4 • MSU Reporter
Tuesday, October 29, 2013 Follow the Reporter on Twitter @MSU Reporter or Like Us on Facebook.com/ msureporter
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Chinese labor violations spotlight a rotten Apple SAM WILMES News Editor While factory slave wages and extreme working hours may seem to be a thing of the past or the workings of a distant land, our connection to these regrettable aspects of the human race unfortunately forms a closer connection, literally on the palm of many people’s hands. According to an excerpt taken from the New York Times, conditions the Apple corporation subjects their workers in China to are some of the worst in the world. According to the article, in some cases the workers are asked to work seven days a week. Some of the workers contend that they were forced to stand so long that their legs swelled to the point of not being able to walk. The Times Article continued with an expose on some of Apple’s suppliers’ disregard for worker safety. According to the article, two years ago 137 workers at an Apple supplier located in Eastern China were injured after being ordered to use a poisonous chemical to clean iPhone screens. Within a year after this, two explosions at Apple supply factories killed four and injured 77. According to the article, before the blast Apple had been alerted of the hazardous conditions. While some may argue that worker’s lives would not have been better even if Apple didn’t employ them, that is not an acceptable excuse for Apple’s ap-
parent apathy. Apple’s horrendous treatment of workers in China has led to the unthinkable: workers at the Apple supply company Foxconn have been forced to sign pledges promising not to commit suicide. Signing of the pledge was forced after 14 workers had killed themselves in the last 16 months, believed to be due to the working conditions they were subjected to. Apple distribution centers have been suspected of many human rights violations in their working conditions. According to research conducted by the Centre for Research on Multinational Companies and Scholars against Corporate Misbehavior, mistreatment of Apple workers in China included: •Excessive overtime- despite a legal limit of 36 hours a month of overtime, a payslip showed one worker with a record of 98 overtime hours in a single month. •Badly performing workers were humiliated in front of their co-workers. •Workers were banned from talking. Workers were also forced to stand up for their whole 12-hour shift. •Some workers at the plant say that they are allowed to visit home only once a year. •The investigation also found employee claims of not being allowed to speak with each other. Another investigation revealed similar abuse in Apple supply factories. According to a report done on the Pegatron facilities:
•Underage workers and pregnant women were being forced to work 11-hour shifts six days a week. •The facility was found to pay the equivalent of $1.50 an hour. •12 Workers were found living in a single dorm room, and only a handful of showers were in use for the hundreds of workers in the factories. •The workers at the company make $268 a month before overtime, less than a third of the average wage of Shanghai residents, despite their extremely long hours. The report, conducted by the China Labor Watch, found that workers were being forced
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to sign falsified overtime sheets saying they had worked in the vicinity of 40 hours a week, instead of the actual 63-69 hours they actually worked. I own an iPod. This information makes me realize that I literally have the blood of others on my hands, and I hope it makes you feel the same way. I hope that together we can make a change. I hope that we, the consumer, can make Apple realize that we won’t support this, that we can pay more to ensure that workers in a foreign land are given a piece of the same pie we enjoy, the same pie we have been given, the pie of humanity.
NEWS EDITOR: Sam Wilmes..............389-5450 SPORTS EDITOR: Joey Denton.............. 389-5227 VARIETY EDITOR: James Houtsma.......... 389-5157 ADVERTISING SALES: Natasha Jones........... 389-1063 Mac Boehmer............389-5097 Parker Riesgraf.......... 389-1079 Brandon Poliszuk.......389-5453 BUSINESS MANAGER: Jane Tastad............... 389-1926 ADV. DESIGN MANAGER: Dana Clark............... 389-2793
POLICIES & INFORMATION • If you have a complaint, suggestion or would like to point out an error made in the Reporter, call Editor in Chief Reece Hemmesch at (507) 3895454. The Reporter will correct any errors of fact or misspelled names in this space. Formal grievances against the Reporter are handled by the Newspaper Board. • The Minnesota State University Mankato Reporter is a studentrun newspaper published twice a week, coming out on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Reporter generates 78 percent of its own income through advertising and receives approximately 22 percent from Student Activities fees. The Reporter is free to all students and faculty, but to start a subscription, please call us at (507) 3891776. Subscriptions for the academic school year are $55.00 and subscribers will receive the paper within three to five days after publishing.
Web Photo Safety nets prevent Apple factory workers in China from committing suicide.
“Do you own an Apple product?”
JOSH BRANDT, SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT “Mac book pro and iPod.”
EDITOR IN CHIEF: Reece Hemmesch.......389-5454
JESSICA TIETZ, FRESHMAN PSYCHOLOGY
TETO KORHA, SENIOR BIO-CHEMISTRY, MATH
“Yes, an iPod.”
“Yes, iPhone 5.”
BABIE YANG, SOPHOMORE NURSING “I do own an apple product, but the track pad is messed up.”
• Letters exceeding 400 words may not be accepted. The Reporter reserves the right to edit letters to fit space or correct punctuation. The Reporter reserves the right to publish, or not publish, at its discretion. Letters must contain year, major or affiliation with the university, or lack thereof. All letters must contain phone numbers for verification purposes.
Compiled by Yohanes Ashenafi
AUDREY MARTIN, SENIOR ACCOUNTING “I don’t, but my husband does He has the iPhone 5.”