“Apple: Make the iPhone 5 ethically” petition urges Apple to change the working conditions of factory workers
It looks like there are thousands of individuals who have been outraged with the way Apple turns a blind eye at the inhumane working conditions of factory workers, responsible for the production of Apple products such as the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4S.
The “Apple: Make the iPhone 5 ethically” petition urges the Cupertino firm to do something about the horrific conditions that plague factory workers in Apple’s contractor, Foxconn.
The movement was started by SumOfUs. On their website, the use of harmful chemicals is used to clean iPhone glass. It reads, “On the other side of the world, a young girl is also swiping those screens. In fact, every day, during her 12+ hour shifts, six days a week, she repetitively swipes tens of thousands of them. She spends those hours inhaling n-hexane, a potent neurotoxin used to clean iPhone glass, because it dries a few seconds faster than a safe alternative. After just a few years on the line, she will be fired because the neurological damage from the n-hexane and the repetitive stress injuries to her wrists and hands make her unable to continue performing up to standard.”
Not only are these factory workers suffering, they are also dying. SumOfUs adds, “In many cases, people literally are dying while making Apple products. Reporters have documented cases of deadly explosions at iPad factories, and repeated instances of employees dying of exhaustion after working thirty to sixty hour shifts. In some of the factories Apple contracts with, so many employees have attempted suicide that management installed nets to prevent employees from dying while jumping off building ledges.”
The petition comes after the report of the New York Times, exposing the working conditions in Foxconn factories. It also quotes a former Foxconn executive who said, “Apple never cared about anything other than increasing product quality and decreasing production cost.”
Furthermore, an anonymous ex-Apple executive says, “We’ve known about labor abuses in some factories for four years, and they’re still going on.” The source adds, “Suppliers would change everything tomorrow if Apple told them they didn’t have a choice.”
In response to the report by the New York Times, Tim Cook, Apple CEO, addressed this issue through an email to Apple’s employees, saying, “We will continue to dig deeper, and we will undoubtedly find more issues. What we will not do – and never have done – is stand still or turn a blind eye to problems in our supply chain. On this you have my word.”
We sure hope Apple takes action and does more than just “dig deeper”.
