Apple Islave Case

The iSlavery We iGnore We are very familiar with all of the iProducts such as iPods, iPads, and iPhones, but are you aware of what iSlave means? Probably not. The term iSlave is used by human rights activists to describe the labor conditions at the Apple 's manufacturing plants in China. Sadly, most of us do not even care where and how these products are made as long as we can enjoy the wonders of technology that Apple can provide us. But there is something more behind these dazzled wonders, something that some people have chosen to ignore and some others just really ignore. Whatever the case is the reality is the same, a greedy company making a fortune while the real workers hands are being treated as slaves or should I say iSlaves?
According to Charles Duhigg and David Barboza and their report in the New York Times, Apple factories in China such as Foxconn have been experiencing huge problems regarding work conditions and safety. Employees are usually forced to work 12 hours shifts almost every day of the week, and even worse, some of them have to perform their work standing up or sitting in backless chairs. Also in order to reduce costs and improve production to meet Apple 's expectations, suppliers like Wintex and Foxconn have used hazardous chemicals putting in danger their employees ' health and safety. In January 2010, over a hundreds of Wintex 's workers were being exposed to n-hexane, a harmful chemical that can cause paralysis and nerve damage, because it was cheap and clean iPhones screens quickly, which means that employees could clean more screens during their long shifts. Moreover, the poor maintenance of the factories installations have caused terrible tragedies like the explosion at the Foxconn factory in Chengdu where four people were killed and 77 were injured. Under-age workers, false records, attempts of suicide, and crowded dormitories are four more irregularities to add to the huge list of labor issues at Apples ' suppliers factories (Duhigg and Barboza). Furthermore, Apple 's actions to stop these issues at its factories are almost none, and the prove of this negligence is that groups like BSR - also known as Business for Social Responsibility- have recommended Apple to make changes and improvements at their factories in order to provide the proper conditions to its workers as the Chinese law demand; however, Apple never listened until they could not control the suicide wave of its workers caused by the pressure and abuse at their work environment.
In an attempt to ameliorate, Apple has conducted around 312 audits where more than half of the suppliers have violated at least 70 or more standards of the suppliers code of conduct, and the company web site says that if a supplier does not make changes to after 90 days of being notify about the violations, Apple will terminate the relationship. Nevertheless, less than 15 factories have been terminated since 2007. Also, an advocacy group from Hong Kong report the unsafe conditions at the Chengdu plant, and they specifically pointed out the problem with aluminum dust and poor ventilation, but Apple did not do anything about it. Two weeks later, Chengdu plant exploded because of the aluminum dust. About this incident Nicholas Ashford, an occupational expert from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said:"… If it were terribly difficult to deal with aluminum dust, I would understand. But do you know how easy dust control is? It is called ventilation. We solved that problem a
century ago." It just seems that Apple would rather to ignore that solve these problems because six months later of the Chengdu accident another Foxconn 's factory exploded in Shanghai. Once again, the cause was aluminum dust (Duhigg and Barboza). Chinese labor law has a standard working hours system under which employees should not work more than 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week, and no more than 9 hours overtime per week as well. It is pretty much the same as in the United States, so why Apple 's Chinese workers work those excessive and inhuman shifts and overtimes, and Apple 's American employees work just the hours that the American law states? It is the same company just in different locations, isn 't it? The answer is if Apple obey the Chinese law, less workers would be assembling Iphones, Ipads, MacBooks, and all of these iProducts, which would mean for Apple a reduction of its production that also would lead to a decrement of its billionaire profit. That is not business; it is tyranny and a perfect example of avariciousness. Jay Greene, a business reporter from The Seattle Time, on his article published in the CNET web page says: … That all sounds good, except every year, in every report, violations persist. Apple has said that pushing those suppliers to improve is better than simply terminating contracts and moving onto the next vendor. But critics say the persistent problem show Apple 's unwillingness to truly uphold the standards it set for itself…The latest report from Apple 's hand-picked auditor, the Fair Labor Association, suggest that violations with regard to overtime continue…"The company has reduced hours to 60 per week (including overtime) with the goal to reaching full compliance with the Chinese legal limit of 40 hours per week plus an average of 9 hours of overtime per week while protecting worker pay," the FLA writes in its report…The company said it needs until next July to come into compliance to ensure a smooth transition.
Does Foxconn needs a "smooth transition" to obey the law? That makes no sense at all. It is like if I come to the United States from another country, I am going to break the law for a while during the time I do the "smooth transition". Of course, that is going to happen; the moment I decided to come to this country I also decided to live by this country 's laws, no my laws or Colombia 's laws. Why did Apple not follow Chinese laws since the first moment? Building installations at these suppliers ' factories are not that good either.
Steve Jobs dared to say that these are pretty nice factories because they have swimming pools, dormitories, hospitals, movie theaters, and restaurants. Who is going to see a movie or swim after a 12 hours shift and covered by aluminum dust? I think Steve Jobs just forgot to mention how crowded the dormitories are and how expensive the food at the restaurants is. Also the physical conditions of these buildings are not as sophisticated as the products that are made in there. Multiple reports have shown that their ventilation system is not enough to filter all the substances that workers have to use, which means that the air inside these factories is not the most healthiest to breath. Also workers are not provided with any safety equipment and their work stations are pretty basic; they do not have ergonomic chairs or anything like that. Improving these physical conditions is a non-profitable capital that Apple is not willing to waste because it would raise operating values and reduce production effectiveness.
(Sethi) Technologically speaking, Apple has done incredible things to improve our lives in all possible ways. However, its way to manage the business is morally repugnant. Apple is making its name and billionaire profit out of the Chinese workers blood and sweat, yet the workers themselves do not receive any credit. Apple tries to put on a mask that leads the public to believe that their products are of the greatest quality, and that they have the people 's best interests in mind when producing a product for us, but what about the Chinese workers? What about their interests? If Apple truly wants us to believe that they are the high quality company that they want to appear to be, they should consider treating the workers with the respect they deserve.
Works Cited
Greene, Jay. " 'No more iSlave: ' An activist fights for iPhone workers". CNET.com. 25 Sep. 2012.Web. 19 Oct. 2013.
Duhigg, Charles and David Barboza. "In China, Human Cost Are Built Into an iPad" . New York Times. New York Times. 25 Jan. 2012.Web. 15 Oct. 2013.
Sethi, S. Prakash. "Two Faces of Apple". CarnegieCouncil.org. Carnegie Council. 2 April 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2013