Amid our mad scramble to line up for the iPhone 5, we as consumers become oblivious to the process of how this evolutional mobile device reached our hands. Apple has its “products designed in Cupertino, California” which are then assembled in China where cheap labour is the only solution to keeping up with the rapid iPhone 5 demand. Across the globe in Zhengzhou, China , about “three to four thousand” production employees at Foxconn Technology Group’s iPhone 5 production headquarters. The Fair Labor Association earlier this year claimed cases of “excessive working hours and hazardous condition”. In addition, Apple inspectors has heightened the standard over phones because of quality complaints from consumers, which only increased the amplified the pressure on these workers and resulting in strike .
This massive labour strike in Zhengzhou carries great significance for workers employed by these large-scale companies hoping to capitalize on this “cheap labour” opportunity available. Rather than continue with tedious day to day operations in dangerous conditions, the workers came to bring about change, or at least recognition of the injustice. It’s interesting that these workers, knowing the magnitude of their work for the image of Apple, would still have the courage to demand for justice. These types of issues must be opened to the public eye – the rights and value of every individual regardless of their status.
Video: Insider view of iPhone 5 Production in at Foxconn
Works Cited:
Digital image. PaidContent. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2012. <http://gigaompaidcontent.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/apple-foxconn-factory-workers-o.jpg?w=300&h=191>.
“Thousands of Foxconn Workers Who Make the IPhone 5 Launch Strike: Labour Group.”Bloomberg News 5 Oct. 2012: n. pag. Print.