Thursday, March 15, 2012

Apple factory conditions in China 'way above' the norm: agency

By: Terril Yue Jones
business.financialpost.com/2012/02/15/apple-factory-conditions-in-china-way-above-the-norm-agency/

Apple is a well known company, but what is going on behind the scenes? The FLA has started studying certain Apple suppliers in China which have reports of worker suicides, explosions and slave-like conditions. The president of FLA has associated alienation and boredom to the worker suicides. He came to this conclusion because when he visited one of the factories he noted that it was "tranquil", "first-class" and "above the norm of garment factories". Obviously the workers are not killing themselves because of slave-like work, but over boredom and alienation (most of them having gone through the transition between a rural lifestyle to an industrial lifestyle); these are the reasons Apple joined the FLA in the first place (even though they did not have to), so that they can help their workers as best they can.