Destroying American Jobs (ie Kodak)

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

This American Life has highlighted the work of Mike Daisey telling the story of Foxconn and the Chinese people who work there building Apple stuff. Including preteen workers, chemicals that cause neurological damage, nets erected to catch suicide jumpers at the plant. CBS Sunday Morning included a piece on it yesterday, which you can read.

This American Life is retracting the episode.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

This American Life is retracting the episode.

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

My impression of the CBS piece was along the lines of bashing Apple,
and and it's new CEO - making the number of suicides seem outrageous.

Mike Daisey is a "performance artist", who has a one-man show.
CBS used it as an introduction: The dark side of shiny Apple products

<snip>

I'm feeling vindicated...

[glatt]

It's too bad. People will read of the retraction and think the entire story is false. That Foxconn is just fine. When the only false thing is that he claimed to meet all these real people and talk to them, when he never did. But those people (with the exception of crippled hand guy) are all real people with legitimate stories.

There really were a few underage workers. (But it's pretty rare.) There really were people hurt by chemical exposure (in a different Apple factory.)There really are nets around the dorms. (even I've seen that one.)

Daisey screwed up, and I won't defend him. But there is still a story there.

[Lamplighter]

If most of the story was false, how is it "too bad" that the episode is being retracted ?

I suspect many more people saw (or later heard about) the original episode
than will take notice of this retraction or any subsequent airings on TV.
The damage to Apple's reputation is done...

On the other hand, Apple did respond to the criticisms, first by publishing
it's entire list of suppliers, and then opening all of them to public inspection.

Even Bloomberg News has taken note:

Bloomberg
Adam Satariano and Peter Burrows
2/26/12

No Company Follows Apple’s Expanded China Factory Audits

Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s rivals aren’t rushing to emulate the iPhone
maker’s decision to subject supplier factories to audits by a labor group.
Instead, they’re sticking to internal checks that may leave room
for violations -- and negative public relations fallout.

Apple said on Feb. 14 the Fair Labor Association had started independent audits
amid criticism of conditions at its plants in China.

Companies including Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Dell Inc. (DELL),
Hewlett-Packard Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. rely on their own evaluations,
based in part on guidelines from the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition,
which they say are sufficient to prevent abuses.

Though Apple’s decision to join FLA may not root out all instances of labor abuse,
the EICC’s member companies may open themselves to even harsher criticism.
While the EICC sets standards for ethics, worker safety and labor practices,
it doesn’t require members to disclose findings and it lacks enforcement powers.
The result is a disjointed system of self- imposed regulations that fail to hold
companies accountable when abuses arise, according to labor advocates and technology executives.
<snip>

I feel a lot what is going on in these Mac vs PC episodes
are much like the old Ford vs Chevrolet squabbles in the past.
Most of the well-known companies probably have suppliers-in-common,
and are equally responsible for whatever problems exist.

As this episode is retracted, maybe the issues will be re-examined
for the entire industry, both inside and outside of China.

[Ibby]

Foxconn has had some issues, but they also raised wages not just for their workers but for the whole local area, when the local party boss was trying to incite further problems from the workers. It backfired when Foxconn - a Taiwan company - raised their wages, forcing the party boss's factories and his buddies' factories to raise theirs in turn.

What I'd like to see is more companies demanding better conditions in China. Mike Daisey was on Up with Chris Hayes on MSNBC both mornings this past weekend, and his pitch is that Apple should use some of their billions of rainy-day money to insist upon Foxconn reforms. I think not only would that be great for foxconn's employees, I think it would have a profound affect on the entire region.

[Ibby]

I have it on... un-citable but quite trustworthy authority that at least some of the Foxconn suicides were dead before they ever left the roof.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

This American Life has highlighted the work of Mike Daisey telling the story of Foxconn and the Chinese people who work there building Apple stuff. Including preteen workers, chemicals that cause neurological damage, nets erected to catch suicide jumpers at the plant. CBS Sunday Morning included a piece on it yesterday, which you can read.

Can you believe American job-killing regulators sent all that to China with the jobs?

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by Ibram

I have it on... un-citable but quite trustworthy authority that at least some of the Foxconn suicides were dead before they ever left the roof.

Near-sighted Zombi's or victims ?

[Ibby]

Like i said - the local party boss had his gaze set on the Foxconn plant. I can't prove this, obviously, but like I said, I definitely trust my source and the context under which it was related to me.

[Lamplighter]

Whether in self-defense or prevention mode, Apple is doing the right thing
by demonstrating corporate responsibility and leadership. Now, will/can MS et al. follow suite ?

NY Times
By CHARLES DUHIGG and NICK WINGFIELD
|February 13, 2012

Apple Asks Outside Group to Inspect Factories

<snip>
Last month, Apple released the names of 156 of its suppliers.
Two weeks later, Apple’s chief executive sent an e-mail to the company’s 65,000 employees
defending Apple’s manufacturing record while also pledging to go “deeper into the supply chain.”
And now, the company has asked an outside group
— a nonprofit financed partly by participating companies like Apple
— to publicly identify specific factories where abuses are discovered.

Corporate analysts say Apple’s shifts could incite widespread changes
throughout the electronics industry, since a lot of companies use the same suppliers.
They also said it seemed calculated to forestall the kind of public relations problems
over labor issues that in previous decades afflicted companies like Nike, Gap and Disney.

“This is a really big deal,” said Sasha Lezhnev at the Enough Project, a group focused on corporate accountability.
“The whole industry has to follow whatever Apple does.”<snip>

Apple, in a statement, said that the Fair Labor Association was an independent organization
that had been given “unrestricted access” to the company’s suppliers.
The first inspections, Apple said, were conducted on Monday
at a factory in Shenzhen, China, known as Foxconn City, one of the largest plants within China.
Human rights advocates have long said that Foxconn City’s 230,000 employees
are subjected to long hours, coerced overtime and harsh working conditions, all of which Foxconn disputes.

[TheMercenary]

The bigger question is will China let them in and to do so without minders? I doubt that.

[Lamplighter]

Merc, too many of your glasses are half-empty

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Merc, too many of your glasses are half-empty

They are all reality based. None of my glasses are half-empty.

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

They are all reality based. None of my glasses are half-empty.

Wait! I see a half empty one over there! Here. I'll just drink that down for you. Ooooh, nasty!

As a matter of fact (someone please note this down in the Cellar Book of Improbable Events), I am actually in agreement with Merc on this one. I am highly skeptical of any Chinese so called co-operation. China hates the West and rightly so since long before the opium wars of the 19th century.

They must laugh at how cleverly they have switched the tables on us. Can we say "industrial mercantilism" boys and girls? China is delighted to help us disassemble our manufacturing base and ship it off to Peking where the Chinese use it to spew out shoddy consumer goods and create a nasty trade imbalance - especially with the US.

Sure, the Chinese may smile and act co-operative on the surface, but in reality, they couldn't care less and will get away with every atrocity they possibly can.

[mw451]

One Word: Polaroid