as well.
Although you quote 40,000 fingers a year lost in the Pearl River Delta, might this number be suspect since there is no official reporting mechanism? By the way, this is an area of 120,000,000 people so not sure how that number would compare statistically to other areas in the world. Do you? (Again, not trying to dismiss this loss – any loss is tragic.) And are you trying to imply that these horrible losses occurred in the manufacture of Apple’s products? – Who exactly are you accusing when you bait the headline and article with Apple’s name?
Environmental hazards? Please, I worked on top of coke ovens at the steel mills – equivalent to smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day according to the EPA scientists that were monitoring our plant. The list of toxic chemicals, along with the asbestos used, would fill a few pages of text. The byproducts included methane and butane gases, tar, carbon monoxide, sulfuric acid, etc. etc. etc. I had to wear thermal underwear and wooden clogs to keep the heat off in the middle of summer! I would certainly call that toxic environmental hazards, and right there in the good old USA.
Wow – found 90 children working in their factories! You fail to mention that that is out of HUNDREDS of thousands of employees at those factories. Further, have you forgotten what you wrote – they had forged documents! And this is somehow Apple’s fault? And who found that they were there? Oh yea, Apple.
I NEVER said that we shouldn’t be concerned about this. We should. But we need to do it within the context of the real world, and what is truly going on outside of your very slanted article. Apple, as well as many other companies, are obviously concerned about this. Obvious to anyone who is closely following this situation. DRAMATIC changes are taking place rapidly in China and will continue to do so. The point is that you are trying to paint the whole world with the brush of an American suburban elitist in your little cubby there in Silicon Valley. I suggest you actually come to China and visit the people you are writing about, along with the rural villages they come from, and take a good hard look at how the majority of these workers lives have actually improved significantly over the past decade or two. (This is still a country of approximately 800 MILLION peasant farmers.) The progress is remarkable and will only continue to improve. What are you saying? We should turn our backs on this part of the world and not do business there? How would that solve anything?
Ah, ignorance must be bliss! Do you take stupid pills before you go to bed? You should really switch to antidepressants.
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ok – you want hate speech lets have at it you foul mouthed ignorant asshole. you are another clueless moron who has no idea what they are talking about. I live here in China and know exactly what is going on. It is mindless twits like yourself that have no idea what the rest of the world is like
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Where in China do you live Shanghai, Tianjin, Sh?nzhèn??? Considering you live in China you do know China has a 2 class system and country folk have practically no rights? I bet you work behind a desk wearing a nice suit pushing paper all day. Because you’re living in China doesn’t mean you know shit about someone who comes from a dirt poor family, is forced to work 16 hour days, and sees no future beyond the factory gates. How dare you try and speak for these people you ignorant prick. You’re probably one of the assholes who keep these people poor for the sake of keeping your cushy job, nice suits, and trophy wife. Fucking lowlife whore its your kind that has ruined so many peoples lives for the sake of shoving more money up your already fat ass.
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Apple has never denied there is a problem
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Watch the video from D8 when asked by Mossberg about Foxxconn Jobs said Foxxconn wasn’t a sweatshop and went off on a huge bullshit speech. On video and in front of others he OPENLY DENIED THERE WAS A PROBLEM. You don’t believe it youtube the video and watch it for yourself dipshit. The only reason Apple is taking a different approach now is because they were shamed into it not because they care they were shamed nothing more.
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It is the people who are coming up from absolutely nothing and are happy that their lives are improving.
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Is it the people who think their lives are improving or is it you and the other business whores who think their lives are improving? I guess in your book as long as some assembler has a bowl of rice and a 6 by 8 room shared with 5 others he should be more then happy. In your book these people are probably overpaid and lazy. Hell in your pea sized mind you probably think you do by far more strenuous work then any assembler working 16 hour days. Hell how could the general public not be happy considering all they do is watched by the thug run communist state who we all know really doesn’t care about their own people. Do yourself a favor dipshit get your greedy ass out of China before the real revolution begins. Whores like you don’t want to be around when the people finally start fighting back and stringing up those responsible for making their lives miserable.
Interesting you bring up medication when its you whose delusional. I guess the apple juice must taste that good if you can hide from reality that well. Your asshole must be huge considering you choose to live with your humongous fat head shoved up there.
LOL – Please please please get some help before you go postal because you seem to be right on the edge of being institutionalized.
LMFAO what is that all you got? No more less then witty comments? Why am I not surprised? When hard facts are thrown out and someone actually decides to fight back people like you always make a quick retreat. Its a shame those poor people in the various manufacturing plants of China haven’t learned yet that bullies will always turn and run once you give them a black eye. They’re far from stupid though so give them time. Corporate money and thug communist rule can only keep an entire population on its knees for only so long before the thugs have to give way to the inevitable. By the way me and others like me aren’t the ones you have to worry about. The people you have screwed over are the ones you have to worry about and it must be pretty hard looking over your shoulder with your head shoved up your ass. The only thing I have left to say to an asshole like you is when your day of reckoning finally comes it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving individual.