Last month Apple made the headlines for a reason that shocked many consumers. Rather than anticipating the release of the next upgraded version of one of their sleek products, the public saw a much different side of the multi-billion dollar company. CNN News reported that many of Apple's factory suppliers, particularly located in China, have extremely poor working conditions, so bad that while we are paying hundreds for an ipad, workers are making less than $1 a day to make them. A Foxconn worker, one of Apple's largest supplying companies, released a statement saying, "they use women as men and they use men as machines, I almost feel like an animal."The worker was then asked why Foxconn uses their human workers for these jobs and the worker stated, "well, humans are cheaper."(read full article)
When I think of Apple, I think of shiny, high technology, sleek products that can do just about anything, at times, they might be smarter than most humans. What I didn't think about, until I read this article, was the dark side of the company. Apple comes across as a company that creates all their products in order to greater benefit their consumers lives, not as a company that uses the cheapest most unethical labor values in order to come up with these "top shelf" products. After the news came out, a petition was created asking Apple to change their labor values. As of February, the petition had around 250,000 signatures. Shortly after the news broke, Apple released a statement saying, "We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. We insist that our suppliers provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made." I am curious to find out if the company really does make a change in their labor ways or if it is just pushed under the table like most other large companies do.
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