It seems that the Apple story, problems and scandals will not end, and now the scandal of suffering of its factory workers is back again. Where the BBC released a documentary explaining the situation of the Pegatron company and clearly showing the deception of Apple and its violation of its promises to improve the conditions of workers. Let us know what the BBC revealed and also answer the question of some, which is "What is Apple's fault for what its suppliers do?"
Who does not know the story of the workers of the Apple supplier factories, the story goes back years ago, as some human rights activists and journalists discovered the suffering of Foxconn factory workers in China and that they were being employed in harsh conditions that prompted some of them to commit suicide by jumping from the buildings. The company's response was not to improve working conditions, but by installing nets around the buildings to catch them if they jumped, as well as appointing security personnel to prevent them from reaching the roof and committing suicide. Human rights organizations attacked Apple at the time, which responded by visiting Tim Cook to Foxconn factories and granting them material payments as help to improve employment conditions, and Apple also designated a page on its official website to indicate the improvement in working conditions and the report of working hours and other details that sell it as mere illusions and lies to the company, according to the BBC report.
BBC journalists disappeared, entered the Apple factory, held hidden encounters with workers, and published a documentary film of nearly an hour duration that revealed several points, the most important of which are:
- Child workers under the age of 18 years are employed for long hours, sometimes exceeding 12 hours, and also late at night, contrary to Apple's promises.
- The number of normal daily work hours reaches 12 hours - Apple mentioned 8 to 9 hours only - and the number of working hours for some reaches 16 hours.
- Workers are forced to work overtime - Apple said overtime is voluntary.
- Employees work 18 consecutive days without leave - Apple said that workers take their weekly leave.
- Some workers work in harsh and inhuman operating conditions and some in loud noises without any sound shield on their ears - Apple stated that working conditions meet standards.
- Workers' payrolls don't show they earned overtime or even the number of hours they worked in the first place - Apple said overtime is paid.
- Threatening workers permanently and publicly that there are others, and if they do not work as required, they will be replaced immediately.
- Workers indicated that from overwork, they do not eat and just want rest. This means there are not enough breaks at work.
The above is a sample of violations of regulations, workers' rights, and even what Apple mentions on its website about the factories of its suppliers. And if you want to see more, watch the video, which shows workers collapsing and falling asleep from exhaustion and fatigue - they sleep even in loud noises - watch the video:
Why is Apple guilty of the mistakes of its suppliers?
The question on many readers' minds now is what is Apple's fault? The factory is for Gatron and the other for Foxon. They are not the property of Apple, they only collect its devices, and Apple has nothing to do with the method used. Apple's sin alone can be illustrated in the following example:
A person goes to buy an iPhone and a seller tells him that its price is $ 600, another $ 700 and a third $ 680, then a seller comes and says to him $ 150 and examines the device that he finds excellent and is open to all networks. Will this person buy the phone? Of course not, because when the price is so low, there must be a hidden defect or "stolen". No one will say what I did wrong by the means by which the seller got it on the phone. The Messenger said, “Whoever buys a robbery knowing that it is theft has lost a trap in its shame and sin.” Well let's apply it to Apple.
When Apple decides to give Voxon and Pegatron $ 8 on each phone they collect, including the right of the factory, workers' salaries and all costs, and even asks them for lower prices, here it says to them, "Reduce the cost in any way" and see what is the main way to assemble the iPhone ?! They are workers, right? So the factories put pressure on the workers and crush them in order to reduce the cost and get more profits.
Of course, the thing that Apple does is repeated at Samsung, Sony and all companies, everyone is equal in the same things Almost Tim Cook has previously challenged the existence of a company that manages the workforce of suppliers like Apple and cares about them like it - of course you have seen the interest up. A year ago it was published Another documentary On the conditions of smart phone factories - he did not name a company - and he mentioned that there are substances used in factories that cause long-term diseases such as tremors and cancer and cause deaths of hundreds of workers. Foxon denied this and said that these materials are safe. As for the injuries of some workers - with 1.3 million workers at Foxon - they are only for reasons that have nothing to do with them. At the end of the report, it was mentioned that not using these harmful materials means an additional cost of only $ 1. Of course, Apple, Samsung and others will not bear this amount due to the possibility of a worker developing cancer. Let this factor go to hell until what is important is that we win more.
Our role in this matter
What is our role? Of course, we will not tell you to stop buying an iPhone, as these jokes happen the same in all companies ... But our role is to talk, yes our role is to talk, spread the news and transmit it until it represents media pressure on these companies ... and Apple, for example, likes to boast that its devices are free of mercury and substance. Such-and-such and it conserves the environment. And even recently, it sought to brag about workers' rights with its suppliers, so the spread of news affects its reputation and is "false", prompting it to quickly amend this matter and save Chinese workers.
84 comment