Ralph Nader has a message for Tim Cook: Stop listening to Carl Icahn.
In a scathing letter to Cook published in today’s Wall Street Journal, the former presidential candidate takes Apple’s CEO to task for bending to the will of billionaire investor Icahn and issuing more stock buybacks, rather than listening to its workers and addressing the horrendous working conditions at its factories in China.
Nader’s letter proposes Foxconn workers’ hours be cut to 40 a week and their pay doubled, which would only cost Apple an extra $5.4 billion annually.
“‘Designed by Apple in California’ has a nicer ring to it than ‘Assembled by workers paid about a dollar per hour, working 11-hour shifts, and sleeping eight to a room in the Jabil Circuit corporate dormitories in Wuxi, China….
“You had a choice for the $130 billion: living wages for workers or stock buybacks for millionaires? You chose buybacks. Here’s a challenge for the present and future use of surplus profits: why not let the customers decide?”
Cook just wrapped up a visit to China this week where he visited workers at Foxconn factories, as well as discussed privacy issues with government officials.
You can read Nader’s full letter below:
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
32 responses to “Ralph Nader tells Apple to screw investors, not workers”
I fully, 100% support this sentiment. Wall St., their fake money, and mental masturbation exercises to ‘create wealth’ can go fly a kite.
yeeaaahhh… normal working people in no way own aapl shares either on their own or as part of a 401k, 529 college plan, or any other means. That’s just plain impossible, must be those mean millionaires at it again….
if you’re a normal working person who owns a few shares of AAPL the buyback really doesn’t give you a huge payback, but it’s a huge kickback for the millionaire/billionaire investors who own thousands or millions of shares.
You mean like pension funds, dumbass?
Buying back shares the way they’ve been doing it has increased debt, that’s not a good thing to have too much of.
shhh…
Uh, dickhead, I am from a middle class family and I’ve been holding Apple for 20 years. You prove you know NOTING about stocks or who holds them. CAPLERS, my states’ largest pension fund for teachers, holds Apple too, IDIOT.
Ha, you, sure about that, princess? You sure do resort to name-calling rather quickly! Considering I got both my undergrad and grad degrees in business and currently have a 401k that I monitor, I think you may have been running your mouth a bit much. But, hey, looks like you live in SoCal so come and find me in LA and lets see if you run your mouth the same in real life or whether you’re just a coward behind a keyboard. :)
Calm down, children.
I know…I feel dumb for even sinking to that level. No more engaging with that guy!
First thing wrong with Nader is thinking that the assembly workers that work at Foxconn are Apple factory workers. They are FOXCONN’s employees, NOT APPLEs. Jesus H Christ, can’t anyone see the name on the factory workers’ clothing? I agree that Apple shouldn’t buy back stock just to satisfy Icahn’s greed. If the company does well, then the stock should reflect it. Apple’s biggest dilemma is how to bring the cash from Ireland in the US without getting hit with a big 30% tax liability. I think it’s always been a rip off for the Government to charge people money they made and got taxed on in another country to have to pay the US government another tax simply by bringing in post tax profits from other countries.
But Apple might be wiser to hoard more cash to possibly make a shrewd buyout of a much needed company to diversify into other markets. I thought it would be a great idea if Apple bought Motorola Mobility from Google at $2.9 Billion instead of Lenovo, that would have been the funniest thing for Apple to do. Then Apple could lease the building to Foxconn or some other outsourcing company to build phones/iPads or whatever in US factories. That would be nice if they could do that.
The whole concept of not having 11 hour work days is a good one, but Foxconn is implementing robots to help reduce the burden on factory workers, but it takes time to build the buildings and implement robotic factories, but that’s were production is going, robots operated by a person.
The whole concept that Chinese factory workers have to abide by the US employment laws is STUPID. They are in another country, with different currency rates and these factory workers are given a place to live, most US factories don’t give employees room and board along with a salary. In China, $1 goes further than in the US, currency is different.
Maybe Ralph Nader needs to move to China and run for President. Yeah, like that’s going to happen.
I agree in not listening to Icahn, but I don’t think Apple can do as much as he thinks on salaries for Foxconn and the other outsourcing companies, that’s like me telling Apple to give their Apple Store employees a raise. Apple isn’t Foxconn’s only customer and Apple doesn’t run Foxconn.
I also fully support Ralph Nader on this issue, myself being the 100% apple fanboy since 2007, since the original iphone launched i was astonished with what apple was doing at the type of products they were showcasing. But no matter how innovative, sleek or thin my iphone 6 gets or my 27″ 1tb Imac gets i still hope and wonder that the people back in asia get a fair salary for all the hard work and long hours they endure for making the very products we have come to appreciate. Give workers there fair share of apple’s excess billions and stop making top ceo and shareholders richer than they already are. Their just going to spend it on more gasoline for there yachts anyways.
fyi, the top 3 institutional holders are vanguard, fidelity and state street bank. all of which hold a substantial portion of retirement accounts for non-millionaires or “top ceo(s)”. It boggles my mind that people automatically paint all financial actions and related shareholders as ultra-wealthy and/or traders, not your parents or your own accounts.
Yep, a bunch of stupid liberals on this site who think “living wage” (whatever the F that is) is how individuals improve their lot in life, instead of saving and investing. God help America with the rampant financial illiteracy.
I just don’t want Apple racking up more debt or running through that cash, they can hoard it and maybe buy some company that requires a lot of cash and this will keep them out of trouble. Apple racked up debt earlier this year for dividends and stock buy back and I don’t thnk they should keep on doing it.
Yachts do not use gasoline engines. The fact that Apple enables so many people to find employment should be acknowledged. These factory workers are supporting their families back home. Just like my grandparents did when they were younger. The rising GNP in China and legal reform will improve the standards for the average person.
You’re judging third world salary scales by first world standards?
Foxconn clients:
Acer Inc. (Taiwan)
Amazon.com (United States)
Apple Inc. (United States)
BlackBerry Ltd. (Canada)
Cisco (United States)
Dell (United States)
Google (United States)
Hewlett-Packard (United States)
Microsoft (United States)
Motorola Mobility (United States)
Nintendo (Japan)
Nokia (Finland)
Sony (Japan)
Toshiba (Japan)
Vizio (United States)
Why are none of these other clients listed? Because Nader wants exposure and Apple is always the easiest way to get exposure. His proposal is not crazy but focusing only on Apple and not including these other companies is pure BS. There’s no damn way Apple should subsidize wages if these other companies do not.
THANK YOU! “Whine whine whine Apple apple apple “
Fully agree. Nader should take his own advice and shut up. Apple doesn’t hire or pay those workers, Foxconn does. And as you’ve explained, Foxconn does contract work with many many different companies like Sony, Acer, Amazon, Google, Dell, and a host of other heavy hitters.
Nader is demanding Apple to give a “living wage” to Foxconn workers. Excuse me, but Foxconn is Foxconn, they have their own business to tend to. Yes, Apple holds influence over Foxconn, but Foxconn can run their business as they choose. They are a completely independent entity. Apple can make requests, but that is all they can do, Foxconn is just one of the many companies Apple contracts with to make it’s products.
It’s not as if Foxconn is under obligation to give Apple whatever they want.
If they paid the workers on Apple production line then they would have to raise it for everyone else and then they would have to charge more money and potentially lose a contract to another factory. I think Nader should get a meeting with the Chinese President and go that route rather than blaming Apple. F’ing retard.
So because everyone else *ucks those workers, that makes it okay? Poor Apple being blamed. Not fair.
true point there. That’s not even a full client list. Just the biggest 15-20. And you are right that it’s all about getting media and attention.
I don’t know who I hate more, Nader, or this stupid anti-Apple troll site.
China is currently experiencing the fastest wage growth in the history of mankind. Those Foxconn workers were behind a plow in the hot sun 5-10 years ago, earning pennies a day.
And Apple has done more for worker conditions in China than anyone. But it’s never enough for the dumb lefties like Nader.
Go after Samsung, aholes!!!!
Totally agree with Nader. Wish somebody would take out that greedy bastard Icahn.
Employees are….employees. Other people take the risks to build a company. Employees mostly take no risks. They agree to accept certain payment in exchange for their time and attention. If an employee is not happy with his/her status, push out and do something about it. The person who hires them, owes them nothing beyond what they agree to. Being willing to accept low pay is no virtue
I do object to outsized pay that management awards itself. They are after all, nothing more than employees. People who put it all on the line to build something from nothing, deserve the rewards. All of the employees ride along with them. Managers like Tim Cook are nothing more than employees. They have built nothing. They took no risk. They always received their salary on time.
There is nothing sacred about “normal working people”. Having a paycheck is comfortable and relaxing. Its a vacation to be free from having to worry about where the cash is coming from to pay the payroll. A wise builder will recognize the talent that adds to his/her vision and reward it when he/she can. But if you dont work for a wise builder, move one or become a builder yourself. Facts are most people do not want to be builders. They want to be employees. Not a bad thing, but not a virtue either, not something that entitles you to anything.
Most employees at large companies are either drones or vultures. Most employees at large companies are already well taken care of. Many employees at smaller companies are unhappy to discover that they have to invest themselves in the job to be worthwhile to their employer.
Nader can vote his shares like the rest of us. AAPL isn’t a charity.
Ralph is wrong on this one. I’ve lived all over China in many provinces, here is the real facts when translated into the local economy:
1) Chinas economy is about 4-5 times cheaper cost of living than the USA. So $3/hr buys the equivalent of $12-15/hr here. Going out to dinner for example a dish will cost you $2, instead of $10 in the USA.
2) Most Chinese don’t have to pay income tax, so it is all take-home
3) Many Chinese companies provide free housing & food. This dates back the the transition from communism. Private land/home ownership is only a lease from the government anyway.
4) The money that a Foxconn worker gets is premium in the local economy
So you can figure that if the living wage in the USA is $9.81/hr (http://livingwage.mit.edu). According to the MIT calculator $7.85 (80%) of that earned goes to housing, food, medical & income taxes. Leaving the american living wage worker with about $1.96/hr in spending.
The Chinese worker earning $3/h, can spend it like the equivalent of $12-15US , with the addition of the $7.85 living expenses being payed for by the company. Giving them the equivalent earning power of $19.85-22.85US/hr.
It is not bad at all.
1. Nader has no proof that the buybacks weren’t already scheduled and thus had nothing told with Icahn
2. Apple doesn’t own Foxconn so they have zero control over wages and to a degree hours worked as well
It’s the reason why the jobs are in Asia and not the US. Nobody in Asia works 40 hours a week. The minimum is 80 hours per week per employee… And yes, the workers are Foxconn, not apple.
Even if Apple makes the workers work 40 hours a week assembling iphones, the workers will take on an additional part time job for another 40 hours assembling tosters, fridges, TVs…
With statements like this, more jobs in the US will be lost…
I don’t want to hear anything from this guy. After giving us George Bush, not once, but twice, by taking away the democrat votes when they most counted, Nader has no room to talk about the “good for the common man”.
Ralph Nader is a socialist, marxist dipshit and needs to hurry up and die already. Remember, this is the same idiot who invented the saying, “speed kills,” which couldn’t be farther from the truth. It’s just his way of wanting to control everybody’s lives.
This is a capitalist society (at least until the Left finishes destroying it), and Apple wouldn’t exist without such a society. It’s the investors — you know, the people who have worked hard and made their own money — who invest in Apple and give it the capital needed to create great things.