Not So Shiny: The Surprising Secrets Behind Apple

CollectiveEvolution

They’re shiny, sleek, and ‘cool.’ In the past decade Apple’s gizmos have risen to the top of consumer pop-culture, squashing everything in their path to gain the ultimate reputation in the technology field. But beyond their clever branding and devious marketing strategies, the company, like any other mega conglomerate, has its dark secrets. Here are some dirty deets that you may not have known about Apple.

Sweat Shop Conditions

Last year ABC aired an investigative program giving viewers and all-access pass to worker conditions in the Zhengzhou Apple factory in the Henan province of China, and the scene wasn’t pretty. The entry-level workers are paid as little as $2.10 an hour, pulling in a salary of $330 per month. Work days can last up to 15 hours where the labourers stand on their feet all day long. Monotonous tasks such as wiping down screens or shaving aluminum from the Apple logo can go for ten tedious hours a day. Last year Apple sold 33.8 million iPhones, 14.1 million iPads, and 4.6 million Macs in Q4 2013 alone. You can imagine the labour that went into such production.

A report released the day before the iPhone 5 debuted, from Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior or SACOM, a Hong Kong watchdog group, painted a harsh picture of reality for the conditions within the Zhengzhou factory. SACOM interviewed 60 workers, detailing continuing problems at the Foxconn owned plant.

“When the peak season comes, they are tied to the production lines with just one day off in 13 working days, or no rest day at all in a month, all to cope with the public demand for the new Apple products,” the report says. “It is sad to say that to some extent, workers also yearn for the peak season because their base pay is insufficient to meet their basic needs, especially for those who have to support their dependents.”

SACOM found that employees worked excessive overtime, beyond Chinese legal limits. The report said that some workers weren’t compensated for their overtime. It cited “inadequate training and protection” for employees using chemicals in the production process. And the group even found that some workers need to acquire an “off-duty permit” for a toilet break.

There have been 24 reported suicides within Foxconn, a statistic which is slightly below average compared to other companies within China (the suicide rate in China is 20 per 100 000). The Nightline documentary revealed suicide nets covering the whole site, in place to stop over-worked and stressed employees leaping to their deaths. The nets were put in place a few years prior after 9 workers committed suicide in the space of three months.

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