Apple corporation and Chinese labor laws.

Female factory workers at Foxconn factory China.

Global corporations have been portrayed by many as using female labour in developing countries with little or no regard to the wages and working conditions within the factories in these countries who supply the products to the corporations. As stated in the reading in The Economist (2012), “a first generation iPad included only about $33 in manufacturing labour, of which the final assembly in China accounted for just $8”.

My virtual network of MacRumors rarely mentions the plight of the Chinese workers who assemble the products used by the contributors to the forum. However within the sub forum of MacRumors news discussions there are discussions and links to Chinese labor rights groups who have published reports on the use of child labor in some factories owned by suppliers of components to Apple. These factories are contractors to Apple and do not follow the code of contact Apple has outlined for suppliers to follow in relation to labor wages and conditions.

Further information on this may be obtained at http://www.macrumors.com/2013/09/05/chinese-labor-group-alleges-major-labor-violations-at-apple-iphone-5c-supplier-jabil-circuit/

Apple has used its power as a major corporation to bring about some changes in China by changing its suppliers from those companies such as JABIL, which was found to breach labor laws to other companies such as Foxconn which although is now complying with the law has been in breach of these laws in the past. This company although owned by a United States based corporation is situated in China and therefore subject to the local labor laws which have been shown to have been poorly enforced. Further information on this supplier as investigated by ChinaLaborWatchorg may be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmFqGDeMlSs

References.

 (April 21, 2012) The third industrial revolution in The Economist.

Image Credit. Retreived from  http://au.ign.com/articles/2013/01/25/apple-cuts-ties-with-supplier-after-audit-uncovers-child-labor