In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad, By CHARLES DUHIGG and DAVID BARBOZA, New York Times
“…the workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside those plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves. Problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious — sometimes deadly — safety problems.
Employees work excessive overtime, in some cases seven days a week, and live in crowded dorms. Some say they stand so long that their legs swell until they can hardly walk. Under-age workers have helped build Apple’s products, and the company’s suppliers have improperly disposed of hazardous waste and falsified records, according to company reports and advocacy groups that, within China, are often considered reliable, independent monitors.
More troubling, the groups say, is some suppliers’ disregard for workers’ health…”
Categories: Labour
IN-SIGHTS 
As I sit here, in front of my MAC desktop, in horror of the truth, I have to ask myself what I can do? To pick the fruit from the tree or not? If I had to pick this fruit and club other members of society to do it, I have to admit, I would not. I would prefer to offer something for this fruit. That is where money comes in. This stuff is our barter. Take this in exchange for your labour and I, in return can have this cool stuff. However, those that are in charge of this exchange will ensure that it will not be equal. They will ensure that it is entirely in their greedy hands and that any exchange is a profitable one. Shame on them for taking a potentially winnable scenario and turning it into a pimp station.
I am sick to death of this kind of capitalism.
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On another note – environmetal protection. The Canadian government is again, thwarted by the Federal Appeals Court over it's attempt at removing protection for the Orca whales – in an attempt to permit tanker traffic on the west coast Northern Pileine Project!!!
See link for details:
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Rights-Justice/2012/02/10/Orca-Ecojustice/
Thanks
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Speaking of apples.
There is an apple factory in China, where anyone that goes to work there…Has to sign a document, they won't commit suicide. The workers were even jumping out of the windows. That's China's working conditions for their own people…So horrific they kill themselves.
Both Harper and Campbell, are only too happy to exploit China, for the cheap labor, and child labor is even more cheap, pennies a day is all they earn. Campbell and Harper's greed is sickening.
Campbell in his revolting greed, sent some of our mills to China, along with our raw logs. There are 51 mills shut down and, 141,000 BC mill workers that lost their jobs. There have been more mill layoffs, very recently.
Chinese people are being sent to school, to learn English. They get the coal mine jobs. If any of the seven mines going into Northern BC are Chinese, they will bring their own miners. China refuses to pay Canadian wages. Their own people work for starvation pay.
China now owns BC because of their, pennies a day labor they pay their people. China makes gigantic profits off their working citizens backs. The Chinese come over here in the hordes, they have pretty much bought out Vancouver. Harper is also permitting China to buy out the tar sands. It's only a matter of time, before China will own Alberta too.
Harper's preaching of human rights in China, has to be the joke of the century. The F.N. People said, China should ask Harper about the human rights of the F.N. people. Harper only cares about Harper, and his own selfish goals. Harper is a dictator. He most certainly is not a true Canadian. Harper's own party, the Northern Foundation Party from 1989, is the real government of Canada.
Since Harper's majority, Canada has steadily gone downhill. There was just another layoff, of 500 people. Canada has gained no jobs, for six months now.
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I am not excusing at all the labour practices that are going on in China, but I am rather curious about how it is ONLY Apple that bares all the grief.
It is not just sitting in front of your MAC, it is all of the other computers using the Windows platform, the TVs, flatscreen or the old tube ones, the bluetooth or DVD players, and on and on it goes. Nokia is laying off 4000 employees in Europe and outsourcing these jobs to China. Mike Daisy in all his shows is very specifically saying that it is ALL the tech industry that Foxconn.
For some reason there seems to be only a burden laid upon Apple's shoulders. Nokia, Microsoft, Panasonic, and hundreds of others.
I am hoping that Apple will use it's influence to bring better working conditions. There is no other company that uses Foxconn that has released the names of their suppliers.
As well, I find it interesting that part of the conversation in the Democracy Now video about why something like unions could not step in. It is against the law to unionize. Ironically one of the foremost issues in North America now is breaking unions.
I think that it would be considerably difficult to redefine the very structure of the Chinese society.
It is interesting that in BC, a 13 year old can be hired for 6 bucks an hour. We do not seem to care about that.
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Good comments. I suppose Apple is singled out because of its wealth and leadership. China is setting the scene for its domination. Today, Chinese teams are all over the third world building commercial and political relationships. I visited Bolivia two years ago and was amazed at the number of community improvements, even in out of the way rural villages, funded by China. They are active all over the world.
Google “China building in Africa” for many examples.
This is another interesting report: China's Foreign Aid Activities in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia
We're going to regret a lot more than Foxconn in decades to come.
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