Cook sends email out to Apple employees in response to report of factory worker conditions.
The New York Times ran a rather sobering piece on the general business surrounding the China-based manufacturing facilities employed by Apple and many other consumer electronic and computer companies.
The reality is that the working conditions experienced by those working at the Foxconn factories in China are to a different standard than what we are accustomed to in the western world.
The Times article put a spotlight on Apple and its iPad factories, and Apple CEO Tim Cook has taken exception to what's been reported, insisting that the company is putting forth a better effort than characterized. Check out Cook's letter (via 9to5Mac) to the Apple team below:
Team,
As a company and as individuals, we are defined by our values. Unfortunately some people are questioning Apple’s values today, and I’d like to address this with you directly. We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain. Any accident is deeply troubling, and any issue with working conditions is cause for concern. Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us. As you know better than anyone, accusations like these are contrary to our values. It’s not who we are.
For the many hundreds of you who are based at our suppliers’ manufacturing sites around the world, or spend long stretches working there away from your families, I know you are as outraged by this as I am. For the people who aren’t as close to the supply chain, you have a right to know the facts.
Every year we inspect more factories, raising the bar for our partners and going deeper into the supply chain. As we reported earlier this month, we’ve made a great deal of progress and improved conditions for hundreds of thousands of workers. We know of no one in our industry doing as much as we are, in as many places, touching as many people.
At the same time, no one has been more up front about the challenges we face. We are attacking problems aggressively with the help of the world’s foremost authorities on safety, the environment, and fair labor. It would be easy to look for problems in fewer places and report prettier results, but those would not be the actions of a leader.
Earlier this month we opened our supply chain for independent evaluations by the Fair Labor Association. Apple was in a unique position to lead the industry by taking this step, and we did it without hesitation. This will lead to more frequent and more transparent reporting on our supply chain, which we welcome. These are the kinds of actions our customers expect from Apple, and we will take more of them in the future.
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.
We will continue to dig deeper, and we will undoubtedly find more issues. What we will not do — and never have done — is stand still or turn a blind eye to problems in our supply chain. On this you have my word. You can follow our progress at apple.com/supplierresponsibility.
To those within Apple who are tackling these issues every day, you have our thanks and admiration. Your work is significant and it is changing people’s lives. We are all proud to work alongside you.
Tim
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............
You are a liar. If you cared that much, you'd have your stuff made in the US. K thx.
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.
So what he's saying is that they're basically doing nothing at all?
There's no educating to be done at Foxconn. Their employees are animals, and better handled by a zookeeper than a CEO. I really wish out tech industry companies would stand behind their word and find someone else to build their parts.
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.
I smell corporate BS to save face. This guy should be well placed politician.
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.
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.
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".
The word Apple and the word patent can't stay away from each other.
You are a liar. If you cared that much, you'd have your stuff made in the US. K thx.
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.