While prices of Apple products like the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch aren’t generally considered low-end, the Cupertino based company has been accused of utilizing child labor to manufacture their devices in order to turn in “super-high profit margins.”
iPhone suppliers accused of using child labor with long hours and low pay
After Apple recently released a list of their suppliers, new details have begun to emerge on the labor practices at many Apple suppliers’ factories. And as BusinessInsider points out, “your iPhone was built, in part, by 13 year-olds working 16 hours a day for 70 cents an hour”. BI goes on to highlight some points from a transcript of PRI’s “This American Life” which did a special on Apple’s manufacturing. Here are some key excerpts:
“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.”
“The 13-year old said Foxconn doesn’t really check ages. There are on-site inspections, from time to time, but Foxconn always knows when they’re happening. And before the inspectors arrive, Foxconn just replaces the young-looking workers with older ones.”
“In the first two hours outside the factory gates, Daisey meets workers who say they are 14, 13, and 12 years old (along with plenty of older ones). Daisey estimates that about 5% of the workers he talked to were underage.”
These sorts of labor practices would obviously be illegal here in the United States and does explain why Apple heavily relies on manufacturing in China. Hit the source link for a full transcript of the show.
