Apple "outraged" by New York Times Foxconn report

By Fred Dutton Published 27 January, 2012

"Any suggestion that we don't care is false and offensive."

An email reportedly sent out to all Apple staff from CEO Tim Cook has condemned recent reports that the company is turning a blind eye to unacceptable working conditions at supply chain partners such as Foxconn.

The message, which found its way to 9to5Mac, rejects claims that Apple is sweeping employee mistreatment issues under the rug.

"We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain," it read.

"Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern. Any suggestion that we don't care is patently false and offensive to us. As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It's not who we are.

"For the many hundreds of you who are based at our suppliers' manufacturing sites around the world, or spend long stretches working there away from your families, I know you are as outraged by this as I am."

Cook went on to insist that it inspects more and more factories every year to ensure they meet its code of conduct.

"We've made a great deal of progress and improved conditions for hundreds of thousands of workers. We know of no one in our industry doing as much as we are, in as many places, touching as many people."

He pointed out that Apple has opened its supply chain for independent evaluation by the Fair Labor Association, and did so "without hesitation".

"This will lead to more frequent and more transparent reporting on our supply chain, which we welcome. These are the kinds of actions our customers expect from Apple, and we will take more of them in the future.

"We are focused on educating workers about their rights, so they are empowered to speak up when they see unsafe conditions or unfair treatment," he continued.

"We will continue to dig deeper, and we will undoubtedly find more issues. What we will not do - and never have done - is stand still or turn a blind eye to problems in our supply chain. On this you have my word."

Yesterday's lengthy New York Times investigation featured a number of purported former Apple executives explaining why it is often easier to turn a blind eye to abuses at manufacturing plants such as Foxconn rather than attempt to make changes or switch suppliers.

The Chinese manufacturer has been at the centre of a number of recent controversies, including a report earlier this month that hundreds of staff working on the Xbox 360 assembly line had threatened mass suicide over pay issues.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (77) Latest comment 3 weeks ago

  • telboy007 #1 4 weeks ago

    $13 billion quarterly profit...

  • tangoownage #2 4 weeks ago

    Gaming news much?...

  • DrStrangelove #3 4 weeks ago

    You know, not everyone might agree that building nets to prevent the jumpers from falling too hard counts as caring for the workers.

  • Kanjin #4 4 weeks ago

    I see a lot of waffle and not much hard evidence in that speech. So, false, offensive and... true?

  • Shikasama #5 4 weeks ago

    Don't care enough to make your products in a country with a decent human rights record and labour laws that protect your workers from the kind of absue at the Foxconn factory though do you?

    I don;t know how Apple even dare respond in this way.

  • Lunatic4ever #6 4 weeks ago

    He sounds very authentic to me. Regular audits to ensure that everything is accordin to the code of conduct is already something that some companies don't do as throughly as they should. Now inviting an independent organisation to visit the facilities and check for issues, that's brave.

  • silversun #7 4 weeks ago

    Very good to see this response to this.
    apple is a worldwide company and after reading what i saw yesterday was easy to forget that.
    this not been reported much in uk what was said. outside the people into technology, i doubt many heard about this. not sure how amercia responed to this story the other day though, but the response is very postive from apple ceo so lets hope that this goes in right direction.

    (just need make clear all comment's i made here and yesterday are my own personal viewpoint as this topic is extremely sensitive i feel.)

  • Cjail #8 4 weeks ago

    Apple: "We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain...now get back to to work and don't complain you wankers!"

  • TazerFan #9 4 weeks ago

    Not sure that's the most appropriate response. Humble "we're working on it" is always better than "rabble rabble HOW DARE YOU etc"

  • suicidal_penguins #10 4 weeks ago

    The thing is, they have been working on it for quite a while, they're the only ones who publicly release the audit and inspection reports. They have a website dedicated to the who,e issue:
    www.apple .com/supplierresponsibility

  • JorgeLuisBorges #11 4 weeks ago

    @telboy007 exactly - with that much PROFIT... how many people are working on their products. Even if it was as many as 100,000 factory workers - they could give every single one a $3000 a quarter payrise and still make $10 (us) billion dollars a quarter profit. Or hire an extra 10,000 workers on 30,000 a year to ease the workload.

    ps - my maths is pretty shit, but you get the idea

  • suicidal_penguins #12 4 weeks ago

    @JorgeLuisBorges I don't think they directly pay the workers though, they pay Foxconn who also make products for Dell, Microsoft, etc etc. the issue is bigger than one product. They could hand Foxconn an extra 10000 profit but what would be the point in that?
    Edited by 1 at 27/01/12 @ 18:21

  • JorgeLuisBorges #13 4 weeks ago

    @tangoownage Ooh snap! Good one!

    ... seriously though, get a life.

  • Triggerhappytel #14 4 weeks ago

    Seeing they've just recorded record profits for the quarter, I'm sure they wouldn't mind then putting, say, 5% of those profits down the supply chain to improve the working lives of those staff affected...

  • weebl #15 4 weeks ago

    @DrStrangelove the Chinese government seem not to have a problem, despite having excellent employment law as I was reliably informed in the last article. If this was happening in this country I think nets might not be sufficient to placate our employment and human rights laws.

    Whatever. How many people here educated in this situation would still buy a different product (not necessarily a tablet) based on how morally considerate the manufacturing process was? Not many I'd wager. They would still buy the product they wanted in the first place.

  • paulf #16 4 weeks ago

    of course they care ... now they've been found out

  • TarickStonefire #17 4 weeks ago

    As much as I believe that they don't want to be using companies where exploitation occurs, the fact is they really could do a lot more to change that, more than any other company, because they're so influential now. At the same time, they do seem to be doing more than other companies as it is. They could do more, it seems.

  • DrStrangelove #18 4 weeks ago

    @weebl

    Well the Chinese government puts profit above anything else much like the customers of Foxconn, also corruption is a huge problem.

    I know it would be hard for me to buy something for believably supporting better working conditions when what I actually want is something else, and that's one reason why this system keeps working. But before I bought my Macbook for example, I was considering Windows laptops as well, namely one ultra-slim by Samsung which was praised for its excellent quality. If I believed they'd really care for their workers, I'd have bought that one probably.

    Still, this only works as long as you are undecided. When the decision is already in your head, there's little chance to break out.

  • TarickStonefire #19 4 weeks ago

    @paulf Now Apple have been found out? Found out of what? That they use Foxconn? That was never any secret.

  • TarickStonefire #20 4 weeks ago

    @gotyourmoney "Your 'values' are measured in currency, sir."

    That's their profit you're thinking of. Their values are not driven by profit. Rather, the profit follows when they follow their values in the design of their products, by which I don't just mean the look of them.

  • immateriaux #21 4 weeks ago

    Apple definitely do a lot more than most on this issue and deserve some kudos at least for providing public access to data on the supply chain (I can see how that can be frustrating for them when they read figures taken from their own reports in articles against them) but they also need providers like Foxconn - it's only places like that that have the infrastructure to provide the numbers to get the products out to market to meet public demand. It spins both ways and it is an issue far bigger than just Apple or Microsoft, or all the others that use Foxconn.

  • darkmorgado #22 4 weeks ago

    "As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It's not who we are."

    Says company that employs the same tactics as religious cults.

  • JorgeLuisBorges #23 4 weeks ago

    @suicidal_penguins

    Sure, I wasn't suggesting they go out and hire people directly - like put an ad in a chinese newspaper... I'm just saying that $3bn dollars can achieve a lot; probably more than "more frequent and more transparent reporting on our supply chain"
    Edited by 1 at 27/01/12 @ 18:48

  • Rens11 #24 4 weeks ago

    @Triggerhappytel

    great idea! if apple did that they would make even more money by creating a good image for the company with the public its win/win

  • FireMonkey #25 4 weeks ago

    Hmmm... evaluation by the FLA. A body that was partly created by and controlled by Nike, Adidas and Reebok and is now partly funded by many other big corporations, some of whom are ignoring their own workers demands for rights. That sounds like it'll do the job well.

    http://flawatch.usas. org/about/

    http://sweatfreehsu.blogspot.com /2008/04/fair-labor-association-timeline-of.html

  • actionfitz #26 4 weeks ago

    "As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values."

    We know better than anyone that your only 'values' involve increasing your quarterly profits to $13 billion and beyond.

    If you care so much about workers, how come your products are made exclusively in countries with lax (if any) labour laws.
    Because it's cheap as fuck. because if ipads were built in the EU, the US or anywhere else in the west you would have to pay the workers a living wage.

    So fuck you and your righteous indignation Mr Cook.

  • Timotei #27 4 weeks ago

    @suicidal_penguins I don't think they directly pay the workers though, they pay Foxconn who also make products for Dell, Microsoft, etc etc. the issue is bigger than one product. They could hand Foxconn an extra 10000 profit but what would be the point in that?

    Sort your shit out or we'll take our business elsewhere?

  • callum9999 #28 4 weeks ago

    Apple are by no means alone (or the worst) but they know FULL WELL that there are questionable work practises at Foxconn yet they carry on using them with seemingly little supervision.

    Foxconn would absolutely leap at something like Apple subsidising increased wages. "In conjunction with Apple, we here at Foxconn are doing all we can to combat poor working conditions and that is why we now provide comfortable accommodation and a real living wage to all staff".

    Yes, it would take a few million out of their profits (probably tax deductible - make it a charity thing), but that's just pocket change to them.

  • inutaihanyou #29 4 weeks ago

    Corps don't care about people, they care about profit. That goes for their customers as well as the people they use to move themselves.

    Health insurance corps only care about the money they can save, not who they are insuring, oil and gas conglomerates only care about how much oil they can sell, not what it does to the environment ect.


    Its just common sense for apple to be this way, and China's lawless nature(which is how it got to where it is today) made it a perfect breeding ground.

  • Marshall2008 #30 4 weeks ago

    This may make big news in the USA but The Times should really look closer to home at the USA prison manufacturing industry which pays less than the wages the chinese workers get. Pressure is placed on the local States to increase the prison population so that they can increase production and privately run prisons run an 'honour' scheme which allows them to easily extend sentences far beyond the initial terms.

    The US prison industry produces products for the military, IBM, Microsoft among others and is a growing multibillion dollar industry.

  • Marshall2008 #31 4 weeks ago

    @inutaihanyou Don't worry. Once the Chinese economy eclipses the West you can get a job here in one of the european sweat shops. You too can assemble products for Chinese companies.

    :)

  • Marshall2008 #32 4 weeks ago

    @callum9999 Apple already pick up the tab for increases in workers wages on Apple product lines. Foxconn passed the increases directly onto their customers.
    Edited by 1 at 27/01/12 @ 19:56

  • Feanor #33 4 weeks ago

    Cook is a liar.

  • manic_mouse #34 4 weeks ago

    @darkmorgado "Says company that employs the same tactics as religious cults."

    Erm okay. /dons tin-foil hat

  • StooMonster #35 4 weeks ago

    Everyone wants cheap stuff.

    Foxconn don't exclusively manufacture for Apple, they also manufacture for Dell, Sony, HTC, Nokia, Motorola, Lenovo, Toshiba, HP, etc.

    All buyers of technology — not just Apple customers — need to demand better conditions in overseas factories like they did with Nike and Gap in the past, and pay higher prices, or accept that they care more about their shiny gadgets than workers in China.

  • StooMonster #36 4 weeks ago

    @darkmorgado Says company that employs the same tactics as religious cults.

    Can you give me an example, I'd like to use the approach too as it's obviously so successful.

  • StooMonster #37 4 weeks ago

    Unless we're all hypocritical, shouldn't we be concerned for the people of Congo who've suffered mass slaughter of 5-million people and rape of 300,000 so that we can have tantalum and other 'conflict minerals' that are used in all mobile phones, computers, and games consoles.

  • darkmorgado #38 4 weeks ago

    @manic_mouse

    No tinfoil hat about it. They do.

    The whole celebrating the first customer in the door every morning, the labelling of staff as "geniuses" and "gurus", the entire style of Jobs' announcements when he was alive, the never-ending annual cycle of "revelation" (for apple, see: Our most innovative product evah!!!), the clean and clinical look of their stores, all of which are largely identical with a specific layout including pews to sit on while you study their holy products, the distortion of truth when it comes to rewriting history to make themselves more innovative than they really are, the pursuit of the utter destruction of anyone encroaching on their territory, and the exploitation of those lower down the food chain in order to bolster their position...

    It's very well known, and extensively analysed and written about, that Apple pursue a business model very similar to religion.

  • StooMonster #39 4 weeks ago

    @darkmorgado extensively analysed and written about, that Apple pursue a business model very similar to religion

    If it's been "extensively analysed" you should be able to provide a link to an academic paper or scholarly article or journal. I look forward to you posting some DOI.

    Moreover, if this was true, the "religious" business model has made Apple the largest company in the world by market cap. If such a "religious" business model existed, wouldn't other companies have copied it by now?

  • DirectAim #40 4 weeks ago

    Apple have recorded record profits if 8bilion£ but imagine how much they have in the bank, probably more like 50billon!!! I think all of these massive companies should pay more taxes and give a bonus to everyone at apple and in their supply chain!!

  • darkmorgado #41 4 weeks ago

    @StooMonster

    Let's see...

    Steve Jobs perpetuated a personality cult: http://ww w.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15194365

    Have you ever heard of the "Steve Jobs distortion field"? It's the phrase coined to describe the personality cult he cultivated about himself. Google it if you don't believe me.

    Scientific evidence that religion and Apple trigger the same responses in their followers: http://articles.busi nessinsider.com/2011-05-21/tech/29982282_1_apple-stores-stev e-jobs-brain

    Here's a good real-life example of just how fucking creepy and screwed up Apple are: http://ww w.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13416598

    If you find that normal, you need your head checked.

  • alcides #42 4 weeks ago

    Do they still have a partnership with Foxconn? Then they don't give half a shit.

  • bf #43 4 weeks ago

    Apple has values outside its stock??
    Edited by 1 at 27/01/12 @ 22:43

  • L0cky #44 4 weeks ago

    @DirectAim Sounds like you were making a guess. If so good job. Apple have $82billion (£52billion) in the bank.

    http://www.tuaw.com/ 2012/01/11/most-of-apples-82-billion-cash-stockpile-is-trapp ed-overseas/

  • ubergine #45 4 weeks ago

    Workers in Western societies fight centuries ago for rights to protect themselves from money grubbing bosses so the bosses simply move the manufacture into third world countries with no labour laws. Or if not third world, counties with a system of government that is suppossedly anathema to the western world and the American Dream. Apple are full of shit and can rot in hell.

    (via iPhone)

  • L0cky #46 4 weeks ago

    Apple doesn't care about these workers. It doesn't hold contempt for them either.

    Saying Apple feels anything at all for them is a bit like saying Wednesday enjoys chicken; or the sun has never seen Ghostbusters II.

    Yes, it makes no sense.

    A corporation is a piece of paper, a bunch of laws, and a system of work flows.

    Employees of a corporation might care about something but unless it's their job to do so - and in a profitable way, then their personal opinions have no effect upon the corporation's collective actions whatsoever. The best they can do is resign.

    All actions taken by the employee of a corporation must result in increased sales or decreased operating costs. Everyone here that works for a corporation in any way knows all this; it's called "being professional" and "doing your job". It's also a legal obligation.

    If a corporation does something nice, it's just a coincidence. It's only because doing that thing happens to be more profitable. Whether their employees get a free gym membership; or they are campaigning for environmental change, it all comes back to profit in some way or another.

    The same goes when a corporation is doing something evil. It's not because it's evil, it's because it's more profitable.

    It isn't a conspiracy either. There isn't a cigar smoked filled room of the 10 richest people in the world grinning and rubbing their hands together at how well their masterful plan is working. Yes there are greedy individuals in positions of power making awful decisions in the interest of corporate profit, and screwing over lots of people in the process.

    However, corporatism is a system of emergent behaviour. All of the bad things about corporatism are side effects of how that system has evolved over time.

    While people continue to favour one corporation over another for being fairer or more ethical; or believe Apple is more hip than Microsoft; or Nike is a sporty company; or Disney cares more for your children than Glaxo-Smith-Klein, nothing will ever change.

    A corporation exists only to increase sales and reduce costs (which usually means screwing over the workers). It's a bunch of office workers, marketers, managers, underpaid unskilled workers and overpaid CEO's churning money over for mostly anonymous shareholders who care nothing about how they operate other than clues to whether they should buy or sell their shares.

    A corporation is a mundane, sometimes benign and often malignant system, nothing more and nothing less; and it certainly doesn't have a fucking opinion.

  • manic_mouse #47 4 weeks ago

    @darkmorgado

    Your scientific evidence is dubious at best. For starters, the "area of the brain" that religion stimulates is ill-defined based on my reading of actual scientific papers on the subject (rather than headline grabbing layman's press stories). Also, where were the controls? Maybe lots of brands stimulate the same responses, and the rabid fanboyism in videogames suggest that they probably do. The brain is a very poorly understood aspect of physiology, I wouldn't put much stock behind headline grabbing stuff like that. In your example they took someone who is "obsessed" with Apple, and thinks about them all the time suggesting some kind of OCD behaviour. And guess what stimulates the "same parts of the brain" as religion? Yup, OCD. Anyone obsessive about anything might be the same. Also, did they publish a paper on this or was it just a stunt for the TV show? I can access the journals if they have, but I doubt it's published science.

    I find it absolutely normal that Apple try to cultivate their fans, and try to make something "special" about their brand. Every other company in the world would be doing it if they could pull it off. Don't hold it against Apple just because they manage it. Kudos to them. And no, I don't need my head checked. In fact, let's look at something pretty funny:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_em bedded&v=-KLwVfi0uaU

    Now, let's reiterate. There is no evil religious cult of Apple. They make phones and computers. They're overpriced, but offer something a bit different from the rest of the market and people that own their products seem to really like them. Any other company would try the same if they could (see above).

    /steps away from tin-foil hat

  • Okamiwolf #48 4 weeks ago

    How anyone with a conscience can work for Apple escapes me. They make Microsoft look holy.

  • TazerFan #49 4 weeks ago

    @L0cky

    Hell of a fuckin' post there, mate!

  • roughsleeper #50 4 weeks ago

    I will never add to craApples $13 billion a quarter profit margin, and Foxxcon workers will never get a cent of it either. The systems broken. Has been for years. Its a pyramid with the workers underneath getting crushed and a spiral of hot air inside sucking the money upwards to the shareholders accounts. Those are the fukkers that decide where the money is spent, who the contracts go to and how much to pay the lawyers to stave off the bad press.

    Shiny white pieces of expensive shit.

    Give me a PC that throbs with power and sounds like a jet engine when it boots up!

  • 00.00.01 #51 4 weeks ago

    @roughsleeper
    What kind of device are you using to post? check the specs,99% chance you are spending money on that company. And there are many others like them.

  • darkmorgado #52 4 weeks ago

    @manic_mouse

    Actually, Apple are getting a rather large rep not for being successful due to innovation, but because they are patent trolls.
    Edited by 1 at 28/01/12 @ 02:40

  • darkmorgado #53 4 weeks ago

    @TazerFan

    Shame it was a load of bullshit that conveniently sidestepped all the issues.

  • L0cky #54 4 weeks ago

    @darkmorgado Ironically what's bullshit is Tim Cook's email.

    He starts out with:
    As a company and as individuals, we are defined by our values. Unfortunately some people are questioning Apple’s values today, and I’d like to address this with you directly. We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain.
    Throughout his email he ascribes human emotions to the company, we, and Apple as if it's capable of such a thing. My point is it's not.

    The email is targeted at Apple employees for the purpose of minimizing distraction and the impact on morale after the report; both of which are profit driven goals.

    As with any statement published by any corporation it's bullshit as a matter of logic.

    Here's an excellent essay on Bullshit by Harry Frankfurt. I particularly like this quote on the difference between a bullshitter and a liar:
    What bullshit essentially misrepresents is neither the state of affairs to which it refers nor the beliefs of the speaker concerning that state of affairs. Those are what lies misrepresent, by virtue of being false. Since bullshit need not be false, it differs from lies in its misrepresentational intent. The bullshitter may not deceive us, or even intend to do so, either about the facts or about what he takes the facts to be. What he does necessarily attempt to deceive us about is his enterprise. His only indispensably distinctive characteristic is that in a certain way he misrepresents what he is up to.
    If a corporation was a human being he'd be a bullshitter (uninterested in truth or lies) and a psycopath (appeals to other's emotions for his own gain while being incapable of having his own).

    As an organisation Apple won't do anything for the employees of Foxconn that will cost them financially unless it's in the interest of publicity - and therefore their own profits. Nor will any of Foxconn's other corporate clients.

  • MonsieurToni #55 4 weeks ago

    Well, I think that there isn't much need for further reports when you can easily find a number of previous reports that have highlighted these issues. E.g. Finnwatch has a report from Foxconn on its publication titled Game console and music player production in China. For mobile phone production in other countries there is a report from India titled Phony Equality - Labour standards of mobile phone manufacturers in India.

    From these and a plethora of other reports you can easily figure out that although the working conditions are improving there is quite a bit to be done. It just isn't enough for people at Apple or any other electronics company to state that they are doing their utmost when it is a blatant lie. There is nothing preventing these companies to ensure humane working conditions and the costs for this would be entirely insignificant to the price we pay from these products.

    If virtually any Apple product, as an example, costs in hundreds of euros/dollars/pounds/whathavewe the wages of workers on those factories are but a miniscule fragment from the final price tag. To have workers work with their current salaries on, say, eight hour shifts five days a week, wouldn't really matter all that much. Maybe buyers of Apple's product could pay that extra euro or two for certainly the price isn't an issue here.

  • Lancezh #56 4 weeks ago

    Oh well, if they SAY so...

  • natureboy #57 4 weeks ago

    Apple cares not as long as the profits keep rolling

  • StooMonster #58 4 weeks ago

    @L0cky That figure was before the last quarter results, if you got a more up-to-date source you would see that it's currently US$93-billion in cash and cash equivalents. i.e. nearly a tenth of a trillion US dollars in the bank.

    That is a lot of money.

    What are they going to do with it?

  • StooMonster #59 4 weeks ago

    @L0cky Agree with your comments about corporations and that one should not anthropomorphise them. Some academics suggest that corporations are the highest form of life on Earth when you consider them in biological terms.

  • StooMonster #60 4 weeks ago

    @roughsleeper Who makes the motherboard for your PC? Foxconn!

  • Rajin #61 4 weeks ago

    @L0cky

    ''A corporation is a mundane, sometimes benign and often malignant system, nothing more and nothing less; and it certainly doesn't have a fucking opinion.''

    Beautifull conclusion, especially the last part.

  • Dogme #62 4 weeks ago

    I've never bought an Apple product and I'm glad about that :D Apple fanboys can blow me!

  • gjgjg #63 4 weeks ago

    @manic_mouse
    doesnt that video reinforce the point that MS dont have a cultish following? Maybe I read your post too quickly.
    Anyway, I have lots of apple users amongst my friends and they seem blind to any flaws apple systems have(none of them know much about computing incidentally). I always found it weird how much devotion they give to that brand in particular and how far they will defend it without much substance, reminds me of my religion arguments back in school. You can call that apple 'cultivating' fans or you can call it 'cult-ivating' (hehe) - its a similar process imo. Either way apple fanboys seem more devote than any sony, ms or other fanboy ive enountered. so therefore its TRUEEEE.


    edit: actually, friends of mine who are sports fans are the closest ive seen paraell to the apple kind of devotion. Those guys even refer to their team in first person plural terms (we're gonna win). Its pretty common but a bit psycotic if you think about it - people dont refer to their favourite band in the same way (we're gona play a good gig tonight). Anyway, even those guys will listen to rational argument and admit when 'they' played a bad game when faced with facts. When apple fans are faced with facts (eg.their monitors are 16bit, upscaled to 24bit as standard where as most monitors used on PCs are standard 24bit, or CPUs are intel-the same as PC chips) they just get defensive. Just like when ppl start quoting the bible to christians, they just get defensive.

    Anyway, this is hardly impirical, just 2nd hand info. IMO apple are similar to a cult. or maybe i have crazy friends. out
    Edited by 2 at 28/01/12 @ 12:59

  • Po1ymorph #64 4 weeks ago

    I'm sure Apple is extremely "outraged" at the bad press. But not enough so to pay a decent wage to there staff. One whereby committing suicide is not a better option than taking the pension plan.

  • Obli #65 4 weeks ago

    So Apple do more than most manufacturers...? It's not enough. They could really use their muscle if they wanted to. Bottom line is, if the suits of these companies can get away with using cheap labour, they will, the greedy bastards. The email from Cook reads like a load of corporate bullsh*t speak to me. I'm not seeing, reading about or hearing any action being taken. They must do more.

  • Casserole #66 4 weeks ago

    Put your money where your mouth is, then.

  • KopparbergDave #67 4 weeks ago

    Foxconn employs tens of thousands of staff, possibly in the hundreds of thousands mark.... they work on probably just about every hi tech product everyone here owns, not just Apple products... so why the vitriol towards Apple? At least they are acknowledging the problem and are making efforts, tentative though they may be, to address the problems. What are the other companies saying to all this, and what are they doing? Less than Apple I bet. The thing is the conditions are awful, but China is an emerging superpower, and much of the emergence is down to the fact they have what seems to us as unethical working conditions and so on. I bet Britain 100-200 years ago looked very similar, people exposed to chemicals and fumes and dangerous factory conditions and so on. Let's not forget China, and other emerging nations are going through this and their governments have not yet enacted as ethical laws as we have, and the people have not yet risen up enough to demand them as I'm sure people here did in the past to make a stand against the pure profit driven companies employing them. Foxconn employs thousands of people who might only have jobs on farms, just as tough hours and for far less pay so in many respects they are the lucky ones to have a job in a factory earning above average pay. Clearly, I myself feel like so much more could be done for them, and Apple as a major player and with a vast reserve of wealth, could force Foxconn to make quicker strides to brings things up to a decent standard for their workers. I'm sure over the next decade this will eventually happen. In the end we all reap the benefits, and anyone on a gaming site must own a gaming console made in similar cheap Chinese factories, and I'm sure you loved when the PS3 or Xbox you now own dropped below £200 or whatever, stop being hypocrites and get off your high horses and focusing solely on Apple. They are not the only tech company out their benefitting from the Chinese labour market. I'd take Tim Cook's word on something before the anonymous businessmen behind MS, Dell and so on.

  • Kaminari #68 4 weeks ago

    Tim Cook, your corporate sect is a disgrace.

  • TAPNGO #69 4 weeks ago

    http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=Tdr5lXa_pPI

  • suicidal_penguins #70 4 weeks ago

    So, after all that, it turns out the New York Times was just trolling

    "It is untrue that Apple has consistently disregarded advice that BSR has provided about problems related to working conditions in its supply chain....
    The account of the pilot project in south China omits and obscures key facts. Despite the publication of a report that has been in the public domain for several years, there are errors in how you present the project...
    The narrative you present is an inaccurate picture of the work we have done with Apple, of the role Apple played in the worker hotline project, and of BSR’s views of Apple."

    https://www.bsr.org/en/our-in sights/blog-view/letter-to-the-new-york-times-from-bsr

  • AnotherIdiot #71 4 weeks ago

    Post deleted at 18:54:35 29-01-2012

  • xxCOKECANxx #72 4 weeks ago

    Eurogamer, please don't let this story die. Image is hugely important to Apple, more so than many of the other technology companies. Peoples knowledge of their association with Foxconn could have huge repercussions for them, only then will they change.

  • Eraser #73 3 weeks ago

    @silversun "Very good to see a response to this."

    No, there was no response, it was an email from an Apple CEO basically saying "Really! It isn't true! Believe me!" to his own employees. Sounds like a desperate and rather arrogant measure to me.

  • suicidal_penguins #74 3 weeks ago

    I take it you didn't bother to my post then, too arrogant to read the facts I guess :(

  • tankboi #75 3 weeks ago

    "any accident is deeply troubling". Haha what a crock of shit. They are killing themselves and you call it an 'accident'. Way to dodge a bullet Apple.

    BS they care about work conditions. Just because Apple's products are squeaky clean, it doesn't mean they are. I don't buy it.

  • Wobbler #76 3 weeks ago

    @tankboi There were 4,547 fatal work injuries in the US in 2010. That's a rate of 3.5 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers (source: http://w ww.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf).

    That means that if there were less than 35 workplace deaths a year at the Foxconn factories, it would be _safer_ than US factories. I don't know how many people tragically died in those manufacturing explosions last year, but it doesn't seem to me like Foxconn is a deathtrap compared to any other manufacturing job in the world.

  • tankboi #77 3 weeks ago

    @Wobbler

    I think you are grossly missing the point.

    The workers at Foxconn are CHOOSING TO KILL THEMSELVES.

    you can't compare fatal accidents with suicide!