A notable scandal involving Apple’s suppliers is the suicides at Foxconn. It is one of the the largest contracted electronics manufacturers in the world, including Sony and Dell. Foxconn is the outsourcing factory of iPhones and iPads and has over 900,000 workers. This production plant covers 15 factories, including dormitories, a hospital, a bank, a grocery store and eateries. The workers live and work inside this area. In 2006, a Chinese local press reported on the excessively long working hours and the discrimination of Chinese workers by Taiwanese superiors. In May 2010, several media sources reported several cases of suicide at Foxconn factories. From 2009 to 2010, there were about 13 workers had committed suicide. The first worker, Sun Danyong, committed suicide after he had been interrogated on the loss of an …show more content…
Some believed that the working conditions at smaller factories are even worse. One of Foxconn’s workers asserted the media had exaggerated the scandal. In February 2011, the media reported the child labour issues had worsened at the suppliers for computers, iPods and iPhones. Apple’s Supplier Responsibility Report 2011 revealed 91 underage workers at the suppliers. After those suicides, several attentions were noticed for Foxconn. For essence, concerning workers’ health and safety conditions at the suppliers, two workers were killed and sixteen employees were injured during an explosion at Foxconn in May 2010. In the same month, “The Guardian” reported that workers from Wintek had been poisoned by n-hexane, a toxic chemical used to clean the touch screens of iPhones. The employees complained that the compensation Wintek offered for the health damage was not sufficient. The workers who did receive compensation were asked to resign from their jobs.
2.4 Apple and its CSR policy
Not only were the workers not treated well, the building was also very unsanitary and unsafe. They worked on top of each other in cramped spaces where there were just lines and lines of sewing machines. The exit doors were locked in order to stop the workers from leaving to go to the bathroom. Only the foreman had the keys to unlock the doors.There were four elevators that had access to the factory floors but only one of them were in working condition. In order to get to the working elevator, the workers had to go down a long narrow hallway. This elevator was only able to hold 12 people at a time. Factory floors had no sprinkler system and the entire building only had one fire escape that was not big enough for all of the people in
The Company also violated 29 C.F.R. § 1926.652(a)(1) for failing to protect employees from cave-ins (www.osha.gov): Williams had reason to know that its employees would enter the trench on the day of the collapse and had actual knowledge that two of its employees entered the trench prior to the cave-in. It is unavailing for Williams to argue that employees must take greater care to avoid placing themselves in harm's way or that management can “expect an employee not [to] intentionally place himself in danger.” Such a claim misconstrues the purpose of
In 2008, a Walmart employee named Jdimytai Damour was killed by a stampede during the opening of a Walmart store. While trying to open the doors to let customers in, Damour was trampled to death. His family sued Walmart for wrongful death and inadequate work conditions. Although it was an unintentional tort, the family sued Walmart for $2,000,000. As a result, Walmart was forced to changed their policies regarding crowd management.
In an article I read by Monica Foley,she describes the workplace that the workers in The Triangle shirtwaist factory worked in as, “The workers were mostly young immigrant woman, who worked long hours in the hot, cramped, and dusty conditions for low wages. ”(Foley, 2017) The conditions are not great,and it is not in the best place to work in. Also in this source Foley says,“At a time when workplace safety was unregulated and worker’s compensation virtually nonexistent...”(Foley, 2017) The work is not being checked and it shows how these conditions are being allowed without caring about the safety of the workers.
Chinese workers faced discrimination and were offered very low pay for their dangerous and sometimes fatal work (Doc 4). The railroads started growing strikes and labor unrest because workers resisted the harsh working conditions (Doc 6). Unfair government practices began to take form as railroads became controlled. Small farmers suffered because they had to pay higher prices than large companies who were offered rebates (Doc 4). Today, the government has changed because that practice is no longer allowed.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, factories were very unsafe places to work, yet they were where most people found jobs. Factories had accidents all of the time, but the most notable of the tragedies is the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. The results of this event and many other factory accidents in the late 19th and early 20th centuries led to better overall conditions for workers, especially immigrant workers. In the case of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, employees were forced to work under horrible conditions. Many times, the employers abused their workers by setting clocks in the factory backwards which forced their workers to unknowingly work longer shifts for the same amount of pay. Also, most factory buildings in this time were highly unsafe, especially the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1911.
The fire, the largest in recent years, killed more than 100 garment workers. This tragedy although rare in size is by no means uncommon to factory workers in Asia. This is because just as in previous generations major businesses demand the largest possible profit margin
That being said, the worker's problems did not end once they found steady employment. Employers were harsh and unforgiving in how they treated their employees. For example, if an employee was one minute late they were penalized an hours pay. If they were 20 minutes late they forfeited their employment. Worse yet, if they were injured or hurt on the job the company takes no responsibility and the worker is forced to recuperate on their own time without pay
That being said, the worker's problems did not end once they found steady employment. Employers were harsh and unforgiving in how they treated their employees. For example, if an employee was one minute late they were penalized an hours pay. If they were 20 minutes late they forfeited their employment. Worse yet, if they were injured or hurt on the job the company takes no responsibility and the worker is forced to recuperate on their own time without pay (i.e.; when Jurgis sprained his ankle and had to recuperate at home for 3 months). The final insult to the workers was that even if they were always on time, worked hard and maintained their health they could lose their job due to the
2749 people died in accidents, including office workers, managers, chefs, waiters, cooks, police, fire, and paramedics.
In fact, death was not a stranger to the miners. One sabotaged accident left fifteen victims presumed dead. Negrel, the head engineer and supervisor, had the opinion that "not one of the victims could still be alive, all fifteen must certainly have perished from drowning of asphyxia..." (455) Even despite all the danger the workers had to suffer major injustices. Etienne argued against the Company saying "You cut down the price per tub and then pretend to make up for the cut by paying for
Foxconn Technology Group, a subsidy of the Hon Hai Precision Industries Ltd. is one of the world's largest electronics manufacturers. It ranks 112th
Companies such as Apple, Dell, HP, IBM, and Sony outsource labor and hardware manufacturing to a company called Foxconn Technology Group. Foxconn Technology Group is a multinational business anchored in Shenzhen, China. Some of the typical hardware being manufactured are, motherboards, chipsets, smartphones, tablets, and laptops. The majority of the factories are in China, three in Europe, one in India, and four in Mexico. Currently there are contracts to expand and build a new factory in Brazil. I believe that there are many ethical problems related to this example; first, the general idea of outsourcing mass amounts of labor, and secondly the mistreatment of
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd which trades as Foxconn Technology group or as the media calls it Foxconn has been in media limelight recently due to labor problems that have surfaced from the organization. Foxconn is a major equipment manufacturer supplier to electronics giants like Blackberry, Apple, Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation and the Nintendo Wii. The internet has several articles and controversies regarding the deplorable worker conditions and cases of suicides by the workers.
As an evolving technology company, Apple is one of the most successful companies in history. In today’s society, we cannot live without Apple products such as the Pad or IPhone. Apple 's success has come at a high cost with regards to safety to the workers of Foxconn, a supplier which makes products for Apple and plenty of other tech giants. As a result, some workers have committed suicide and many riots and fights have broken out.