Comments on: Apple, Human Rights, and Us

By: Youngun Song

Youngun Song — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:21:00 +0000

http://youtu.be/V-QUrr_ow5w for you!! watch this~ this video has an important messaga!

By: Youngun Song

Youngun Song — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:16:00 +0000

By: Harold Hart

Harold Hart — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

During one of many supplier visits to factories in China over twenty-years ago I encountered an open solder pot full of molten solder (lead based and very bad for you if you’re exposed to it for long periods of time). This solder pot was used for connecting reworked connections on a motherboard. I knew enough about the hazard to leave the area immediately since there was no ventilation and none of the workers were wearing any personal safety protection beyond safety glasses. I told my colleague and we reported the incident as part of our overall inspection of the factory. Sadly, these conditions existed in most factories in Asia (Malaysia, China, and Singapore).

Change is slow in countries that attract enormous amounts of production from US businesses. These factories made or make just about every kind of consumer/commercial electronic device that we’ve made a part of our lives since the 80s. Supply chains are a complex part of delivering products to market and encompass component pricing, logistics, and factory production turns and SKUs that would make your head spin. Add competitive pressures to increase margins and gain market share and it’s no surprise that conditions reported in this article are still happening in late 2011.

It’s not just Apple’s fault or responsibility to affect change. Ask HP, Dell, Motorola, RIM and any other company that’s manufacturing in Asia using Foxconn or any other Asian manufacturing plant how things are changing and what role they all bare in making change happen for workers in these countries. Its not as simple as stoping manufacturing or boycotting. Trade relationships between countries have an impact as well as understanding just how much pressure one country can place on another country to force any dialogue of change.

Most companies have small and effective cadres of environmental and social responsibility organizations that have effectively worked with organizations worldwide to improve conditions with overseas manufacturers. These folks have worked tirelessly and in the background to make some enormous changes in the past twenty-years (they just don’t make the front page news). I’m confident that the current set of challenges will be addressed, but probably not as fast as the uninitiated would like.

By: Michael Billingsley

Michael Billingsley — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 06:17:00 +0000

@humansafe Michael Billingsley Asus 13″ laptops at #3,7,10.. Apple & Asus 11″ tops – Consumer Rpts. One diff – Asus best in environmental responsibility/worker conditions. [myTweet]

By: Cadmus

Cadmus — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:29:00 +0000

you asked: I don’t have a ipod, ipad, tablet, GPS, mp3 player or video game console…
don’t have a TV, i gave it up when i was a senior in high school 1996.
I do not have a cell phone both because of how they are made and because of how
the U.S. failed to regulate the industry causing a huge proliferation of unneeded
towers.
I reduce my consumption as much as possible. I disassemble any products I
throw away to recycle any rare metals because I realize there are many negative
externalities associated with my purchasing. I have a stereo that has not
worked for 6 years and I can not find a replacement that is made sustainably.
I am waiting. the article says: “are Apple’s competitors any better?” no. So I
boycott the entire industry. I would love all of the products I mentioned
above. I secretly CRAVE video games.
But I am trying to live sustainably. That is hard in this
culture, I have a long ways to go. Most people don’t try.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:20:00 +0000

Kiven, Not so. Perhaps I live in an area of the US that is used to much more diversity. The Chinese (as well as other nationalities and cultures) have added a lot to our lives, in art, music, literature etc. Kevin, if you take the time to read Lao Tzu’s teachings of Taoism you will notice that approximately 600 years before Christ Lao Tzu was teaching the same moral and and ethical values. The Tao is often translated as, “The Way”.
Kiven, I did not learn these things from the Chinese, I leaned these things from other white americans who introduced me to them. So you see, we do not all think of the Chinese in such a backward, ignorant way.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:10:00 +0000

That is a good idea. I’ll do the same.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:07:00 +0000

I was going to buy the iPad2, literally the next day, but heard what the conditions chinese workers have to endure at a radio segment called “The Agony & The Ecstasy”. I could not believe it! Steve Jobs & Apple looking the other way to maximize profit and market advantage at the cost of life, health and working conditions we no longer tolerate in the US, Unacceptable. Since then I have heard three other reports on my radio.
No, I will not buy that iPad2 until I hear that Apple has fixed this problem.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:27:00 +0000

Not only will I NOT buy an iphone, I spent the last 10 minutes of my last visit to my Apple store railing at an employee about the fact that I would never buy another Apple product (I have only a MacBook laptop) due to the unforgiveable and knowing abuse of China’s environment as well as its people — not to mention shipping jobs overseas to avoid the minimum wage and enviro regulations of the U.S. — all for the sake of profit. I also told the employee that I would be willing to spend 30% more for a product made under humane conditions in this country. It’s time for all of us to start sending a message by refusing to buy anything made in or sourced from China or any other country without minimum wage or environmental regulations.

By: Michael Billingsley

Michael Billingsley — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:54:00 +0000

As a very early Apple adopter (starting with the “Lisa”) and starting more than a few public all-Mac tech & and editing labs (besides an occasional email exchange with Steve Jobs) I was incensed as its profit priorities began to exceed its attention to the supply chain and worker conditions. The “recent New York Times exposé” was not the first but rather the most recent of many critical articles about Apples Foxconn/Hon Hai supplier and its several huge factory complexes in China.

Fair Labor is not the only independent inspector… and its “independence” (from the usual bribery, advanced warning to the factory of its visits, and corrupt manipulation of reports) is yet to be established. Older European standard-setters are credible, set a high bar (and have for a decade) and Apple never asked to be reviewed by their criteria.

And most importantly – with respect to Peter Thomson’s flapping of hands remark that it is an endemic and hence unaddressable problem – there ARE *major* brands & suppliers (ie. Asus) who have monitored their own workplaces & suppliers closely for years, in voluntary and mature understanding of what it takes to be a good employer/supplier, while Apple acted like a jerk. There are many worthwhile organisations who monitor the electronics, clothing, toy & sports equipment industry for both compliance with human standards, and for exemplary brands. A little prior research would have been helpful here. Michael Billingsley for – humansafe – on Twitter.

By: Mighty Yui

Mighty Yui — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:40:00 +0000

I wanted an i-phone.. I REALLY wanted an i-phone.. but I wouldn’t buy one because I couldn’t stand the idea of the conditions under which they are made. A few months ago I got an HTC google phone, in the hopes that Google wouldn’t be involved in .. well, you know. And because I couldn’t find any record of these issue on line.. but it just occured to me that I was trying to google it.. so… yea. Anyway, since then I’ve met and gotten very close to my BF, who, as it turns out, used to work in one of those factories back in China. He doesn’t want to talk about it. BTW, Kiven, I’m white. I assure you, I don’t view my relationship with “Boyfriendah” as beastiality. If you can, try not to speak as though you speak for everyone, because, I assure you, you don’t speak for me.

But my point: Why can I buy a certified Fair Trade pashmina but not a smart phone?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Free market works for impoverished workers if information flows freely. As long as they know the working conditions & choice of where to work, they will generally make the best choices, we should generally stay out of prescribing wage rates, child labor ages, etc. However, we CAN insist on the free flow of accurate information, e.g. so a poor peasant doesn’t spend more than she can afford to move to a job that isn’t as described & feel she has to stay. (Perhaps require the recruiter to offer a free ticket home, which will incent the recruiter to prepare job seekers for what they will find.) Also the freedom to change jobs. Remember the song “16 Tons”? Many workers in the 3rd world “owe their souls to the Company store” just as miners in the U.S.A. did not so long ago; we can & should work for change in that.

By: James McRitchie

James McRitchie — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:25:00 +0000

Kiven, not all Americans are so callous. Shareowners have the most direct line to changing Apple’s practices. I hope they vote in favor of my proxy item #5 to give us an annual vote on director pay and #7 submitted by CalPERS Adopt a Majority Voting Standard for Director Elections. Directors are supposed to be our representatives. Let’s ensure we have a voice in the companies major policies.

By: Kiven

Kiven — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:54:00 +0000

you know what the funny thing about this story is that no body gives a f••k. nothing will change. because white Americans see Chinese as animals. plain and simple. its not that hard to understand your target market audience.