The Apple Foxconn Controversy

Justice is done - is this so?

Starbiz 2nd April had a column about a Report from Boao, China as follows;

Foxconn Technology Group in recent report said that it will keep increasing workers salaries in China and cutting work hours according to press statement.

This came about after the company came under fire for poor working conditions for employees making App;le iPhones and iPads.

Apple and Foxconn agreed last week to tackle violations of conditions among the 1.2 million workers assembling iPhones and iPads in a landmark decision that could change the way Western companies do business in China.

According to another Reuters report,
“Foxconn said it would reduce working hours to 49 hours per week, including overtime, while keeping total compensation for workers at its current level. The FLA audit had found that during peak production times, workers in the three factories put in more than 60 hours per week on average.

To compensate for the reduced hours, Foxconn will hire tens of thousands of additional workers. It also said it would build more housing and canteens to accommodate that influx.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, who company critics hoped would usher in a more open, transparent era at Apple after he took over from the late Steve Jobs last year, has shown a willingness to tackle the global criticism head-on.”

The Foxconn Story


When I first heard about this, I checked out this Change.org web-site to try to put in my feeling about this, but could not find the way to lodge my feedback apart from having to sign for the petition. Today, uner 4th April, I see their Headline “How We Won”
Absolutely incredible. After more than a quarter million Apple customers from around the world united their voices and took a stand against one of the most profitable corporations in the world, we've won.
Following investigations by the Fair Labor Association, Apple has vowed to sharply curtail working hours to 49 hours per week and significantly increase wages inside their Chinese plants. The New York Times reports that: "the impact of Foxconn’s hour and wage reforms could signal a new, wide-reaching change in working conditions throughout China."
So thank you to everyone who signed the petition. It just goes to show that together, we can make real change.
Personally, I am not too sure whether this is fair pressure. Being an Asian myself, we are raised to work hard and put in long hours, yet if the working conditions are alright, we are still happy. Now that the West have managed to impose its own work standard on China, this may have long term ramifications.

So you think you understand the Chinese. China has its own problem, a different kind of problem that needs different solution. And you think you can solve China's problem through the Western eyes, drawing on western standards and western concepts.
I suggest you spend some time to listen to this TED Talk : Martin Jacques on Understanding the Rise of China.


Yes, wide-reaching change no doubt, Cost for sure will go up, at the expense of reduce profit. In the longer terms, this will be translated to other cost-cutting measures, or maybe making them less competitive and eventual relocation to other countries. In China, and for that matters many Asian countries, to be employed and earning a living is already a blessing, with so many mouth to feed. It is really not so much the longer hours or even some perceived setbacks that matters to these country folks. In this economies, it is more important to have more hands employed and more mouths fed at may be less favorable terms.

When factories become less competitive, and business goes somewhere else and more workers unable to find job, who then is at the losing end. One cannot impose one’s standard upon others without empathizing the others position.

Wait till the factory starts to close down because Apple moves somewhere else.


When the workers realizes that at the end, they are the ones losing out, people will become more frustrated. So the next time, we want to support a Good Cause, we have to think hard. After all, I am certain that most who supported the cause have not even step foot on China soil.