Apple CEO Tim Cook Responds to Reports of Worker Mistreatment

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memadmax

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This is why the WinTel platform will continue to be the mainstay of computing, simply because it is dynamic enough to purge any undesirable "problems"

Apple will have problems with exclusivity the bigger it gets. Why? There is no easy way to describe it, but to use as an example is government: The larger, more complex, and rigid it is, the more inefficient it will get...

Besides, the only reason why apple is alive today is because they managed to find a niche in the gadget market... to consider them a computer manufacture, is a joke, it's their secondary product now... They might as well just say they are a phone company............
 
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Dear Tim Cook,

You are a liar. If you cared that much, you'd have your stuff made in the US. K thx.
 

lumberjack86

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"We are focused on educating workers about their rights, so they are empowered to speak up when they see unsafe conditions or unfair treatment. As you know, more than a million people have been trained by our program."

Too bad in China where most of the harm is being done, educating yourself on your rights won't change the fact that the government doesn't care and you wont get anywhere except put in prison or be fired. It's typical of somebody in a position of power to make a broad statement about the problem without any real substance to shoot down the claims of mistreatment. Until things change i will believe the people on the ground before I believe somebody in a comfortable office chair in the U.S.
 
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Seriously, what the hack has Apple to do with employees of other companies? What are people shooting to Apple when the local government does not care? The answer is simple - because Apple is successful! So this all is either sh*tty try to increase read stats (not by TomsHw, but original issuer) or envy feelings to Apple's earnings - or simply both.
Thats my opinion - not going to force anybody to agree or disagree.
 

MKBL

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As long as the most consumers and analysts are concerned on cost first and foremost, abusing cheap labors will remain rampant. Apple, Samsung, Sony, WD, LG, and the most electronics/computer hardware companies face the same challenge. It's like typical game theory situation. Unless you are sure other competitors will comply with the same rigorous standard, you dare not even try.

I don't condone the practice, but simply want to point out why they let their supply chain abuse labors. It's not because they are evil, but because they are compelled, and believe they are doing their best to fulfill their duty: to maximize profit for stakeholders. This is the capitalism of modern day.
 

JeanLuc

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Whlist Apple are still enjoying the fruits of abused labour (bear in mind that made $13 in the last quarter alone) I feel Tim Cooks words are hallow and to have a pop at a dead man - Steve Jobs didn't seem to give a toss either that other humans were suffering when he was in-charge so long as Foxconn could still keep up the volume and reliability.

The fault isn't just with Apple (or IBM or Sony etc) but us the consumers. If were being honest how many of us goes into a store picks up an MP3 player or new phone and asks the retailer how the well the people are treated who made these products? It seems for western consumers ignorance is indeed bliss just so long as we get cheap affordable electronics. I for one want to see tech companies adopt an equivalent of the fair trade stamp you see on foods so we can buy with confidence that people don't have to live in a room shared by 9 other people and that workers don't have to work in factory full of aluminium dust and aren't forced to work for 70 hours a week.
 

billybobser

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Jumped from roofs years earlier, Apple obviously improved conditions as they proceed to continue trying to jump.

I smell corporate BS to save face. This guy should be well placed politician.
 

rohitbaran

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[citation][nom]etteddy[/nom]Dear Tim Cook,You are a liar. If you cared that much, you'd have your stuff made in the US. K thx.[/citation]
Actually with the unbelievable profit margins they have, they might actually be still profitable (although to a lesser degree) even if they shift the manufacturing to US, or simply keep the manufacturing in China but provide workers with better work conditions and facilities.
 

fuxxnuts

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"etteddy 01/29/2012 12:20 PM
Dear Tim Cook,

You are a liar. If you cared that much, you'd have your stuff made in the US. K thx."

...and an iphone, instead of $500 or whatever it is, would cost $2000 and have worse quality control...
 

danwat1234

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[citation][nom]memadmax[/nom]This is why the WinTel platform will continue to be the mainstay of computing, simply because it is dynamic enough to purge any undesirable "problems"Apple will have problems with exclusivity the bigger it gets. Why? There is no easy way to describe it, but to use as an example is government: The larger, more complex, and rigid it is, the more inefficient it will get...Besides, the only reason why apple is alive today is because they managed to find a niche in the gadget market... to consider them a computer manufacture, is a joke, it's their secondary product now... They might as well just say they are a phone company............[/citation]

A phone is a computer you newb.
 

extremepcs

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"We are focused on educating workers about their rights, so they are empowered to speak up when they see unsafe conditions or unfair treatment."

I highly doubt the Chinese government will ever take action to protect the workers who are brave enough to do that. President Roosevelt sent in the National Guard to protect striking auto workers from company henchmen, many of whom were local police officers. I don't see that kind of support from the Government ever happening in China.
 

g4114rd0

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Introducing Air Castles with the Apple logo in the middle around the Foxconn factories,
can expect many changes in the course of their working lives.
 

deanjo

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[citation][nom]etteddy[/nom]Dear Tim Cook,You are a liar. If you cared that much, you'd have your stuff made in the US. K thx.[/citation]

Dear etteddy,

You have been living under a rock for the last year. Things apparenty aren't any better in the US otherwise there would be no "occupy" movement. Your welcome.
 

Marcus52

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What makes me question this public statement is how Cook refers to the problems as existing in Apple's "supply chain" and not its own factories. Your own factory is not a "supply chain", it is YOU. If you have problems in your factory, you either didn't meet your own standards or didn't have much in the way of standards to begin with.

The fact is, people build things in China because it is cheap to do so. One of the reasons it's cheap is because the standards for employee care are so low. Raise the standards, raise the cost. Apple is there because, bottom line, they think it makes them more money. They don't want their cost to go up. I suspect they'll do all they can - unless it costs "too much".
 

deanjo

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[citation][nom]Marcus52[/nom]What makes me question this public statement is how Cook refers to the problems as existing in Apple's "supply chain" and not its own factories. Your own factory is not a "supply chain", it is YOU. If you have problems in your factory, you either didn't meet your own standards or didn't have much in the way of standards to begin with.The fact is, people build things in China because it is cheap to do so. One of the reasons it's cheap is because the standards for employee care are so low. Raise the standards, raise the cost. Apple is there because, bottom line, they think it makes them more money. They don't want their cost to go up. I suspect they'll do all they can - unless it costs "too much".[/citation]

They are not apples factories however, they are foxconns. Apple does not own, manage, pay the employees etc. Apple pays foxconn for a supply of product. It is no more Apples factory then when you purchase food from a market. That does not make it your farm.
 

extremepcs

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[citation][nom]deanjo[/nom]They are not apples factories however, they are foxconns. Apple does not own, manage, pay the employees etc. Apple pays foxconn for a supply of product. It is no more Apples factory then when you purchase food from a market. That does not make it your farm.[/citation]

But they assemble the iPads, iPhones, Mac's, etc... in China. Maybe not at the Foxconn factory, but they must to do it somewhere. They even ship directly from China when you order something from Apple.
 
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APPLE HAS KNOWN ABOUT THIS SLAVE LABOR FROM THE START WHICH IS WHY THEY CHOSE THAT PARTICULAR FACTORY!

APPLE = OVER PRICES UNDER-PERFORMING ICRAP BUILT BY SLAVES!
 
"Team,

let's pat ourselves on the back, we are doing a great job (we are making millions off these underpaid workers so our bonuses grow larger every year).
There is no reason to bring these jobs to the US, because it would undercut our obscene profits (which, BTW, go in the CEO's pockets, not yours). It would mean we'd have to cut into our huge bonuses (again, the few up here, in the rarefied world of CEOs and COOs) in order to pay some decent salaries the average worker.

Tim"

there, Mr Crook, fixed it for ya.
 

deanjo

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[citation][nom]extremepcs[/nom]But they assemble the iPads, iPhones, Mac's, etc... in China. Maybe not at the Foxconn factory, but they must to do it somewhere. They even ship directly from China when you order something from Apple.[/citation]

That still is not their factory. They are a supplier to apple. There is a difference. Foxconn also manufactures for several other companies and their factories are retooled several times to fit what the customer (as in Apple, MS, MSI, Nokia, etc) is requiring for them to be built for them. It is no more their factory then you owning the utility company that you pay your powerbill to.
 

deanjo

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Heck it wasn't even apples product or assembly line where the mass suicide threat took place. That was on the xbox assembly line. Where are they with their investigations?
 

K2N hater

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[citation][nom]deanjo[/nom]They are not apples factories however, they are foxconns. Apple does not own, manage, pay the employees etc. Apple pays foxconn for a supply of product. It is no more Apples factory then when you purchase food from a market. That does not make it your farm.[/citation]
So you claim Apple is pretty much the same as one who buys stolen goods. The fact one could be seriously hurt or even dead is none of your business, right?
 
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