Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition that urges Apple to change the ways its suppliers treat workers who will make the iPhone 5, our sister site CNET News reports.
The campaign was started by a group called SumOfUs, and asks people to sign a petition telling Apple, "The quality of working conditions matters as much as the quality of your products. Make the iPhone 5 and your other products ethically."
Working conditions in the factories where iPhones and other gadgets are made often make the headlines. Recently we reported that 300 staff at Foxconn -- a Chinese manufacturing plant used by Microsoft, Apple and others -- threatened to commit mass suicide over working conditions.
The petition is in the wake of a New York Times report published a few days ago on factory conditions, which cites an ex-Foxconn employee who said, "Apple never cared about anything other than increasing product quality and decreasing production cost."
Meanwhile, an anonymous source claiming to be a former Apple exec is quoted as saying, "We've known about labour abuses in some factories for four years, and they're still going on."
Apple doesn't directly employ the people who work in those factories, rather it pays the suppliers to make its products. But that doesn't mean Apple is powerless to improve working conditions for factory workers, the petition claims.
Apple is an extremely wealthy company, and the contracts to build its gadgets run into billions of dollars. That aforementioned anonymous source told the NYT, "Suppliers would change everything tomorrow if Apple told them they didn't have a choice."
Apple has a site detailing its approach to supplier responsibility. The Cupertino tech giant says it "does not tolerate involuntary labour, underage labour, or discrimination" and that suppliers "must create a safe and healthy work environment". Apple has also published a list of its suppliers.
Now those signing the petition are looking to Apple to use its clout as one of the biggest manufacturing clients in the world to look again, and really force suppliers to change working conditions.
What do you think? Is it fair to hold Apple to this standard but not other companies who use the same manufacturers? Or should it be setting an example? Tell us in the comments or on our Facebook wall.
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Jordan-Findlay 1 February, 2012 20:58
If apple put as much care in work conditions as it does in it's products it would be the reccomended job for all
shannonhau 1 February, 2012 23:10
i think it's easy to shift the blame onto apple - but remember they are one of many. And if you think that companies such as Apple, M$, and whatever companies that have parts made in china under similar conditions to those of foxconn - will allow the increased cost of manufacturing to eat into their products, I'd think again - community responsibility is great marketing material, especially when they hike up their prices, and respond to complaints about product delays.
More importantly the focus should be on the chinese government to improve worker conditions - which wouldn't be limited to just Foxconn, the rich man poor man gap in china will still be the same as it always has been and unfortunately situations like this will continue to reoccur unless there is intervention from a higher scale.
And with the recent employment drive on tuesday (31/01) at Foxconn hiring almost 5,000 staff that day in Shenzhen - it doesn't look like the working conditions appear to be stopping the chinese people from signing up either.
anonymous 2 February, 2012 10:26
I'm not sure if Foxconn really would change if Apple told them to. They're holding just as many of the cards themselves, after all, where else could Apple go to get products assembled to the same spec and timetables without it pushing their costs through the roof?
shauney3 2 February, 2012 11:27
I seriously doubt it's just Apple who needs to change..
Mat Greenfield 2 February, 2012 15:23
Overwhelming urge to scratch 'LY' onto my screen after the word "Different" on that apple.