Apple Asks Fair Labor Association for Factory Inspections

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del35

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Apple should pay at least a 30% premium to the workers building its products. That would be fair given that Apple charges way above a 30% premium for its products.
 

del35

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Apple should pay at least a 30% premium for the workers building its products. That would be fair given that Apple charges way above a 30% premium for its products.
 

discboy321

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If the "Fair Labor Association" is anything like "OSHA" not a whole lot will get done. I have and currently work at a company who employs 500+ employees and Every-time "OSHA" plans to do a company wide Surprise Inspection some how that company knows ahead of time 2 weeks in advance that they are coming and we do a thorough clean-up off all our previous violations !
 

bin1127

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"Tim Cook penned a letter to the Apple team insisting that his company takes the welfare of its workers very seriously."

Does that mean Apple retail workers actually believe apple products were produced by fairly paid workers instead of animals in a sweatshop?

Apple needs to do a live stream of Foxconn's 16 hour workshifts and let us see the changes made if they are really serious.
 

joytech22

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It only took thousands of "CUSTOMERS" complaining and month after month of suicide attempts to finally make Apple do something.

Although if they move manufacturing, expect prices to rise since Apple, sadly (/sarcasm), will earn $5-10 less per device. Which will likely translate into something like a $50 increase per device.. lol
 

Bloob

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It seems Apple has made another lawsuit against Samsung and their Galaxy Nexus. Something about being able to click on a phone number on a website to call, and dragging icons, etc.
 

watcha

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[citation][nom]del35[/nom]Apple should pay at least a 30% premium to the workers building its products. That would be fair given that Apple charges way above a 30% premium for its products.[/citation]

The cost Apple charge for their products has nothing to do with how much a person should get paid for doing a particular job. The money Apple charge over and ABOVE that cost is what makes them a successful company, ie the value THEY add.

We can all hire a guy in China to build stuff for us. We can't all build an iPad.

Besides - Samsung also use Foxconn so they should pay 30% extra too? Or... should they be rewarded for developing less appealing products and not asked to pay more?

http://www.macworld.com/article/165210/2012/02/macalope_who_to_blame.html#lsrc.nl_mwnws_h_crawl
 

enforcer22

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[citation][nom]watcha[/nom]The cost Apple charge for their products has nothing to do with how much a person should get paid for doing a particular job. The money Apple charge over and ABOVE that cost is what makes them a successful company, ie the value THEY add.We can all hire a guy in China to build stuff for us. We can't all build an iPad. Besides - Samsung also use Foxconn so they should pay 30% extra too? Or... should they be rewarded for developing less appealing products and not asked to pay more?http://www.macworld.com/article/16 [...] ws_h_crawl[/citation]

though i agree apple can charge what they want i find nothing apple makes more appealing then something samsung makes. it does nothing extra in fact it does less. it doesnt look better all apple products are pretty bland in looks if not ugly. it doesnt run anything more. in fact apple products tend to run less then another product unless jailbroken but hell.. also samsung doesnt charge a fee to have an ugly closed apple on thier bland everyone looks the same junk products. honestly im not sure what makes apple successful... i really honestly do not get it. and this value they add? where is it? what is it? i dont get that either.. what in the world does apple do that no one else was doing years before apple re invented the wheel...... other then some how make it populer beyond logic. that seems to be the only thing apple really does which is great for the bottom line but it defys all logic.
 

watcha

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[citation][nom]enforcer22[/nom]though i agree apple can charge what they want i find nothing apple makes more appealing then something samsung makes. it does nothing extra in fact it does less. it doesnt look better all apple products are pretty bland in looks if not ugly. it doesnt run anything more. in fact apple products tend to run less then another product unless jailbroken but hell.. also samsung doesnt charge a fee to have an ugly closed apple on thier bland everyone looks the same junk products. honestly im not sure what makes apple successful... i really honestly do not get it. and this value they add? where is it? what is it? i dont get that either.. what in the world does apple do that no one else was doing years before apple re invented the wheel...... other then some how make it populer beyond logic. that seems to be the only thing apple really does which is great for the bottom line but it defys all logic.[/citation]

I was very tempted to write my usual long reply listing all of the things the iPad 2 or iPhone 4S can do which no Android phone can, or mention that they both have faster hardware than any other devices in their genre - but I don't want this to become an Apple vs Android debate.

I will simply say that I was judging 'appeal' based on number of sales. Apple has set new records for the number of sales they make, and those sales are at a higher price. The population of the world is voting with their wallets that they find the Apple products more appealing.

The real point I'm making is that a company who makes less profit should still have to give their workers good working conditions - so the profit they make is not a factor.
 

__-_-_-__

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anyone saw the trick?
"Fair Labor Association will conduct special voluntary audits of Apple’s final assembly suppliers"
meaning, they will only inspect what apple wants.
 

watcha

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[citation][nom]__-_-_-__[/nom]anyone saw the trick?"Fair Labor Association will conduct special voluntary audits of Apple’s final assembly suppliers"meaning, they will only inspect what apple wants.[/citation]

This just means that Apple is offering to go through with the audit - rather than being forced to.
 

v3rlon

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AMD, ATI, and Apple three companies (well, 2 now) that are serioulsy unloved on THG. What do you guys have against the letter A?
 

g-thor

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@watcha - I don't agree with your evaluation:
I was judging 'appeal' based on number of sales

I would say that number of sales is more based on an amazing marketing program, as opposed to a superior aesthetic. As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder (or beer holder, if you prefer). Apple is, without question, a marketing success. Others should and have learned from them, just as Steve Jobs admitted that he and Apple learned from others.

That's not to question the quality of their products. I work with both Windows/Intel and Mac, Android phone and iPhone. They have different appeals, strengths and weaknesses. I am happy with a foot in both worlds.

By the way, I would have voted you up for your defence of Apple charging what they want to, until I got to this line:
should they be rewarded for developing less appealing products and not asked to pay more?
. You forsook your logic for a cheap shot, called into question the taste of anyone who doesn't buy Apple products and essentially set yourself up as the authority of good taste.. You lost me at that point. Everything before that gets a thumbs up.
 

rosen380

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"Apple should pay at least a 30% premium to the workers building its products. "

Well, as I understand it, they pay Foxconn and Foxconn sets the wages at their facilities. Also, as I understand it, Foxconn pays a pretty high wage for the area, enough so, that people line up for hours for the chance of working there.
 

watcha

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[citation][nom]g-thor[/nom]@watcha - I don't agree with your evaluation: I would say that number of sales is more based on an amazing marketing program, as opposed to a superior aesthetic. As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder (or beer holder, if you prefer). Apple is, without question, a marketing success. Others should and have learned from them, just as Steve Jobs admitted that he and Apple learned from others.That's not to question the quality of their products. I work with both Windows/Intel and Mac, Android phone and iPhone. They have different appeals, strengths and weaknesses. I am happy with a foot in both worlds.By the way, I would have voted you up for your defence of Apple charging what they want to, until I got to this line: . You forsook your logic for a cheap shot, called into question the taste of anyone who doesn't buy Apple products and essentially set yourself up as the authority of good taste.. You lost me at that point. Everything before that gets a thumbs up.[/citation]

In my opinion, the only objective way to measure appeal is by looking at sales (taking into account price).

If a product is marketed much more, it increases it's appeal (if it sells more as a result).

I never said why Apple products had more appeal (which could or could not be due to marketing), nor did I talk about my own personal taste at any point, or criticise anyone for buying alternative products.
 

watcha

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And by the way, your post saying that they are successful 'more' because of their marketing program, is a 'cheap shot', calling into question the taste of anyone who buys Apple products and essentially setting yourself up as the authority of good marketing... you lost me at that point.
 

blazorthon

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[citation][nom]v3rlon[/nom]AMD, ATI, and Apple three companies (well, 2 now) that are serioulsy unloved on THG. What do you guys have against the letter A?[/citation]

AMD's CPUs are unloved because they are low performers and use excessive amounts of power compared to their competition, often they use more power than faster Intel CPUs, even those from Nehalem.

AMD is not unloved as a company here. In case you don't read it, the best graphics cards for the money articles are filled with more recommendations for AMD cards than for Nvidia cards. Apple is often unloved because they are a patent troll that makes extremely expensive machines that don't perform better than much cheaper PCs, often they perform worse than cheaper PCs. There are other reasons too, including Foxconn, but that's a reason that none of us understand enough about to make decent judgements on.

We don't know the situations over there. I'm not defending Foxconn, but at least Apple has requested audits on foxconn's treatment of employees.

Looking at Apple, it would be ignorant to think that their aesthetics didn't play a huge role in how well they sell. If they looked just like everything else then what would be their coolness factor? If an Alienware didn't scream it's an alienware just by looking at it, would it have it's coolness factor?

I don't like buying overpriced Alienware nor Apple products, but there's no denying that they both have good marketing and they look different from standard laptops. You don't need to be up close to know a computer is a Mac. Can you tell the difference between a Dell, HP/Compaq, Acer, etc, just by looking at it from them away? it's not nearly as noticeable. When the average person walks up to these computers they see something entirely different from most other machines.

They interpret it as it being better, voila, coolness factor by being different. Then there's the prices. These computers are very expensive, so they must be better. Does anyone here think that that thought or a similar one doesn't go through many, if not most, buyers of these computers? Most people here on Tom's would have some understanding of this being wrong and of Macs being all that differnent from standard comupters being wrong, but the average person probably wouldn't know this. Hey, if everyone was as smart as us then we wouldn't be smart, we'd be average. Think about the horror of that statement.
 

brn_gomes

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@v3rlon: I read thousands and thousands of comments at Tom's, this is one of the smartest. I do accept every opinion, I don't agree with every opinion, but a good opinion has to be simple enough for everyone to understand it, however it mustn't be short in sense and reason.

One can pick about anything and say about everything, as long as the justification that follows is connected with those same words, For example, if you consider yourself as an honest person, and not a liar, if you say you're going out with your girlfriend on Friday at 10PM at McDonald's, you better be on that day, at that hour, on that place with that person, or else your words won't match with your actions, and I don't care if you go to McDonald's or to some fancy restaurant, as long as you know why you go there, and if you have the money to pay for it, and the person you go there with, is it the person you want to go for a date with? If you know why you do what you do, then you should be able to explain it, and justify your choices, and prove through reason and not "just 'cause!" why you prefer something over anything else. I used Mac's for a lot of time, I hate not being able to do all kinds of stuff I do on a PC, I hate not being able to customise it, not being able to do what I want with it, of it not being what I want it be. I reach out to many Mac consumers I know, and as far as they can explain it to me, they want Mac's or iPhone's because everyone has one, and when I ask them why you personally prefer "This over that", they simply say it's better, but most of them come short to explain what they understand as better, because it's quite different from telling what's specifically better, and their "impression" of better, this "impression" is a direct input of Apple's marketing, anticipating and creating new trends, is a whole different point that creating something. Sure you've had a cell phone for years before an iPhone, but when the iPhone came to be, they didn't invent pretty much nothing, besides a new "arrangement" they sorted things out in a different way, so you'd see it from a different point-of-view, those who see it, like it, those who want to be different, feel so with a Mac, those who do what other's do, do it, but I must contest how can you really be different from anyone else, if you just have an exact copy of what the other has, what's different about that? What I really love about Apple is their product Design and clean "feels", but other than that it would be a stupid choice from my part to buy a Mac, it serves no purpose to me. But if it feels good to anyone else, please be free to buy one, and have one, just don't try to explain it if you aren't even able of "confessing" what's happening in your brain.

Anyway, I wonder what's on these Chinese workers mind's when they see a company like Apple make the profits they make. "Where do the profits go? These things sell by the millions, and you can add a couple of 0's to the money being made, why do I have to work at this dump and earn so little while these guys make all the profit?" I dare not talk about realities that are really apart from mine... But that's the basic that would cross anyone's mind.
 

A Bad Day

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"Alright wage-slaves, you either keep your mouth shut and paint everything pretty if they ask you, or we fire you. Have a nice day, and don't commit suicide when they're here."
 
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