Angry Protests Break Out at Key iPhone Factory in China [Updated]

[Danfango]

I've dealt with outsourcing to China in the dark ages. This does not surprise me. Despite your best intentions and assurances from any supplier, someone is getting abused somewhere. Culturally most of China tells one person everything's fine while simultaneously beating someone with a stick.

The only way to fix this is to bring production home and restructure the financials of the companies. But that isn't going to happen when there are chains of investors who will lose out.

And after all the same thing will happen in the West too when they start importing cheap labour to keep margins and profits up and simultaneously paying lobbyists to erode employee rights.

 

[Little Endian]

It always humors me how some folks believe that if Apple brought these manufacturing jobs back to the USA it would be a good thing. Bringing this type of large scale manufacturing to the USA would be a logistical feat. Then you would have to contend with American workers demanding $25-$50+ an hour with cradle to grave benefits to work in these factories.

We would then have iPhones priced between $5000.00 - $10,000.00 and Apple would still have to contend With labor unions and strikes. Folks it’s working in a factory which for the most part is not fun and most will truly never be happy.

For heavens sake the Chinese are not happy doing this kind of work!! What makes you think Americans will happily do this kind of work at any reasonable price? The Chinese will take this work out of necessity but they by no means enjoy it. For most of these factory workers they are doing it to provide their families with a possibly better future. They don’t want their children to be working where they are at. They dream and hope that by doing this type of work that their children will have a better future. Hopefully become an engineer, programmer, doctor, academic, lawyer etc.. ”insert whatever profession you like that is better than being a factory worker”.

Alas before anyone starts harking on me I just want to say that I don’t adhere to any stereotypical right or left ideologies. I am simply a pragmatist. I dream that one day there will be a “magic wand” to ”cure all”. But alas since I am a pragmatist Iam not loosing any sleep over this conundrum.

I guess I am just fueling this problem. Ultimately like most of humanity, all I care about is getting a quality finished product delivered in a timely fashion and at a reasonable price.

LMK when someone finds the magic wand that lets everyone win and be happy!!

 

[Rygaard]

They will be disappeared soon.

nahh to many ppl there 200 - 300K

 

[TroyBoy30]

move out of china you greedy *****

 

[MacGekko]

I am waiting for two of these blood iPhones to be shipped. Do your work and get them to me faster (sarcasm)

It must be so difficult for people on the ground working in these factories. I hope apple can sort these things out as it's their reputation on the line.

Tim Cook's personal Thanksgiving version of "The March of the Wooden Soldiers"?

I wish one reporter would have asked a follow up question of Cook, when he said Americans don't have the skills to build Iphones, "Tim, are you saying you have no confidence that African-Americans and Latinos and Whites and Asians and everyone of all ethnicities that live in inner city America, have the drive and ability to learn these skills if you open up Apple factories in a few struggling American inner cities?"

Timmy, if we could build the war machines to defeat Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, we can build your little Iphones, come on Kara Swisher, I have confidence you can ask one tough question in your career.

 

[neuropsychguy]

I may be wrong here, but I read this as more of a China specific issue - namely, due to COVID lockdowns, the conditions and rights the workers were used to are no longer being met, which is what is causing the protests and outrage.

Everything in the article points to this being a China issue as opposed to an Apple issue - clashing with police, hazmat suits, and closed dining areas.

The fact that it's happening at an iPhone factory is like pouring gasoline on a fire from a media perspective.

If I am wrong and this is an Apple caused issue, I am open to being educated. But please, be polite and bring facts.

It is mainly a Chinese government issue. This is largely tied to China's zero COVID policy (which is very slowly starting to be loosened). It's also a Foxconn issue and Apple issue (because of the contracts and "demands" Apple has with Foxconn) but it really looks like much of this is tied to pandemic restrictions and collateral issues.

I think Apple should continue shifting away from so much production in China but this protest is caused by much bigger things than Apple.

Edit: Bloomberg source (via Yahoo): https://www.yahoo.com/now/violent-protests-erupt-apple-biggest-034805561.html

"Hundreds of workers at Apple Inc.’s main iPhone-making plant in China clashed with security personnel, as tensions boiled over after almost a month under tough restrictions intended to quash a Covid outbreak."

 

[DownUnderDan]

I may be wrong here, but I read this as more of a China specific issue - namely, due to COVID lockdowns, the conditions and rights the workers were used to are no longer being met, which is what is causing the protests and outrage.

Everything in the article points to this being a China issue as opposed to an Apple issue - clashing with police, hazmat suits, and closed dining areas.

The fact that it's happening at an iPhone factory is like pouring gasoline on a fire from a media perspective.

If I am wrong and this is an Apple caused issue, I am open to being educated. But please, be polite and bring facts.

Who do you think creates the contracts for FoxConn to make iPhones? Go on, I'll wait.

 

[no_idea]

Congrats apple on your continued hollow virtue signaling, all in the name of gross margin. You can fix this and take a hit on your GM for a few % points, but u choose not to to line your pockets 👏👏👏

 

[Rygaard]

Let me fix the headline : "200.000 to 300.000 people kept prisoners for month"
Why you might ask, to prevent a covid outbreak in the industrial comples people were under "house arrest" for months
source

 

[wanha]

Who do you think creates the contracts for FoxConn to make iPhones? Go on, I'll wait.

You don't sound like a very nuanced thinker, Dan.

It's a shame, we could probably learn a lot from each other.

 

[Luis Ortega]

India isn't governed by the CCP, it is a far better solution. Send them the $ and the jobs.

India currently has its head stuck up putin‘s butt and is not any better choice than China other than as another source of cheap sweatshop workers for companies who outsourced our manufacturing power to make a few more bucks.

 

[SteveJawbs]

China is the worlds legalized slavery supply.

When you hear politicians talking tough about China it’s all fake outrage.

If Xi stopped plastic product production the entire US economy would collapse.

Wal Mart, Apple, Target, Amazon would die off.

You can’t trust teenagers in Texas to assemble the new iPhones. They would gossip and tell everyone they know.

Slaves in China are kept in close quarters so leaks are minimal.

China is the worlds slavery depot. It’s ok to call it what it is. Cheap labor controls the world economy. Apple cannot profit without third world slaves.

 

[MacGekko]

It always humors me how some folks believe that if Apple brought these manufacturing jobs back to the USA it would be a good thing. Bringing this type of large scale manufacturing to the USA would be a logistical feat. Then you would have to contend with American workers demanding $25-$50+ an hour with cradle to grave benefits to work in these factories.

We would then have iPhones priced between $5000.00 - $10,000.00 and Apple would still have to contend With labor unions and strikes. Folks it’s working in a factory which for the most part is not fun and most will truly never be happy.

For heavens sake the Chinese are not happy doing this kind of work!! What makes you think Americans will happily do this kind of work at any reasonable price? The Chinese will take this work out of necessity but they by no means enjoy it. For most of these factory workers they are doing it to provide their families with a possibly better future. They don’t want their children to be working where they are at. They dream and hope that by doing this type of work that their children will have a better future. Hopefully become an engineer, programmer, doctor, academic, lawyer etc.. ”insert whatever profession you like that is better than being a factory worker”.

Alas before anyone starts harking on me I just want to say that I don’t adhere to any stereotypical right or left ideologies. I am simply a pragmatist. I dream that one day there will be a “magic wand” to ”cure all”. But alas since I am a pragmatist Iam not loosing any sleep over this conundrum.

I guess I am just fueling this problem. Ultimately like most of humanity, all I care about is getting a quality finished product delivered in a timely fashion and at a reasonable price.

LMK when someone finds the magic wand that lets everyone win and be happy!!

They would cost more but nowhere near your prices, some say as little as $100 more, others say $1k more, bottom line is I get it, we all want low prices, but have a journalist badger Tim Cook, come on Tim, you don't build them in America because you don't want to absorb that cost or raise the price of the Iphone, nothing to do with the skills of American workers, few people in the press make these tech companies uncomfortable.

 

[BootsWalking]

I may be wrong here, but I read this as more of a China specific issue - namely, due to COVID lockdowns, the conditions and rights the workers were used to are no longer being met, which is what is causing the protests and outrage.

Everything in the article points to this being a China issue as opposed to an Apple issue - clashing with police, hazmat suits, and closed dining areas.

The fact that it's happening at an iPhone factory is like pouring gasoline on a fire from a media perspective.

If I am wrong and this is an Apple caused issue, I am open to being educated. But please, be polite and bring facts.

You're wrong here.

"They changed the contract so that we could not get the subsidy as they had promised. They quarantine us but don't provide food," said one Foxconn worker on video shared online. "If they do not address our needs, we will keep fighting."

Foxconn is constantly pressured by Apple to manage costs. This is the direct result of that.

 

[Little Endian]

China is the worlds legalized slavery supply.

When you hear politicians talking tough about China it’s all fake outrage.

If Xi stopped plastic product production the entire US economy would collapse.

Wal Mart, Apple, Target, Amazon would die off.

You can’t trust teenagers in Texas to assemble the new iPhones. They would gossip and tell everyone they know.

Slaves in China are kept in close quarters so leaks are minimal.

China is the worlds slavery depot. It’s ok to call it what it is. Cheap labor controls the world economy. Apple cannot profit without third world slaves.

sad but true…. The new problem occurs when the world starts to run out of cheap labor to exploit!!

 

[MacGekko]

China is the worlds legalized slavery supply.

When you hear politicians talking tough about China it’s all fake outrage.

If Xi stopped plastic product production the entire US economy would collapse.

Wal Mart, Apple, Target, Amazon would die off.

You can’t trust teenagers in Texas to assemble the new iPhones. They would gossip and tell everyone they know.

Slaves in China are kept in close quarters so leaks are minimal.

China is the worlds slavery depot. It’s ok to call it what it is. Cheap labor controls the world economy. Apple cannot profit without third world slaves.

They could profit, but instead of being the in the top 5 of the most profitable companies, maybe they would be in the top 25, you are correct though, I doubt Americans would pay the higher prices, I just want journalists to ask Apple some tough questions now and again.

Remember with China, it is a two way street, they need Americans to buy all of those made in China products, we need China to fund part of our national debt, mutually assured destruction at this point.

 

[Ukyank1]

This is really sad….

I may very well forego this year’s purchase over this.

How brave of you

 

[DelayedGratificationGene]

Curious to know your sources for these numbers

Hundreds protested (200 say) divided by 200,000 total workers equals .001 times 100 sample size equals 1 and there it is sir

 

[jonnysods]

It's heartbreaking to see what people have to risk just to get some rights that I take for granted.

Also zero covid policy is doing a lot of harm in China.

 

[neuropsychguy]

Foxconn is constantly pressured by Apple to manage costs. This is the direct result of that.

The first statement is true but your second sentence is not. This is directly tied to China's COVID policies: https://www.yahoo.com/now/violent-protests-erupt-apple-biggest-034805561.html

Apple's contracts with Foxconn indirectly factor in.

"Hundreds of workers at Apple Inc.’s main iPhone-making plant in China clashed with security personnel, as tensions boiled over after almost a month under tough restrictions intended to quash a Covid outbreak....

"The rare instances of violence at the plant in the central city of Zhengzhou reflects a build-up of tensions since the lockdown began in October. Many among the vast workforce of more than 200,000 at “iPhone City” have been plunged into isolation, forced to subsist on spartan meals and scrounge for medication.

"Many eventually fled the plant on foot last month. Foxconn and the local government appeared to have gotten the situation under control in recent weeks, promising unusually high wages to attract new staff and promising better working conditions.

"Wednesday morning’s protests suggest that is no longer the case. It underscores how Xi Jinping’s Covid Zero policy, which relies on swift lockdowns to stamp out the disease wherever it pops up, is increasingly weighing on the economy and throwing swathes of the global supply chain into disarray. Beijing recently issued new directives ordering officials to minimize disruption and use more targeted Covid controls, but surging outbreaks in major cities have forced local authorities to reach for strict curbs again."

 

[Bug-Creator]

It always humors me how some folks believe that if Apple brought these manufacturing jobs back to the USA it would be a good thing. Bringing this type of large scale manufacturing to the USA would be a logistical feat. Then you would have to contend with American workers demanding $25-$50+ an hour with cradle to grave benefits to work in these factories.

We would then have iPhones priced between $5000.00 - $10,000.00 and Apple would still have to contend With labor unions and strikes. Folks it’s working in a factory which for the most part is not fun and most will truly never be happy.

It always humors me when people do math on a dirty napkin and then speak with authority.....

If such a production would be moved to any 1st world country its would mean a harder push for automation and reduced cost in distributing (the product is already right where most of it is sold).

Even if you'd just do a 1:1 of the hours needed per iPhone you would end up with 100-300$ of extra cost, not 4-9000....

 

[Filero]

In China, workers are treated like slaves. It is no coincidence that Apple does not have factories in the US and Europe, where workers have rights and laws protect their dignity.

Cook's rhetoric about human rights is meaningless and obscene.

 

[I7guy]

Seriously. I’m trying to imagine myself or my family working in those conditions—it’s awful. And for what? So Apple can make even more ludicrous amounts of money, and I can replace the perfectly good iPhone I bought the year prior? If Apple doesn’t start ‘voting with their dollars’ then I will. You’d hope it wouldn’t come to that with a company that talks the talk like Apple does, but the reality speaks for itself.

You're off to a good start. List your iphone on craigslist and buy an android. For the people who believe apple owns foxconn, they don't. They just pay them $$$ to do the manufacturing. It's not Apple's fault foxconn closed the dine-in cafeteria. I'd be upset as well, but we don't know why that was done.

And in the worst case scenario, the world doesn’t need an iPhone 14 Pro this holiday season, and certainly not at the expense of exploiting people.

In the worst case scenario, these people are out of a job because of their actions and can't feed their family and are you going to blame Apple?

But okay, continue with the ridiculous, internet hyperbole.

 

[I7guy]

In China, workers are treated like slaves. It is no coincidence that Apple does not have factories in the US and Europe, where workers have rights and laws protect their dignity.

And it would cost twice as much and you would be cribbing your iphone cost $2,000.

Cook's rhetoric about human rights is meaningless and obscene.

Ridiculous comment. You're blaming Cook for Foxconn closing the dine-in cafeteria?

 

[Vlad Soare]

Anyone who's feeling enraged about the living and working conditions of the "slaves" in China should put their money where their mouth is and sell all of their Apple devices, and never buy another one again.
Let's see, how many will do that? Come on, raise your hands!
Weeping crocodile tears for the poor "slaves" in China, while fully enjoying the benefits of the work of said "slaves", is nothing more than sheer hypocrisy.

I'm putting "slaves" in quotes because they are anything but. Or, more accurately, they are, but they are the slaves of the Chinese government, not of Apple. Those who are fortunate enough to work for Apple are having it much better than billions of other conationals.