Destroying American Jobs (ie Kodak)

[Undertoad]

This American Life has highlighted the work of Mike Daisey telling the story of Foxconn and the Chinese people who work there building Apple stuff. Including preteen workers, chemicals that cause neurological damage, nets erected to catch suicide jumpers at the plant. CBS Sunday Morning included a piece on it yesterday, which you can read.

[Lamplighter]

My impression of the CBS piece was along the lines of bashing Apple,
and and it's new CEO - making the number of suicides seem outrageous.

Mike Daisey is a "performance artist", who has a one-man show.
CBS used it as an introduction: The dark side of shiny Apple products

China has finally reported some more-or-less believable numbers for their annual rate of suicides,
China is listed as # 10, about the same as some other countries (23/100,000)

FoxConn employs 400,000 and had 18 suicides in this one city - well below the national average.
A Google search reveals that others have taken issue, and facetiously said
it's safer to work at FoxConn than to live elsewhere in China.

The CBS segment did say that Apple is only one of FoxConn's contractors,
including other computer and cell phone mgfr's.

I'm not dismissing the nets and the suicides. Maybe they saved a few lives.
The interior scenes were of clean, open, and orderly production lines.

The child labor was the issue that bothered me the most,
and Apple and other corp's and and should become aggressive in addressing that issue.
(Maybe Gingrich needs some attention too !)

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

This American Life has highlighted the work of Mike Daisey telling the story of Foxconn and the Chinese people who work there building Apple stuff. Including preteen workers, chemicals that cause neurological damage, nets erected to catch suicide jumpers at the plant. CBS Sunday Morning included a piece on it yesterday, which you can read.

This American Life is retracting the episode.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

This American Life is retracting the episode.

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

My impression of the CBS piece was along the lines of bashing Apple,
and and it's new CEO - making the number of suicides seem outrageous.

Mike Daisey is a "performance artist", who has a one-man show.
CBS used it as an introduction: The dark side of shiny Apple products

<snip>

I'm feeling vindicated...

[glatt]

It's too bad. People will read of the retraction and think the entire story is false. That Foxconn is just fine. When the only false thing is that he claimed to meet all these real people and talk to them, when he never did. But those people (with the exception of crippled hand guy) are all real people with legitimate stories.

There really were a few underage workers. (But it's pretty rare.) There really were people hurt by chemical exposure (in a different Apple factory.)There really are nets around the dorms. (even I've seen that one.)

Daisey screwed up, and I won't defend him. But there is still a story there.

[Lamplighter]

If most of the story was false, how is it "too bad" that the episode is being retracted ?

I suspect many more people saw (or later heard about) the original episode
than will take notice of this retraction or any subsequent airings on TV.
The damage to Apple's reputation is done...

On the other hand, Apple did respond to the criticisms, first by publishing
it's entire list of suppliers, and then opening all of them to public inspection.

Even Bloomberg News has taken note:

Bloomberg
Adam Satariano and Peter Burrows
2/26/12

No Company Follows Apple’s Expanded China Factory Audits

Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s rivals aren’t rushing to emulate the iPhone
maker’s decision to subject supplier factories to audits by a labor group.
Instead, they’re sticking to internal checks that may leave room
for violations -- and negative public relations fallout.

Apple said on Feb. 14 the Fair Labor Association had started independent audits
amid criticism of conditions at its plants in China.

Companies including Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Dell Inc. (DELL),
Hewlett-Packard Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. rely on their own evaluations,
based in part on guidelines from the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition,
which they say are sufficient to prevent abuses.

Though Apple’s decision to join FLA may not root out all instances of labor abuse,
the EICC’s member companies may open themselves to even harsher criticism.
While the EICC sets standards for ethics, worker safety and labor practices,
it doesn’t require members to disclose findings and it lacks enforcement powers.
The result is a disjointed system of self- imposed regulations that fail to hold
companies accountable when abuses arise, according to labor advocates and technology executives.
<snip>

I feel a lot what is going on in these Mac vs PC episodes
are much like the old Ford vs Chevrolet squabbles in the past.
Most of the well-known companies probably have suppliers-in-common,
and are equally responsible for whatever problems exist.

As this episode is retracted, maybe the issues will be re-examined
for the entire industry, both inside and outside of China.