Our beloved Apple mistreats foreign workers

OK, I'll admit it: I have an iPhone and a MacBook.

Everyone loves Apple products because they're fun, friendly and trendy. And everyone, it seems, has one product or another. Despite this universal love, Apple is getting a bad rap for their manufacturing process in other countries such as China.

But Apple products are like hot dogs. You love to eat them, but you don't want to see how they're made.

It's a sad truth: America doesn't make electronics, and therefore we go to countries, often China and India, which are able to mass-produce the wonderful products that we hold so near and dear. But what goes on at these factories could make you rethink asking for a new MacBook Pro for graduation or purchasing an awesome iPhone 4S.

The New York Times began covering Apple's manufacturing processes in China back in May of 2010 paint a disturbing picture of Foxconn, one of Apple's largest suppliers. More recently, The Times reports violations such as 36-hour shifts, 15-year-old employees and harsh living conditions in the dormitories where workers are required to live.

Apple's response to these human rights violations at Foxconn was to conduct several audits to attempt to fix the violations. Apple's website states that, suppliers were given 90 days to fix their violations.

"If a supplier is unwilling to change, we terminate our relationship," Apple said on its website.

If this is Apple's official statement on suppliers, then the company should terminate its contract with Foxconn. Foxconn has been given numerous warnings about their labor violations and has failed to correct them in accordance with Apple standards.

Each year, Apple releases a progress report on their suppliers. The report includes the results of audits conducted throughout the year. The audits are conducted in five different categories: labor and human rights, worker health and safety, ethics, environmental impact and management systems. In Apple's 2012 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, they reported conducting more than 229 audits, an 80 percent increase in audits from 2010. Apple also discloses a list of their 156 suppliers, which include Intel, Panasonic and Sony.

In each category, average percentage compliance is given for every issue along with a response from Apple on select problem areas. Apple's responses explain what corrective actions Apple has taken.

The report also states that Apple conducts surprise audits.

"A surprise audit is when our team visits a supplier unannounced and insists on inspecting the facility and meeting with employees immediately," according to the 2012 Apple progress report.

I'm not saying we should all boycott our beloved iPhones until Apple's suppliers report no violations. But many people, including myself, have trouble ignoring the human rights violations inherent in Apple's manufacturers.  

As for whether we should boycott Apple, I say no. Consumers have spoken, and Apple has listened or at least is making attempts to fix their troubled suppliers. Perhaps this small victory for human rights in China won't go unnoticed by other corporate giants.  

The truth is that Apple is not alone in being accused of violating human rights. Hundreds of other companies, including HP, Intel and Nike, have received criticism regarding their manufacturing procedures.

I don't think we should hold just Apple to such high standards; every company that manufactures products in other countries should be subject to the same criticism.

Nike faced similar criticism in the early 1990s when they were caught using child labor in Cambodia and Vietnam, according to an Associated Press article.

A quick search of Nike's corporate website yields information about their responsible manufacturing in other countries, but audits like the ones found on Apple's main website are not easily available and are often hard to understand, compared to Apple's easy-to-read, effective report. As consumers, we should expect, if not demand, this type of transparency.  

It shouldn't take a New York Times exposé for a company to act responsibly in the manufacturing of their products. While Apple is a major player in ensuring their products are made responsibly, there is plenty of room for other companies to join them in the pursuit of manufacturing transparency.

Until we see corporate transparency in manufacturing, there is nothing we can do to ensure our products are made responsibly. We can only hope that one day major corporations will realize that smart, conscientious consumers will not stand for products that are made in foreign factories with human rights violations.

Pat Thompson is a senior integrated marketing major and can be reached at thomps20@duq.edu.