There is a lot of mis-information about Apple’s overseas manufacturing.
1. There are no “Apple” factories. Apple uses the same factories that companies like HP, Acer, Dell, etc use.
2. There is no child labor in factories used by Apple. It is part of their contract with manufacturers and there are regular inspections to insure compliance.
3. The suicide rate for these manufacturers is lower than the US suicide rate and even lower than the suicide rate in China in general. When you employee 300,000 people, 14 killing themselves over the course of the year is statistically low. The latest US suicide rate is 12.1 per 100,000.
4. Because of the lack of inexpensive, reliable transportation many of the workers live in the plant dorms. It is not a requirement, but it is convenient and cheaper than living elsewhere. They have swimming pools, internet cafes, fast food restaurants and retailers on the premises.
5. They work 40 hour weeks with overtime capped at 60 hours per month. They earn ~$2.50 an hour which is a bit above average for China.
It isn’t great. I wouldn’t want to work there, but it is hardly slave labor.
There is a lot of mis-information about Apple’s overseas manufacturing.
1. There are no “Apple” factories. Apple uses the same factories that companies like HP, Acer, Dell, etc use.
2. There is no child labor in factories used by Apple. It is part of their contract with manufacturers and there are regular inspections to insure compliance.
3. The suicide rate for these manufacturers is lower than the US suicide rate and even lower than the suicide rate in China in general. When you employee 300,000 people, 14 killing themselves over the course of the year is statistically low. The latest US suicide rate is 12.1 per 100,000.
4. Because of the lack of inexpensive, reliable transportation many of the workers live in the plant dorms. It is not a requirement, but it is convenient and cheaper than living elsewhere. They have swimming pools, internet cafes, fast food restaurants and retailers on the premises.
5. They work 40 hour weeks with overtime capped at 60 hours per month. They earn ~$2.50 an hour which is a bit above average for China.
It isn’t great. I wouldn’t want to work there, but it is hardly slave labor.
I think some posters are defining as "slave labor" anyone who doesn't get US wages and work conditions.