Inside China’s gigantic iPhone factory: long hours, discrimination and pay delays
Inside China’s gigantic iPhone factory: long hours, discrimination and pay delays
Inside China’s gigantic iPhone factory: long hours, discrimination and pay delays
Cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/43530586
Chinese factory staff assembling Apple’s latest iPhone continue to face precarious conditions, working many hours of overtime, suffering wage delays and discrimination against ethnic minorities, according to a leading labour rights group.
China Labor Watch (CLW) found that more than half of the estimated 200,000 workers employed during peak season at the world’s largest iPhone factory run by Foxconn in Zhengzhou are seasonal staff known as “dispatch workers”. This is despite a Chinese law capping the use of such staff at 10 per cent of a company’s workforce.
US-based CLW, which specialises in undercover investigations of Chinese factories, also found that dispatch workers faced staggered payment schedules that withhold part of their wages to deter them from quitting during peak production.
These staff were not entitled to the same benefits as full-time employees, such as paid sick leave, paid holiday and social insurance that includes medical coverage and pension contributions. CLW also claimed that there is systematic discrimination in hiring certain ethnic minorities and pregnant women.
[...]
"Despite Apple’s repeated pledges to improve conditions over the past decade, our investigation finds that core labour issues remain,” said Li Qiang, founder of CLW and author of the report released on Thursday.
"Apple’s supply chain continues to depend on a vast, disposable workforce.”
[...]
Many of the workers interviewed added that conditions compared favourably with those of other local manufacturers, citing air conditioning, hot water, recreational facilities and canteen subsidies.
An economic downturn in China and rising youth unemployment have narrowed options for jobseekers. A 23-year-old who trained as a Chinese teacher said she had worked at Foxconn for two months: “If I can’t find another job, I might come back.”
But two of the people who spoke said Foxconn’s recruitment platform, which the agencies use to upload CVs, rejects applications from ethnic minorities, including Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Huis, who are not local to Henan.
[...]
One worker who had been at the plant for more than a month said that she typically worked two and a half hours of overtime each day, six or seven days a week. “Some managers have bad attitudes,” she said. “We work hard, but they keep pushing and squeezing us.”
- Customer: My iPhone cable doesn't work. It's strange because I bought it recently 😢
- Apple: Have you considered buying a new cable ? It's only 22.99 euros 🙂
Apple is a corporation that makes 30% operating margins.
https://companiesmarketcap.com/apple/operating-margin/
That means that on average, for any product sold $1000, they make $300.
Apple also hates open source software. They use their proprietary operating system to jail users. They force developers to pay huge fees. This is total abuse. Imagine if Microsoft suddenly banned Windows users from installing software outside Microsoft. Imagine if Microsoft required developers to pay them 20% on all software sales
FUCK APPLE
This is a major reason why the company produces in China. There are practically no workers' rights.
Maybe 20 years ago, but that hasn't been the case for awhile now. There's a reason textile manufacturing moved most of their operations to countries like Bangladesh where you can shove 1000 workers and 1000 sewing machines into an un-airconditioned building, and then skip town instead of paying your workers.
Manufacturing stays here because while unskilled labor is only very cheap instead of dirt cheap, China has cheaper inputs like electricity, materials, machinery, skilled labor, and access to the Chinese market.
Of course they still have a long way to go, but a median wage of 124K RMB (17K USD) isn't terrible when you can get a good meal for 10 RMB and rent a 2bd in most cities that aren't Beijing and Shanghai for 2000RMB/mo.