Boy , it sure would be nice if we had a silver bullet train that would magically improve working conditions at Taiwanese factories .
Well , full news , everybody ! InfoWorld ’s Bill Snyder ’s got one !
Boycott Apple until it fixes its China labor job
In the infinite of a few months , Apple has sound from being the recipient of cloying , over - the - top adulation when co - founder Steve Jobs died to being the dupe of furious flak for its trade union movement practices in China .
OK , we ’re one condemnation in and you ’re already wrong . Apple ’s been criticise for months , if not long time , about work conditions at its Chinese suppliers , and Apple did n’t receive the supposedly “ cloying ” adulation , Steve Jobs did .
I ’m neither a fanboy …
BZZZT .
… nor an Apple basher …
Oh ? Really . You just writenegative review of products Apple has n’t even annunciate yet . That ’s a rather interesting and self - serving distinction you ’re draw there , Bill .
The China return arose again on Tuesday when ABC ’s “ Nightline ” aired a 17 - mo segment free-base on a visit to the Foxconn factory in Shenzen , China , where many Apple products are made and where workers have been recognise to jump off the roof in desperation . ( For the book , the Foxconn factory in China are owned by Taiwan ’s Hon Hai . Taiwan does n’t bear such working conditions in its own factories . )
For the record , the suicide rate at Foxconn is downcast than the national average in China .
For example , the Times drop a line about an blowup at another Foxconn plant in Chengdu , China , do when a swarm of aluminum detritus ignited , killing four worker . You only ca n’t see life-threatening condition like that during an escorted tour .
Right . Because they schedule all the inadvertent aluminum dust fires for when they ’re not conducting tour .
We already knew that status at the Foxconn factory in Shenzen , China , are dehumanise , to say the least .
News flash to Bill Snyder : Conditions inChinaare dehumanizing , to say the least .
We also knew that for many Chinese workers , the factory — as tough as it is — offers a big step up from crunch rural poverty ; in fact , Foxconn pays its proletarian 20 percentage more than the national norm in China . But that ’s a low bar .
This is the madden part of this fabulously ignorant dialogue . Whatisthe bar here ? First it ’s exploit weather condition and now it ’s also wages ? Is Apple supposed to demand westerly standards for Chinese worker across the card ?
What also give me interruption is the fact that the FLA calls the Foxconn works that Apple practice “ first class . ” If so , I shiver to believe what a second - course plant in China — the kind of facility where much of our consumer electronics are made — is like .
But or else of find out which company are sourcing things from second - category plants and advocate a boycott oftheirproducts , Snyder finds it promiscuous to attain the unspecific side of the b that has a better blusher business .
The issue remains : Is Apple any worse than its competitors , such as Dell and Hewlett - Packard , that also use Foxconn as its contract manufacturer ? I doubt it .
Actually , there ’s a lot of evidence that Apple isbetterthan its competitors . Some of which Snyder himself note ! Yet , we ’re still imagine to boycott Apple because it ’s supposedly the only actor that can do anything about Formosan task weather condition .
Could a boycott work ? It could . American consumers helped put an end to Nike ’s utilisation of child labor in Southeast Asia .
And put an end to child labor in Southeast Asiaforever .
What ? Oh , it did n’t ?
Well , whatever , let ’s just go on treating symptoms like the unretentive - aid - span sufferers we ’re always charge of being aspect A SQUIRREL !
Until Apple convinces me it is doing everything it can to markedly improve those experimental condition , I wo n’t buy either [ a new iPhone or a new iPad ] , at any price . How about you ?
So , is Snyder going to purchase a competition ’s product instead ? One sold by a company with a worse record on pressuring its Formosan provider ? Does that make any sensation ? If he ’s just going to take up Luddism , though , more power to him . Or , well , less , as the case may be .
Apple is already doing more than other society , and has call to do even more . What is it , exactly , that Snyder want ? He does n’t really say . More than more . From this one company and no one else . This simply is n’t a serious proposition , it ’s just throw spitballs .
Not that it ’s any unlike than his iPad limited review .
