Should You Feel Guilty Owning an iPhone?
Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 1:55 pm
So take Apple just as an example.
When you look at the iPhone, you most likely see the design talent of industrial designers, you see the ideas that went into the device, you may think about the patents that enabled and protect this device, you may see the vision of Steve Jobs glorified in this one small handheld. But we really don’t see how this device was made. It was made in a factory that employees 20-something year olds, some of who get paid only $130 a month at less than the Chinese minimum wage of about 55 cents. Some are working 98 hours per week, are under permanent surveillance, by cameras and co-workers, are not allowed to talk during work hours.
In factories near Hong Kong, workers in such factories reportedly lose 40,000 fingers on the job every year, due to unsafe manufacturing equipment, according to the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. Consumer groups claim that companies consistently try to cheat their employees out of earned wages, do not provide health benefits and expose their workers to toxic materials like lead, cadmium and mercury.
When you look at the iPhone, you most likely see the design talent of industrial designers, you see the ideas that went into the device, you may think about the patents that enabled and protect this device, you may see the vision of Steve Jobs glorified in this one small handheld. But we really don’t see how this device was made. It was made in a factory that employees 20-something year olds, some of who get paid only $130 a month at less than the Chinese minimum wage of about 55 cents. Some are working 98 hours per week, are under permanent surveillance, by cameras and co-workers, are not allowed to talk during work hours.
In factories near Hong Kong, workers in such factories reportedly lose 40,000 fingers on the job every year, due to unsafe manufacturing equipment, according to the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. Consumer groups claim that companies consistently try to cheat their employees out of earned wages, do not provide health benefits and expose their workers to toxic materials like lead, cadmium and mercury.