>Williams countered that Apple has tracked the weekly hours of over one million workers within its supply chain, and that its suppliers have achieved an average of 93 per cent compliance with the 60-hour workweek limit this year.
60 hour workweeks... plus "93% compliance" is not exactly reassuring.
It would be nice to compare those numbers to that of other companies or organizations.
But even if you stay strictly with US companies, is it possible to find the compliance rate for Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Red Hat, etc., much less the various game studios known for overworking their employees?
The documentary shows how Foxconn and Pegatron fake payroll slips so that long hours don't show up.
93% compliance is rubbish. Workers are forced to sign forms saying they consent to night shifts and overtime, when in fact overtime is mandatory.
Apple's required reporting is nothing more than window-dressing; lipstick on a pig.
Apple's release schedule of one big yearly event and 10 million units ready to ship on day 1 must bear some of the blame. Near impossible demands are being placed on manufacturers desperate to keep a lucrative contract, who in turn drive workers like slaves.
While admittedly, I know nothing about Apple's internal policies and how it tracks these workers and the hours they're working, I wonder how real those numbers are. What I see often (very often) is that people see data and they take the numbers at face value. Could it possibly be that in order to appease Apple, the suppliers are cooking the books on the hours their employees are working? Obviously, in terms of profit margins, they want to squeeze out every penny of labor they can.
What type of data integrity system does Apple have set up to make sure that these are truly the case? With 1 million workers and multiple companies (and all the suppliers) does Apple truly have an independent employee (unaffected by any pressure from factory management) at every factory to watch over the labor standards? I kind of doubt it.
But yes, 60 hour work weeks, how noble of Apple. "Thank you sir, may I have another?" Personally, this really does make me rethink buying an Apple product.
> In an email to around 5,000 staff across the UK, Apple senior vice president of operations Jeff Williams said both himself and the chief executive were "deeply offended by the suggestion that Apple would break a promise to the workers in our supply chain or mislead our customers in any way".
Well, that makes 7% being lied to. Did I understand this correctly?
The problem with Apple criticism is a lot of it seems full of cheap shots and unfair framing, like this Panorama report.
That makes it more difficult to tell when a criticism of Apple is genuine, because every idiot journalist looking for a controversial story can write a story about something Apple is doing not well enough and get away with it, since everyone seems to love to hate on Apple.
So if Apple really is up to no good in some area of their business, we won't have a clue, because it's drowned out in tripe like this.
> The problem with Apple criticism is a lot of it seems full of cheap shots and unfair framing, like this Panorama report.
Well given Apple insane margins,and other tricks they pull(like tax avoidance in Europe),Apple case stands out more than other brands because of the company reputation,"success" and wealth.
> because every idiot journalist looking for a controversial story
There is no controversy here.Apple(and other brands) are clearly taking advantage of poor working conditions in China and other Asian countries.Nobody in the west would accept these conditions.I'm talking about the slavery like working conditions that existed in the west at the dawn of the 20th century before workers rebelled against it.
In China,well,it's just impossible for such a movement to exist.China is a bloody dictatorship.Western PR just succeeded in convincing us it wasn't.
And frankly,that story isn't really about Apple.Judging by the comments below the article,it's more about us and our denial to accept the fact that the comfort we live in is built on the pain and suffering of others on the other side of the planet. And that's how most wealth have been created through history,exploitation,through colonies,slavery, or other means.
Some people are fine with it,some people don't care,others think it doesn't exist,others think workers "are treated what they are worth",and have no problem spending insane amounts of money in the end product because of its marketing,and a last group understands that effective modern capitalism is just "rationalized predation".
edit: I edited my last sentence because I want to dissociate what thinkers like Adam Smith and others "described",and what we have today.
Reminds me a little of how people somehow don't believe McDonalds when they reveal their food sources. Because people love to hate on them, McDs and Apple have higher standards than their competitors.
Sleeping publicly in asian cultures is perfectly normal.
I remember seeing these asian students just passed out on university benches once I started studies abroad.
The journalist says 'it seems that they have no choice'. So he just displayed his cultural unconsciousness and publicly alleged Apple of wrongdoing.
One could easily speculate that people working in western societies are pumped up with caffeine, sugar or other drugs, freely available by their profit-hungry bosses.
> Sleeping publicly in asian cultures is perfectly normal.
So is sleeping on the job after 12 hour shifts. The issue isnt sleeping publicly but the 12 hour shift thing. Your argument is a big strawman,even the best spin doctors wouldnt dare using that argument,unless maybe those on fox news.
Reports of workplace abuse are so recurring that you end up dying a little inside from reading about one huge company after the other pulling this shit - but at least it'll stop you from reverting to an automatic defensive response to bad news about companies like Apple.
++
fwiw, I still agree that it's generally counterproductive to do reporting focused on Apple, because although they're the most obvious company to scrutinize, it makes it seems as if the issue is specific to Apple and not the systemic rule across corporations.
++
PS: Consider donating to CLW while you're at it; it's Christmas, after all.
Would that we aspired to that definition of "war", in which a country's response to an attack was: "I'm deeply offended. Here are the statistics concerning the behavior to which you object. Here is our program to improve."
Genuine question: Which large companies do supply chain auditing to the same or greater extent than Apple do? Do they make the audit publicly available as Apple do? I'd like to compare.
This is a good place to mention Fairphone, a dutch foundation who make phones and document their supply chain in public, improving various things about it
I would love to see if they could find a multinational company WITHOUT issues like this in their supply chain - I imagine none exist.
(I still support "exposé" programs like this since people need to be reminded what the actual cost of their toys are - but they should cast a broader net)
[+] [-] rtpg|11 years ago|reply
60 hour workweeks... plus "93% compliance" is not exactly reassuring.
[+] [-] dalke|11 years ago|reply
But even if you stay strictly with US companies, is it possible to find the compliance rate for Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Red Hat, etc., much less the various game studios known for overworking their employees?
[+] [-] notjackma|11 years ago|reply
The documentary shows how Foxconn and Pegatron fake payroll slips so that long hours don't show up.
93% compliance is rubbish. Workers are forced to sign forms saying they consent to night shifts and overtime, when in fact overtime is mandatory.
Apple's required reporting is nothing more than window-dressing; lipstick on a pig.
Apple's release schedule of one big yearly event and 10 million units ready to ship on day 1 must bear some of the blame. Near impossible demands are being placed on manufacturers desperate to keep a lucrative contract, who in turn drive workers like slaves.
[+] [-] sgnelson|11 years ago|reply
What type of data integrity system does Apple have set up to make sure that these are truly the case? With 1 million workers and multiple companies (and all the suppliers) does Apple truly have an independent employee (unaffected by any pressure from factory management) at every factory to watch over the labor standards? I kind of doubt it.
But yes, 60 hour work weeks, how noble of Apple. "Thank you sir, may I have another?" Personally, this really does make me rethink buying an Apple product.
[+] [-] LaSombra|11 years ago|reply
Well, that makes 7% being lied to. Did I understand this correctly?
[+] [-] swombat|11 years ago|reply
That makes it more difficult to tell when a criticism of Apple is genuine, because every idiot journalist looking for a controversial story can write a story about something Apple is doing not well enough and get away with it, since everyone seems to love to hate on Apple.
So if Apple really is up to no good in some area of their business, we won't have a clue, because it's drowned out in tripe like this.
[+] [-] aikah|11 years ago|reply
Well given Apple insane margins,and other tricks they pull(like tax avoidance in Europe),Apple case stands out more than other brands because of the company reputation,"success" and wealth.
> because every idiot journalist looking for a controversial story
There is no controversy here.Apple(and other brands) are clearly taking advantage of poor working conditions in China and other Asian countries.Nobody in the west would accept these conditions.I'm talking about the slavery like working conditions that existed in the west at the dawn of the 20th century before workers rebelled against it.
In China,well,it's just impossible for such a movement to exist.China is a bloody dictatorship.Western PR just succeeded in convincing us it wasn't.
And frankly,that story isn't really about Apple.Judging by the comments below the article,it's more about us and our denial to accept the fact that the comfort we live in is built on the pain and suffering of others on the other side of the planet. And that's how most wealth have been created through history,exploitation,through colonies,slavery, or other means.
Some people are fine with it,some people don't care,others think it doesn't exist,others think workers "are treated what they are worth",and have no problem spending insane amounts of money in the end product because of its marketing,and a last group understands that effective modern capitalism is just "rationalized predation".
edit: I edited my last sentence because I want to dissociate what thinkers like Adam Smith and others "described",and what we have today.
[+] [-] TazeTSchnitzel|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] patcon|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] WorldWideWayne|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hawleyal|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dzhiurgis|11 years ago|reply
I remember seeing these asian students just passed out on university benches once I started studies abroad.
The journalist says 'it seems that they have no choice'. So he just displayed his cultural unconsciousness and publicly alleged Apple of wrongdoing.
One could easily speculate that people working in western societies are pumped up with caffeine, sugar or other drugs, freely available by their profit-hungry bosses.
[+] [-] Zikes|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aikah|11 years ago|reply
So is sleeping on the job after 12 hour shifts. The issue isnt sleeping publicly but the 12 hour shift thing. Your argument is a big strawman,even the best spin doctors wouldnt dare using that argument,unless maybe those on fox news.
[+] [-] kmfrk|11 years ago|reply
Reports of workplace abuse are so recurring that you end up dying a little inside from reading about one huge company after the other pulling this shit - but at least it'll stop you from reverting to an automatic defensive response to bad news about companies like Apple.
++
fwiw, I still agree that it's generally counterproductive to do reporting focused on Apple, because although they're the most obvious company to scrutinize, it makes it seems as if the issue is specific to Apple and not the systemic rule across corporations.
++
PS: Consider donating to CLW while you're at it; it's Christmas, after all.
[+] [-] beltex|11 years ago|reply
The full documentary by BBC.
[+] [-] arthurfm|11 years ago|reply
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04vs348/panorama-apple...
[+] [-] xedarius|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thyrsus|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wernercd|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] coob|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Zikes|11 years ago|reply
http://corporate.walmart.com/global-responsibility/ethical-s...
[+] [-] frabcus|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kalleboo|11 years ago|reply
(I still support "exposé" programs like this since people need to be reminded what the actual cost of their toys are - but they should cast a broader net)
[+] [-] hawleyal|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] venomsnake|11 years ago|reply