INCONVENIENT TRUTH: Your iPhone Was Built, In Part, By 13 Year-Olds Working 16 Hours/Day

Business Insider ^ | 01/15/2012 | Henry Blodget

[SeekAndFind]

We love our iPhones and iPads.

We love the prices of our iPhones and iPads.

We love the super-high profit margins of Apple, Inc., the maker of our iPhones and iPads.

And that's why it's disconcerting to remember that the low prices of our iPhones and iPads--and the super-high profit margins of Apple--are only possible because our iPhones and iPads are made with labor practices that would be illegal in the United States.

And it's also disconcerting to realize that the folks who make our iPhones and iPads not only don't have iPhones and iPads (because they can't afford them), but, in some cases, have never even seen them.

This is a complex issue. But it's also an important one. And it's only going to get more important as the world's economies continue to become more intertwined.

Last week, NPR's This American Life did a special on Apple's manufacturing. The show featured (among others) the reporting of Mike Daisey, the man who does the one-man stage show The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, and the NYT's Nicholas Kristof, whose wife is from China.

Here are some details:

The Chinese city of Shenzhen is where most of our "crap" is made. 30 years ago, Shenzhen was a little village on a river. Now it's a city of 13 million people--bigger than New York.

Foxconn, one of the companies that builds iPhones and iPads (and products for many other electronics companies), has a factory in Shenzhen that employs 430,000 people.

There are 20 cafeterias at the Foxconn Shenzhen plant. They each serve 10,000 people.

One Foxconn worker Mike Daisey interviewed, outside factory gates manned by guards with guns, was a 13-year old girl. She polished the glass of thousands of new iPhones a day.

[BfloGuy]

Yeah, it would be much better if we don't let them work. Then they can turn to prostitution or garbage collection -- the hours are better.

Those countries are poor. We didn't end child labor because we were so much more enlightened than the rest of the world. We did it because we'd become wealthy enough that we could get along without their labor -- and feed them at the same time.

[SaxxonWoods]

When I was young I helped build a lot of things for others that couldn’t afford. I guess I should have occupied instead, or something.

[SaxxonWoods]

Above should read “that I couldn’t afford”

[central_va]

Whether you are for this or against this practice the net savings to the consumer is around 10%, at the most. An I-Phone made in the USA would only cost 10% more than the Chinese slave built model.

[PapaBear3625]

The young people working those conditions are there precisely because they can’t find anything better which will get them fed and housed. Trying to ban the conditions, with the result of making the businesses unprofitable, means that instead of working long hours, they work NO hours and starve to death in the streets.

[central_va]

So we offshore our means of production but our “slaves:” don’t starve. The US taxpayer bails them out. When the money runs out there will be a populist revolution here, then we will be communist too. I get it.

[lefty-lie-spy]

Cool. Thanks kids! I love my iPhones.

[PapaBear3625]

Our dependence on cheap labor (both domestic illegal-alien labor and cheap Third World labor) is hurting our economy. If cheap labor wasn’t available, we would be investing in technology to make stuff.

[central_va]

Our dependence on cheap labor (both domestic illegal-alien labor and cheap Third World labor) is hurting our economy. If cheap labor wasn’t available, we would be investing in technology to make stuff.

Not everyone is going to be a professional, most people have an IQ and motivation to do only menial tasks. Our countries labor force of 160 million will either do manufacturing jobs or receive some form of welfare. It is not possible to lament the welfare state while promoting off shoring without looking like a hypocritical idiot. Agree?

[PapaBear3625]

Agreed. We need to have jobs that under-100-IQ Americans can do.

[dfwgator]

We need to have jobs that under-100-IQ Americans can do.

Like sales help at Best Buy.

[brityank]

So, Not only do all citizens of the world have American civil rights, but they are also covered by the OSHA regulations.

Indeed that is so as far as their civil rights are concerned.
As to the OSHA regulations, I have no problem enforcing them on US companies - no matter where they transact their business.

Remember this???

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Read the bold!

[SandwicheGuy]

And the alternatives for those teens are...?

Thank you for posting, the example was clearest way to understand the Chinese conundrum I have ever seen.

[oldbrowser]

We are a sovereign nation and we can hold whatever opinions we choose. I agree with those truths, but I also understand that other nations are also sovereign and may have a different opinion. There are different types of governments, ours is the best in my opinion, but not the only one.

As to the OSHA regulations, I have no problem enforcing them on US companies - no matter where they transact their business

In business, you have to compete in a global business environment. Much of the American manufacturing industry has moved offshore in an attempt to compete with other countries.

If you force OSHA rules on their international operations they would either become foreign corporations or go out of business. Either way we would lose tax revenues.