Focus
-
Students & Scholars Demand Tim Cook Stop Using Student Workers and Ensure Decent Working Conditions at Apple Suppliers!
9 Feb 2012[Petition] Students & Scholars Demand Tim Cook Stop Using Student Workers and Ensure Decent Working Conditions at Apple Suppliers!
When Apple fans become excited by the launch of new Apple products, workers have to toil in the factories day and night to finish production targets because of the influx of orders. Many of them are student workers, 16-18 years old. These students are supposed to be studying in school, but instead they now work 10 hours a day, 6-7 days a week, even taking on night shifts for months at a time like the adult workers. Many student workers report that after repeating the same motion thousands of times a day, they feel like machines. Any mistake, or working slowly, leads to reprimand or punishment. Their lives consist only of waking up, going to work, eating, and sleeping. They have no social life whatsoever. Sometimes, these student workers become so exhausted and depressed that they don’t even want to talk to others. Even worse, they endure hazardous working environments without proper protective equipment. Apple allows their suppliers to hire student workers as “interns.” In reality, students from vocational schools are forced to work at Apple suppliers. This is a form of involuntary labour, which is approved by Apple to produce its products.
The unethical use of student workers is actually a consequence of the deplorable conditions at Foxconn. Many young workers have high aspirations when they arrive at Foxconn but are soon disappointed by the inhumane working conditions in the factory. As a result, the turnover rate in the factory is high. To counter this problem, the factory uses student workers to maintain the stability of the workforce, especially during the peak season.
There is neither a genuine trade union nor any effective communication channel at Foxocnn to handle labour disputes. One worker who produces the iPhone case reports, “I’ve never seen an iPhone. Not to mention having a chance to use one. I’m not proud of producing iPhones at all. All I want to tell the Apple CEO is not to exploit the workers anymore.” The workers at Foxconn have no means to express their grievances to Tim Cook. But we can. Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) calls on students and scholars across the world to sign the petition for decent working conditions at Apple suppliers.
Please sign the petition if you support the cause to demand Apple to:
1. end the use of student workers;
2. provide a living wage for all the workers so they do not have to work excessive overtime hours;
3. conduct labour rights training for workers, including training on occupational health and safety;
4. facilitate the formation of a genuine trade union through democratic election; and
5. compensate the victims if there is non-compliance with the Apple code of conduct.
Please kindly provide the following information if you endorse the open letter. And please send this reply slip to SACOM at sacom@sacom.hk by 29 February 2012:
Name:
Department:
University:
Country:
Students / Scholars:
Do you want to subscribe SACOM’s publication? Yes No, thank you
Full text of the open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook is available here.
Thank you for your support!
News
-
OWNI.EU : CHRISTMAS: BROUGHT TO YOU BY CHINESE SLAVE LABOR
30 Dec 2011 • BY FABIEN SOYEZ Beyblade spinning tops, Zhu Zhu Pets and remote-controlled Cars 2 cars are this year’s star Christmas toys. But behind the scenes little Christmas cheer surrounds the production of these toys, in an industry that’s worth $80 billion a year globally. Now a report on working conditions in the toy industry in [...]Read more -
Prague Daily Monitor: Campaign exposing conditions in Chinese toy factories launches
16 Dec 2011 Some 80% of the world’s toys are manufactured in China. (ČTK) Prague, Dec 15 (CTK) - The Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) organisation, based in Hong Kong, and its Czech partner NaZemi group yesterday presented their campaign against violation of labour rights of Chinese workers making toys for the world’s biggest toy companies. The organisers [...]Read more -
The Observer: Revealed: true cost of the Christmas toys we buy from China’s factories
5 Dec 2011 by Gethin Chamberlain Undercover investigation alleges hours of overtime, late wages and fines for using the toilet without permission Workers in the Hung Hing factory, where the basic wage is £132 a month, put in up to 100 hours of overtime in that period With Christmas three weeks away, an undercover investigation has revealed the bleak realities of [...]Read more -
[lang_hk]明報：內地大學生—-真正的資本主義在內地[/lang_hk][lang_zh]明报：内地大学生—-真正的资本主义在内地[/lang_zh]
20 Oct 2011 Sorry, this entry is only available in 簡体中文 and 繁體中文. Read more
