Worker abuse petitions to be delivered Thursday at Apple's Grand Central store
An activist group plans to hold demonstrations at Apple retail stores around the world Thursday, with a main gathering held at Apple's Grand Central Terminal location, to highlight claims of worker abuse by the iPhone maker's overseas component suppliers.
A press release was sent out to members of the media on Thursday revealing plans to deliver more than a quarter of a million signatures from campaigns on the websites Change.org and SumOfUs.org to Apple's Grand Central Terminal retail store at 10 a.m. Eastern on Thursday. The petition will reportedly be delivered by "local consumers."
The campaign was started by Mark Shields of Washington D.C., who was inspired after learning of apparent poor working conditions in the factories of Foxconn, an overseas device manufacturer who assembles Apple's products, as well as those of other technology companies like Microsoft.
"I have been a lifelong Apple customer and was shocked to learn of the abusive working conditions in many of Apple’s supplier factories," Shields said in the press release. "At Foxconn, one of Apple’s biggest manufacturers, there is a history of suicides, abusive working conditions, and almost no pay. These working conditions are appalling, especially for Apple."
While the Grand Central Terminal store will apparently be the focal point of Thursday's demonstrations, complete with "large iPhone posters" and printed handouts, the petitions will also reportedly be delivered to Apple retail locations around the world. The groups said petition deliveries will also take place in Washington D.C., San Francisco, London, Sydney and Bangalore.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Change.org had collected more than 194,000 signatures, while an additional 56,000 are located at SumOfUs.org. The planned demonstrations come as Apple and others have come under increased fire for their reliance on Foxconn.
On Monday, news network CNN aired a special report featuring an interview with an anonymous Foxconn worker who said she had never seen an iPad in person, even though she assembles them at a facility in Chengdu, China.
And late last month, The New York Times published a pair of stories profiling Apple's overseas manufacturing operations, examining the "human costs" that go into the iPad and other devices. An anonymous former Apple executive who spoke with the newspaper said that the company has known about labor abuses in overseas factories for years. But they said nothing has been done because "the system works for us."
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook responded to those claims with an e-mail to employees calling the accusations "patently false and offensive." Cook noted that Apple will continue to scrutinize its supply chain and will inevitably find more issues, but said that the company will never turn a blind eye to problems. "On this you have my word," he said.
[ View article on AppleInsider ]
Comments
And then Wal-mart to protest companies whose toys are made in China?
And then clothing stores after that to protest clothing brands sewn in China?
And then the offices of nearly every other company in the country?
No?
THEN SHUT UP, HYPOCRITES.
You're supposed to think different. I want to continue to use and love the products you make, because they're changing the world, and have already changed my life. But I also want to know that when I buy products from you, it's not at the cost of horrible human suffering.
Yo, fuck that guy and his hypocritical douchebaggish, whining.
Apple already responded to the criticisms coming from asshats and Apple said "What we will not do - and never have done - is stand still or turn a blind eye to problems in our supply chain".
If anybody has a problem with Apple, then don't buy their products! Don't dictate your liberal fascist demands to Apple as if they give a shit about what you and your pussy friends think!
And don't be blocking and protesting in front of any Apple stores that I will be visiting. If I happen to be near any Apple store (I'm not that far away from Grand Central) and there are some douchebags trying to disrupt access or trying to interfere with my business and restrict my freedom of movement, then I will not hesitate to use physical force to put these protest nazis in their place.
They planning on going to a Best Buy the day after and protesting Dell, HP, Samsung, Toshiba, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, and everyone else?
And then Wal-mart to protest companies whose toys are made in China?
And then clothing stores after that to protest clothing brands sewn in China?
And then the offices of nearly every other company in the country?
No?
THEN SHUT UP, HYPOCRITES.
Walmart.
That's all that needs to be said.
They planning on going to a Best Buy the day after and protesting Dell, HP, Samsung, Toshiba, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, and everyone else?
And then Wal-mart to protest companies whose toys are made in China?
And then clothing stores after that to protest clothing brands sewn in China?
And then the offices of nearly every other company in the country?
No?
THEN SHUT UP, HYPOCRITES.
Only post necessary to this thread.
That guy Mark Shields sounds like a huge pussy and not to mention a hypocrite!
I think that most of Apple's customers don't really care about foreign workers.
I think that most of Apple's customers don't really care about foreign workers.
I don't think that's necessarily true. If there was some real abuse going on, that could be factually documented, like slave labor or using 9 year old kids to assemble products, then most people would say that is not cool.
However, there is nothing like that going on and everything is just fine and dandy. They're going to have to do better than whining about a 60 hour work week and a suicide rate that is less than the general population.
They planning on going to a Best Buy the day after and protesting Dell, HP, Samsung, Toshiba, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, and everyone else?
And then Wal-mart to protest companies whose toys are made in China?
And then clothing stores after that to protest clothing brands sewn in China?
And then the offices of nearly every other company in the country?
No?
THEN SHUT UP, HYPOCRITES.
That isn't what the word hypocrisy means.
That said, I'm not signing it. I encourage better working conditions for all people in all companies but signaling out Apple without understanding the Chinese workforce is just seeing bark, on one branch of one tree without seeing the forest.
PS: I wonder how that petition was made, how it's hosted, how people will sign it, and how they will print it out?
That isn't what the word hypocrisy means.
If somebody buys and uses Apple products, yet whines like a big pussy about Apple and even goes so far as to protest against Apple, then that is the definition of a hypocrite.
I don't think that's necessarily true. If there was some real abuse going on, that could be factually documented, like slave labor or using 9 old kids to assemble products, then most people would say that is not cool.
However, there is nothing like that going on and everything is just fine and dandy. They're going to have to do better than whining about a 60 hour work week and a suicide rate that is less than the general population.
What exactly do you call the giant mass suicide threat a few months ago? Can you imagine a bunch of office workers negotiating with suicide?
If somebody buys and uses Apple products, yet whines like a big pussy about Apple and even goes so far as to protest against Apple, then that is the definition of a hypocrite.
Thats not what you said...you implied that if someone protests apple, but not other tech companies (that I assume you are accusing of committing similar atrocities) then they are hypocritical. Which isn't true. It WOULD be hypocritical if they USED apple products as you stated above.
However, since your defense of apple is basically saying, "everyone else does it too," it doesn't seem like you are on particularly strong moral ground to judge from.
That isn't what the word hypocrisy means.
Yeah, I didn't think so either. So what's the word for this situation? It's really close to hypocrisy...
Thats not what you said...you implied that if someone protests apple, but not other tech companies (that I assume you are accusing of committing similar atrocities) then they are hypocritical. Which isn't true. It WOULD be hypocritical if they USED apple products as you stated above.
However, since your defense of apple is basically saying, "everyone else does it too," it doesn't seem like you are on particularly strong moral ground to judge from.
... or any number of other products made in China.
What exactly do you call the giant mass suicide threat a few months ago? Can you imagine a bunch of office workers negotiating with suicide?
I call that a bunch of whiny fools making dumb demands. If those morons and pathetic people who were behind that threat felt that their jobs or working conditions are so bad, then quit! Problem solved.
In the thread about that mass suicide threat a while ago, I said that I would have called their bluff if I were in charge. Let them go ahead with their ridiculous mass suicide. If their lives are so worthless that they would think about suicide over a job, then the human race does not need such weak genes in the pool. As I stated, nobody is forcing them to work there. So, what does somebody do when they are in a job that they don't like? They quit, they don't off themselves like some psycho and weak human being.
There was a time in this country (the USA) when it was considered acceptable to have one worker die for every so many floors of high rise constructed - or for ever foot of bridge span built.
"almost no pay" ??? from what I have read the pay is above the average for the local area - while far below what it takes to support my current life-style (read: debt load) - drawing any sort of comparison between my pay and living conditions to that of a bother country based on internet reports of said conditions is not a terribly useful thing to do.
Thats not what you said...you implied that if someone protests apple, but not other tech companies (that I assume you are accusing of committing similar atrocities) then they are hypocritical. Which isn't true. It WOULD be hypocritical if they USED apple products as you stated above.
However, since your defense of apple is basically saying, "everyone else does it too," it doesn't seem like you are on particularly strong moral ground to judge from.
I didn't actually say that. You're confusing me with Tallest Skill, the person who said it.
The guy behind the protest said that he uses Apple's products, so that would make him a hypocrite, according to the definition.