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Interesting NYT Article
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[Joseph W. Bourke] “You don’t stop – every time we become complacent, or say, “there’s nothing one person can do about it…” is when the trouble starts.”
I agree with you but boycotting companies who use cheap Chinese labour means you probably won’t use any electronics at all.
These comments, from Chinese people are an interesting read
https://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/chinese-readers-on-the-ieconomy/?hp
Steve Connor
“FCPX Agitator”
Adrenalin Television -
Why don’t the workers unionize?
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[Christian Schumacher] “The point of the article is not to blame Apple, although some people may use it to do so. It merely displays Apple as a functional poster child of a system that, in order to meet the demands of consumers, it has to rely on increasing human costs to keep going. It reinforces your own point, Rafael.”
I agree that Apple is just being used as a case study and is not the only company that does this, but I disagree that Apple’s hand has been unequivocally forced. Divide Apple’s profits (not revenue but profits) by their workforce (workers of contractors aren’t counted) and you’ll get $400,000.00 of profit per Apple employee. There’s a lot of room there to absorb the higher wages of manufacturing in the US if they wanted to but it doesn’t make good business sense for them to do so.
What I don’t understand are the race-to-the-bottom apologists. The people that think we should force everyone down to a Chinese worker’s standard of living instead of trying to bring a Chinese worker’s standard of living up. The people that say, “If you think a factory job is bad you should see the rural work” as if factory owners are doing their employees a favor by moving them from ‘really bad’ to ‘not quite as bad’ when it’s well within their power to move them from really bad to good. It’s like wanting a pat on the back for donating tattered, thread-bare, moth-eaten blankets to charity while you have mountains of down comforters that you’ll never use.
-Andrew
2.9 GHz 8-core (4,1), FCP 7.0.3, 10.6.6
Blackmagic Multibridge Eclipse (7.9.5) -
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[Joseph W. Bourke] “What’s wrong with a boycott starting with Apple?”
I feel like it’s time to shame them (and others)
Maybe call for a day of shame and have people all over the world for one day send an email and say “shame on you”
Public pressure.
I know it’s not only them, but we start with them and go from there.
I feel like I have to do something.
It’s in the news for one day and then they just keep going.
I’m going to organize something.
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I’m with you on this, Tony. If enough people send a “for shame” email to Apple, and it gets publicized (the tough part), then maybe they’ll be forced to think about it.
I, for one, have never owned an Apple product, although I’ve worked on their computers in other jobs (no pun intended). I think the strongest message would be a day of boycotting the Apple stores and online sales. The only message they seem to understand is the green one with George Washington’s picture on it.
Here’s an interesting piece on organizing an effective boycott:
https://www.democracyeducation.net/HowToBoycott.pdf
Here’s an even more interesting site which claims to do it for you via the web (I’ll be reading up on this tonight):
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com -
[Richard Herd] “Why don’t the workers unionize?”
Because the point many folks forget about is that China is a brutal communist nation, where workers are basically owned like sheep and the haves and the have nots stare at each other across a strictly defined party line. That’s the danger of a centrally planned economy, the likes of which our current administration is pushing for.
Chris
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I decided to do a little homework and search around for Apple workplace violations (off shore, of course) – everyone at Apple USA is a happy camper, I’m sure. What I’m finding is astounding:
https://peoplesworld.org/rotten-apple-ipod-sweatshops-hidden-in-china/
Now we’re beginning to find out why Apple doesn’t want anyone knowing who their suppliers are – they’re busy killing off their workers.
https://news.change.org/stories/apple-admits-child-labor-sweatshops-used-to-build-iphones
https://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505124_162-43442599/high-tech-sweat-shops-is-apple-the-next-nike/
Here’s Apple’s smiley-faced spin on the news in their 2011 Progress Report:
https://images.apple.com/supplierresponsibility/pdf/Apple_SR_2011_Progress_Report.pdfJoe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com -
[Andrew Kimery] ” There’s a lot of room there to absorb the higher wages of manufacturing in the US if they wanted to but it doesn’t make good business sense for them to do so.”
I don’t think that 1.000 ipad glass polishers, for example, would automatically translate to 1.000 american jobs in your scenario. You’d have to factor something in first; The technological approach to the production line that would be developed then. Almost every task would have a machine created to accomplish it. So, instead of 1000 ipad glass polishers at a hypothetical US plant, there would be a couple of dozen workers operating a machine that polishes the ipad glass, and much more efficiently. At the end of the day, good business sense has to be made, regardless of where it operates. It’s a conundrum, really.
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Yes, but when you combine good business sense and ethics, it becomes clear that it costs more to do business in a humanitarian way. If those glass polishers were hired in the US and told to polish the glass by hand with hazardous chemicals, the Apple plant would be shut down in a heartbeat. The only reason Apple can get their glass polished on the cheap is that they CHOOSE to have it done where it’s cheap, AND it kills people.
You don’t think Apple hasn’t done a cost-benefit analysis of this and said, “Sure we can do it in the US with expensive machines for x dollars per unit. But we can do it offshore where there’s no OSHA, and sure, a few people a year will die, but we can do it for x dollars less – let’s do it.”
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com
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