APPLE OUTSOURCING IN

CHINA: iSweatshop
PRESENTED BYAKSHIT BAUNTHIYAL
SUNIL H. CHAUHAN

Background on the company

Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne on
April 1, 1976 to develop and sell personal computers.

Apple maintains 500 retail stores in 20 countries as well as the online

iTunes store and Apple store.

The company had 72,800 permanent full-time employees and 3,300

temporary full time employees worldwide.

What is outsourcing?
Outsourcing is an arrangement in which
one company provides services for another
company that could also be or usually have
been provided in-house.

iOutsourcing

Almost all products sold by Apple are produced outside of the United States.
Around 7,00,000 people are outsourced to manufacture products around the
world.

Apples only obligation was to produce the best possible products so they
believed that outsourcing would not be a problem.

New York Times conducted a survey in 2011 asking peoples perception of

Apple.
1) 56% said they couldnt think of any negatives about Apple.
2) 14% said that the only negative was the price of the products.
3) Only 2% addressed the issue of labour practices related to outsourcing.

Foxconn

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., trading as Foxconn Technology

Group, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturing
company.

Headquartered at Tucheng, New Taipei, Taiwan.

The worlds largest electronics contractor manufacturer and the third

largest information technology company by revenue.

Notable products that the company manufactures include Blackberry,

iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Play Station 4, XBox One and Wii U.

iSweatshop

Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.), located in China. They
have massive production facilities which are used to manufacture many
of Apples products.

Workers in these factories are essentially treated like slaves: prohibited

from having visitors to their dormitories, forced to work 15-hour shifts,
and paid just under $50 a month.

Foxconn suicides

The working conditions in the plants became an issue during July 2009
when a Foxconn employee committed suicide by jumping off a 12-storey
building.

From January to May 2010, six Foxconn employees committed suicide and
two more were injured in their attempt.

The company then established a Foxconn Employee Care Centre to help

employees contemplating suicide.

Foxconns response to all suicides was that it was not a sweatshop and
they were doing everything possible in their power to prevent more
casualties. They soon announced a pay raise in response to its negative
image ($132 to $176).

Story of a man

There was an interview with the sister of a man who committed suicide,
she stated that her brother hated his job. He had to work 11 hours
overnight shift 7 days a week. He worked around 286 hours a month at
around $1/hour.

The level of overtime was three times over the legal limit of China, i.e.,
36 hours.

The workers complained about the military culture of the plant, being
abused verbally all the time, and forced to work overtime during which
they had to sleep on the factory floor.

Pay raises were being implemented one after the other.

Dangers of explosive dust

In May 2011, an explosion at the Foxconn plant made the iPads killed 3
employees and injured 15.

Foxconn was then warned the excessive Aluminium dust floating in the
air was dangerous and could lead to explosion.

The plants were then reopened in June 2011 with increased ventilation
and changes in the dust ventilation policies.

Apples code of conduct

Apples first code of conduct was established in 2005 which stated that
suppliers must treat workers with respect and dignity and all manufacturing
facilities must act in an environmentally responsible manner.

An audit revealed that 108 facilities did not pay workers what they
deserved for their overtime as was required by the law of China.

Apples code of conduct protects the workers rights by not allowing

discrimination, providing fair treatment for workers, preventing involuntary
labour, preventing underage labour, protecting juvenile workers, limiting
working hours, paying proper wages and benefits and allowing freedom of
association.

Learning

Dont let your greed come in the way of your integrity.

Money is not everything, respect others.

As you sow, so shall you reap Whatever way you treat others, the
same will happen to you.

The next time that you go for that half-eaten apple, think about the
hard work put behind making that piece.

Takeaway for self

Earning profits is a good thing but if you
have to take the path that Apple took to
achieve goals, we do not believe it is a
worthwhile trade.

Apple has continued to

improve their working
conditions in China

THANK YOU