June 15, 2006

Think (About Paying Your Workers) Differently. Claudia Joseph's article from the UK's Mail has forced Apple to "look into" allegations of wretched worker conditions. Last year Apple achieved a record billion-dollar profit.... "We have to work too hard and I am always tired. It's like being in the army. They make us stand still for hours. If we move, we are punished by being made to stand still for longer." ... Labor costs in the Chinese factories we traced are ... Pounds 4.20 ($7.74) per iPod.... In Britain they sell for between Pounds 109 ($201) and Pounds 179 ($331).

It should be noted, of course, that Apple is not alone in exploiting third-world labor -- as the article notes: "Apple are only one of thousands of companies manufacturing their products in the same places and in the same conditions," he said. "It's the nature of big business today to exploit any opportunity that comes their way." However, it seems to me that -- especially given their "crunchy 60s-ified user" marketing shtick -- Apple is in a unique position to buck this trend. After all, people don't buy iPods because they're cheap! Macs have never been preferred because of price. So why not make the iPod the world's first Fair Trade mp3 player? It's a pretentious status symbol and iconic bauble anyway, so why not give consumers the added thrill of knowing that their doo-dad is also untainted by slave wages? You listening to me, Jobs?

posted by scartol 18 years ago
  • The irritating thing to me is Apple claiming they didn't know, and promising to investigate. That's nonsense. They knew how long it takes to assemble an iPod, and they knew how much they were paying for it. If they didn't know, it was because they didn'twant to know. Labor was cheap and dividends were high, and that's all anybody cared about. Forget about Jesus, the real American god is money.
  • Apple claiming they didn't know, and promising to investigate Yes, of course. The whole farce -- not just here; Nike did it; Starbucks does it; the Bush administration has to do it; the Clinton administration did it -- of pretending not to know about hideous human rights violations and checking into them. Then -- once the media heat has died down -- releasing a statement that the company/agency did nothing wrong, and we go back to business as usual. Necessitating a more comprehensive approach to world trade, since the WTO is doing everything in its power to keep things the way they are.
  • Plausible deniability, anyone?
  • >>You listening to me, Jobs? Not while people keep buying iPods, he's not.
  • ...So is anything not made in sweatshops?
  • ... a decent wage?
  • And I still can't afford a damn iPod for my flabby white post-colonial ass.
  • There's an iPod made especially for albino imperialist donkeys? I want one!
  • Plausible deniability, anyone? Not hardly plausible. Not HARDLY. /discussion Business as usual.
  • This news has definitely changed my image of Apple.
  • The hot, sweaty linoleum of the 7 train jerked in agonizing titillation as ear bud No. 1 dropped to its knees. She coughed and spat, "well 'aint this the donkey's ass!"