I'm "up with people" today on a Friday. I'm going to wave the flag a bit, because there are plenty of bashers related to the situation in the US on a variety of fronts. Times are tough. Companies don't treat workers the right way. The EEOC is running active PR campaigns to publicize the companies they sue.
As a result of tough times, lots of people like to rage against the machine that is America. Companies suck. There's not fairness, no equity.
You know what I'm saying to the haters? If you really believe that America doesn't do things the right way, you need to give up your iPhone. Probably your Android as well.
Why? Because for all the drama in America, people generally don't die in our workplaces. And why you're sniffing the marketing juice of companies like Apple and thinking they're above the fray, the bottom line is it's a lot more complex that we care to admit. From the New York Times:
"In the last decade, Apple has become one of the mightiest, richest and most successful companies in the world, in part by mastering global manufacturing. Apple and its high-technology peers — as well as dozens of other American industries — have achieved a pace of innovation nearly unmatched in modern history.
However, the workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside those plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves. Problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious — sometimes deadly — safety problems.
Employees work excessive overtime, in some cases seven days a week, and live in crowded dorms. Some say they stand so long that their legs swell until they can hardly walk. Under-age workers have helped build Apple’s products, and the company’s suppliers have improperly disposed of hazardous waste and falsified records, according to company reports and advocacy groups that, within China, are often considered reliable, independent monitors.
More troubling, the groups say, is some suppliers’ disregard for workers’ health. Two years ago, 137 workers at an Apple supplier in eastern China were injured after they were ordered to use a poisonous chemical to clean iPhone screens. Within seven months last year, two explosions at iPad factories, including in Chengdu, killed four people and injured 77. Before those blasts, Apple had been alerted to hazardous conditions inside the Chengdu plant, according to a Chinese group that published that warning."
Tim Cook replied to this article with the following letter. Go give it a read. That article says what I've known for awhile, but most people are unaware of. The conditions in China are horrible. Apple and everyone else takes advantage of that supply chain with limited human rights. It makes the American workplace look like heaven.
My point? Fairness and equity in the workplace is complicated. Hate the way things are going in America? Like to hate how much power companies have?
Cool. You ought to give up your digital device when you compare that to what goes on in China out of protest.
Last time I checked, that American low wage manufacturer or hourly retail shop that has low-end jobs didn't have suicide nets.
Be consistent.
