<incom> iPod's children/China's youth makes them, America's buys them; Apple investigates work conditions

[mclauglm at po.muohio.edu]

The following article causes me to wonder whether a Code of Conduct 
is worth anything on the 'global market'? Apple has a supplier code 
of conduct but is not a signatory to the Electronic Industry Code of 
Conduct. Foxconn is a signatory to the EICC, as are Cisco, Dell, HP, 
Sony, and Intel (see http://www.eicc.info). The EICC is a fairly new 
instrument, released in October 2004 and revised and re-released in 
October 2005. I suppose that most wouldn't be surprised by the 
observation that, since it was developed in 2004, there appears to be 
less adherence--or attention--to the EICC in areas of the world 
outside of Silicon Valley (and there's not that much attention to the 
EICC in Silicon Valley either, except for PR purposes).

Interestingly, Apple is using the fact that they have a supplier code 
of conduct  to counter charges that the corporation doesn't care 
about workers in China. It's endemic to treat written statements of 
goodwill and good intentions as realities. Many of the 
'multi-stakeholders' of the WSIS seem to approach the Declaration of 
Principles and Platform for Action in a similar manner. What could be 
done to make such statements, codes, etc. worth more than the paper 
on which they are written?

Regards,

Lisa
(not related to the SF Chronicle writer named below)

>
>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/16/IPOD.TMP
>  ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>Sunday, July 16, 2006 (SF Chronicle)
>iPod's children/China's youth makes them, America's buys them; Apple 
>investigates work conditions
>Kathleen E. McLaughlin, Chronicle Foreign Service
>
>
>    (07-16) 04:00 PDT Shenzhen, China -- Lunchtime arrives and hundreds of
>young, weary workers in company shirts flood through factory gates and out
>into the sweltering southern air.
>    Most are migrants in their own country. Born poor in rural China, they
>have come to this manufacturing mecca to make the latest gadgets for the
>world -- the iPods, cell phones and laptops that, of course, they can't
>afford.
>    This is the mega-factory complex of Foxconn Electronics, trade name of
>Taiwanese electronics giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Corp., which makes
>components and devices for Silicon Valley's -- and the world's -- top
>consumer electronics brands. Foxconn counts Apple, Cisco Systems, Dell,
>Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Nokia and Sony among its customers and
>collaborators. This plant in Longhua, an outlying suburb of Shenzhen, is
>the world's largest electronic-components work space, exporting $20.7
>billion in products last year.
>    Recent charges that Foxconn workers making iPods here earn low wages and
>work crushingly long hours has spurred an investigation by Apple and
>stinging criticism from around the globe. Foxconn sets the wages and
>working conditions, but Apple and other brands that hire Foxconn exert
>major influence over its operations.
>    That the criticism fell squarely on Apple, a company that trumpets the
>lofty ideals of Ghandi and Bob Dylan, was not a surprise.
>    "Apple is selling a lifestyle aimed at youth," said Robin Munro, research
>director of China Labor Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based workers-rights group.
>"It would not probably have attracted attention if the products had been
>axle grease or steel-punching machines."
>    Foxconn, a low-key industry giant, ranks in the middle among China-based
>electronics-makers for its wages and working conditions, according to
>labor organizations. Here in Guangdong Province, low wages, long hours and
>crowded housing are common.
>    "It's quite normal to have these kinds of working conditions in China,"
>said China Labor Bulletin's Patrick Poon.
>    Foxconn denied allegations made in two British newspapers that its workers
>earn $50 a month in "sweatshops" making Apple's iPods. Company officials
>said workers make at least the Shenzhen minimum wage, $72.50 per month,
>which increased this month by $15. The company did not respond to repeated
>requests for more specific information.
>    Incomes vary widely in China, where the communist government is scrambling
>to address growing social unrest caused in part by huge wealth
>disparities. Farmers in central and western provinces earn on average $400
>per year or less, while workers in large urban areas like Beijing and
>Shanghai typically make four times as much, according to government
>statistics.
>    A recruiting poster tacked to a utility pole near the factory's main gate
>tells the story in black and white. Foxconn, it says, seeks 16- to
>21-year-olds to work in production for $72.50 to $80 per month, plus
>housing and meals, and hourly overtime. Most workers are under 25. Just a
>few miles away in Hong Kong, and in other richer nations, that's the
>target demographic for iPods and other consumer tech products with hefty
>price tags.
>    On a hot Saturday outside the factory as workers broke for lunch, several
>spoke about wages and factory conditions. Neither Foxconn nor Apple
>responded to requests to go inside the factory, which is fenced, guarded
>and off-limits, like most big production complexes.
>    About a dozen Foxconn factory workers interviewed said they earned $120 to
>$140 per month, about half of that from overtime. They included young
>women building Sony laptops, others making Nokia cell phones and one iPod
>assembler. Many were reluctant to speak and would not give their names for
>fear of repercussions.
>    Most workers are on the job more than 40 hours a week. Since these young
>men and women are not locals, the base salary does not justify coming all
>these miles to work. Most are here to toil and send money home to
>struggling families. They're not here for a social life.
>    An estimated 90 percent are part of China's massive, illegal migrant
>workforce. They leave inland, poorer farming provinces where work is
>scarce and head to coastal areas in the south where factories produce the
>world's consumer goods. Though China has promised to reform its rigid
>residence permit system, as of now only a few white-collar professionals
>can move easily from city-to-city for work. Everyone else can legally work
>only in their hometowns, where jobs are scarce. Central and local
>governments ignore this migration, which has resulted an estimated 120
>million- to 150 million-strong workforce responsible for building much of
>the country's new wealth.
>    "They're not sharing proportionally in the benefits and profits in this
>huge globalization effort," Munro said. "They're just doing the work. The
>only reason they can survive in these cities is because all they do is
>work."
>    The migrants eat in factory canteens, sleep in factory dorms and in their
>few days off a month, "all they can do is walk around and look at the
>prosperity" they helped create, Munro said.
>    At Foxconn, even the housing benefit is in danger. Some 2,000 employees
>have already left the factory after learning they would be charged for
>their rooms starting this month, just as the minimum wages were set to
>increase, according to the Institute for Contemporary Observation, a
>migrant workers rights group.
>    Shenzhen, where the institute is located, is a city of migrants. Of its 12
>million residents, fewer than 2 million hold a legal residence card. The
>rest are ineligible for health care, education or social security benefits
>from the government, even though they are the driving force of the
>economy.
>    At Foxconn, like most other factories, they come to work hard for a year
>or two, then return home or move to other factories. Overtime, sometimes
>15 to 20 hours a week, which is more than is legally allowed, is the norm.
>There was some inconsistency among the workers interviewed as to whether
>overtime is voluntary or required.
>    One worker, a 19-year-old from Sichuan Province, 700 miles west, smiled
>coyly and mopped sweat from his brow when asked if he sends home his
>$140-per-month wages. Not really, he said. He's spent a lot on having fun
>in his few nonworking hours. Fun means beer and cigarettes.
>    An iPod assembler, a 20-year-old with an easy grin, described factory
>housing, where hundreds of workers share common rooms, bunk-style, in
>large dorms. It's 96 degrees and the dorm has no air-conditioning, said
>this worker, who earned about $130 last month for working as much as 12
>hours a day. The factory floor is air-conditioned, however, so working a
>Saturday shift rather than resting in the hot dorm is an easy choice.
>    The latest iPods cost around 3,400 yuan in China, or $420, at least $20
>more than in the United States, where the 60 GB iPod retails for $399.
>They're priced higher here because the brand appeals to the country's
>wealthiest young consumers.
>    The factory wages and work hours may be the norm, said Munro, but the
>situation nonetheless is unacceptable. The cost of living in southern
>China has skyrocketed 300 to 400 percent over the past 15 years, he said,
>while average worker wages have risen just 13 to 14 percent.
>    The all-work lifestyle is evident at Foxconn's mega-site. These workers
>aren't rushing off on Sundays to Happy Valley, the giant amusement park a
>few miles away, and they're not traveling the 20 miles to Hong Kong to go
>shopping. They're buying 10-cent ice-cream bars and iced water during
>their brief Saturday breaks, then trudging back to work.
>    The iPod issue intensified interest in China's labor conditions and, in
>particular, in how Western companies fail to hold suppliers to high
>standards, said Stephen Frost, a founder of the research group Corporate
>Social Responsibility in Asia.
>    "The bottom line is that it has drawn Apple into finally taking seriously
>its responsibility in Chinese supply chains," Frost said. "Apple is well
>behind the game on this."
>    Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said the company has begun a thorough audit
>of Foxconn's factories and will not tolerate subpar working conditions.
>    "Apple's supplier code of conduct sets the bar higher than accepted
>industry standards, and we take allegations of noncompliance very
>seriously," Dowling said in a written statement.
>    However, Frost said, Apple ought to follow the example of other U.S.
>companies that have adopted training programs for factory managers and
>others in charge of operations where they contract for labor. The garment
>industry learned this lesson the hard way a decade ago when it faced
>similar allegations and consumer boycotts.
>    Estimates of Foxconn's Longhua workforce vary. Some groups say it has
>200,000 laborers; Foxconn disputes the numbers, saying in a news
>conference last week that the whole company has fewer than 200,000
>employees worldwide. Labor rights groups argue Foxconn is splitting hairs,
>arguing that the company has several subsidiaries and a total of more than
>350,000 employees.
>    By any estimate, the factory complex is big and the demand for electronics
>and laborers to build the products shows no sign of abating. Southern
>China is facing a major labor shortage -- a need for an extra 1.5 million
>workers, by some estimates -- because many are choosing to stay on the
>farm. Still, new recruits linger at Foxconn's factory gates.
>    "The fact that Chinese workers are willing to work for these kinds of
>wages doesn't make it right," Munro said. "Ultimately, it is the Western
>consumer who has to examine their role in this."
>    Liu Kaiming, founder of the Institute for Contemporary Observation, has an
>egalitarian view of how Apple can solve this problem. Apple should lower
>its prices and demand Foxconn raise wages. About half of China's migrant
>workers now have cell phones because prices dropped, he explained.
>    "Apple has so much money and American consumers pay so much, they should
>be concerned with their workers getting so little," Liu said. "If all the
>workers could afford to buy an iPod, then Apple would have even more
>profit." 
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Copyright 2006 SF Chronicle


-- 
Lisa McLaughlin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Mass Communication & Women's Studies
Editor, Feminist Media Studies
Director of Graduate Studies, M.A. Program in Mass Communication

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