Fair-labor organizers, Change.org and SumOfUs.org, delivered 250,000 signatures to Apple stores in six cities around the world on Thursday in protest of the company’s working conditions in China, according to a report in Mashable.
Last month, an excellent New York Times exposé ripped at Apple's core, building on previous concerns about abuses at firms that Apple uses to make its bestselling iPhones, iPads and Mac computers.
The claims should be familiar by now as Foxconn in southern China, one of Apple's primary suppliers, has repeatedly been the subject of accusations of worker mistreatment and unsafe working conditions. From Mashable:
Foxconn has been accused of making laborers work long hours without breaks, use dangerous chemicals that have caused severe health problems and exposing workers to dangerous conditions. The repetitive work and spartan living conditions have also been to blame for suicides at the factory.
Charlotte Hill, communications manager at Change.org, pleaded with Apple to use its creativity to “think ethically” and create an iPhone without using factories that have harsh working conditions.
“No iPhone is worth that cost,” she said.
At the same time, Apple has also generated billions of dollars in profits, in part due to the cheapness of Chinese labor. (Revenue last quarter surged 74 percent to a record US$46.3 billion and profit more than doubled to US$13.1 billion, blowing away Wall Street's expectations as Apple sold more stuff than in any quarter in its history.)
The Mashable report comes as rumors point to Siri, the much lauded iPhone 4S intelligent personal assistant, adding Mandarin Chinese support next month.
For perspective, read "The Apple Boycott: People Are Spouting Nonsense about Chinese Manufacturing."
