Tim Cook & Apple Computer MUTE On Human Rights Abuses In Factories
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, November 26, 2022
In what is rapidly becoming an International Public Relations, Marketing and Sales nightmare for Apple Computer — the world’s largest and wealthiest corporation, with a market capitalization value of at least US$2.356 Trillion — Chinese citizens in Zhengzhou, China, known colloquially as “iPhone City” for its massive manufacturing facilities owned by Foxconn, which are contracted with Apple Computer, of Cupertino, California, to manufacture the iPhone 14, and other Apple-branded consumer computer hardware — have gone on strike after having been brutally beaten by Communist Chinese police over a reneged promise made to prospective and new employees by Foxconn for their pay.
The iPhone 14, Apple’s latest and greatest model, which retails from US$799 to $1,599.00 for a top-of-the-line iPhone 14 Pro Max model, is now “behind the power curve” on holiday sales leading up to, and immediately after “Black Friday,” when many American customers nationwide reported an inability to find the product in stores, or online. The phrase is an aviation-related one, which colloquially means to be in a situation in which circumstances are beyond a locus of control, and any extra effort to play “catch up” only gets worse with each successive attempt.
“Black Friday,” of course, refers to the day immediately after Thanksgiving (which always occurs on a Thursday) in which retailers experience their greatest sales, which for many, if not the exceeding majority, accounts for a significant portion of their annual profitability, and places them “in the black,” rather than being in an indebted, or profitless condition, which is referred to as being “in the red.”
Tim Cook, Apple CEO, official portrait
The events in China’s “iPhone City” couldn’t have come at a worse time for Apple.
Matters are further complicated by the Communist Chinese government’s mandatory “shutdowns” of all public business operations, and public intercourse.
Again, ALL of this is completely outside Apple Computer’s locus of control. Yet, there are some thing that Tim Cook could do to minimize, or ameliorate, any damages, now, and in the future.
Naturally, the problem is not limited exclusively to Apple Computer, and rather, is the initialization of an avalanche-like, cascading chain of events which will reduce Apple’s profitability, as well as that of retailers nationwide.
Beyond that, it further reemphasizes what has been continually been an increasing point of contention in the United States, which is the “outsourcing’ of American manufacturing jobs — the most notable of which is China — to nations where there are little-to-no labor laws, practically non-existent workplace safety laws or regulations, and certainly no wage standards, and neither minimum wage laws, nor collective-bargaining labor unions to represent the employees’ interests.
In short, it is the moral equivalent of — and for all practical purposes is — slave labor, because the employees in factories in China, overseas, and in other developing nations, have no rights, nor opportunity for redress of grievances against their employer as in the United States. It is capitalism run amok. And the worst part of it all, is that it originates from within the United States.
We are now living in an era and age in which increasingly, institutions at home, and abroad in long-developed “legacy” nations, are divesting themselves of any interests in companies and firms which do not live up to the highest moral and ethical standards in regard to treatment of the environment, of animals, and of humans. Such matters ultimately affect companies’ sales, and bottom line, because of public perception… something that money cannot buy.
It is tragically ironic that Foxconn “Shanghaied” the State of Wisconsin by promising to build a gargantuan facility in that Mount Pleasant (pop. 27,082) in Racine County which would transform the area into “Silicon Valley II,” but instead, reneged upon their promise to the Governor, other state officials and citizens, to invest US$10 BILLION, employ 13,000 people, for which they be given US$3 BILLION in taxpayer-funded subsides to construct facilities beginning toward the end of 2020.
They did not.
Sadly, the entire deal has been a bait-and-switch Foxconn fiasco for the state, whose Governor then was Scott Walker, who swallowed Foxconn’s bait, hook, line, and sinker. But it wasn’t as if public officials weren’t warned, for they were, by numerous individuals, and organizations, most of which were impartial and nonpartisan, including the Wisconsin State Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
And in fact, the Foxconn con led to Scott Walker’s loss for a re-election bid.
It has been a VERY sour deal for the state, all around who were misled, and betrayed not only by their elected officials, but by an international firm which is most notably also contracted with Apple Computer.
Of course, Foxconn has continually since been begging the state for additional changes to the terms of their initial contract, including reduced tax subsidies, “in exchange for flexibility” in how they utilize the now-nearly-vacant site.
Enter “Tim Apple,” because this is where he becomes a key player, and “influencer” who could LITERALLY pull a proverbial rabbit out of a hat, and thereby, earn the respect of countless Wisconsinites and Americans by so doing.
Build an Apple manufacturing facility in Wisconsin — or, tell Foxconn to do it — then rapidly, begin transitioning OUT OF CHINA to 100% MADE IN AMERICA.
Imagine the press that would earn!
Again, money could NOT buy that sort of good will, and in addition to being a titan of business, he would also be a leader among leaders, perhaps the ultimate one, for initiating a return to American domestic manufacturing.
It can be done, and he could do it.
If he made up his mind to do it.
🧑💻📱💻🍏Apple🖱️Computer🍎⌨️🖥️⌚️
Designed in Cupertino, California, USA:
Made with Slave Labor in Zhengzhou & Shenzhen, China by Foxconn.
Reckon what Apple, or CEO Tim Cook, a Mobile, Alabama native & Auburn University undergraduate alumna will say?
What will they do?
It’s LONG OVERTIME to BRING IT ALL HOME, with 100% DOMESTIC MANUFACTURE.
It is UNCONSCIONABLE to know that APPLE is tacitly promoting this abuse by their INACTION & SILENCE.
Following is a small sampling of remarks made in response to this news item:
• “Yes!!!! Bring. It. Home.”
• “I doubt if Tim Cook actually cares.”
• “Exactly. It should be manufactured here and not hike the price either.”
BEIJING (AP) — Police brutally beat employees protesting over a pay dispute at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory, its largest, where manufacture of Apple’s iPhone 14 is being delayed by Communist Chinese government imposed controls as the nation tries to contain surging COVID-19 cases.
Foxconn offered higher pay to attract more workers to the Zhengzhou factory to assemble the iPhone 14, which costs $799 and up, in the United States.
But a protest erupted Tuesday, November 22, 2022 at the factory after employees who had traveled great distances to begin jobs which were promised to them, complained that Foxconn reneged to agreed-upon terms, including employee pay, said Li Sanshan, an employee there.
Foxconn is Apple’s largest contract assembler of smartphones and other electronics, and is struggling to fill iPhone 14 orders after thousands of employees walked away from the factory in October after complaints over unsafe working conditions. Foxconn also has a history of employee suicides on-the-job, employee, and human rights abuses which have occurred over the course of several years.
Foxconn comprises a significant portion of China’s status as a major global exporter, where electronics, toys, and numerous other consumer items are made.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party is trying to contain the nation’s latest COVID outbreaks without closing factories and the remainder of its national economy, as it did in early 2020, by using tactics such as “closed-loop management,” in which employees are forced to live in the factories without any outside contact.
—MORE—
https://apnews.com/article/de96ca707008f1ae48820ed573c56865
The miserably wretched working conditions at “iPhone City” are nothing new.
https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/inside-iphone-city-the-massive-chinese-factory-town-where-half-of-the-worlds-iphones-are-produced/articleshow/64068751.cms
Wedbush Securities tech stock analyst Daniel Ives wrote that China’s lockdowns and protests this year have been a “major gut punch to Apple” which has reduced by 5% the number of iPhone 14 units available to sell, which is a “major shortage” immediately before the Christmas holiday season.
“If Zhengzhou remains at lower capacity the next few weeks and continues to see the unrest build with workers, this would cause clear major iPhone Pro shortages into the all-important Christmas time period, especially in the U.S. This latest zero-Covid situation is an absolute body blow for Apple in its most important holiday quarter.”
According to mandatory business statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple stated that for Fiscal Year 2022, very nearly 52% of the company’s revenue came from iPhone sales.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bad-iphone-city-riots-apple-181256263.html
On 19 June 2019, Apple Computer authored a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and urged him to belay placing tariffs on Chinese-manufactured products, which includes the Apple iPhone.
As well Reuters news service reported a Nikkei Asian Review report stated that Apple had sought reports from “key iPhone assemblers Foxconn, Pegatron Corp, Wistron Corp, major MacBook maker Quanta Computer Inc, iPad maker Compal Electronics Inc, and AirPods makers Inventec Corp, Luxshare-ICT and Goertek have been asked to assess the cost implications of moving 15%-30% of their production capacity from China to Southeast Asia,” specifically, Vietnam.
And on 20 June 2019, “the Wall Street Journal confirmed that Apple, Inc. is considering moving up to 30% of iPhone production away from China due to risks associated with Sino-American trade relations.”
On November 15, 2022, Bloomberg reported that at an internal meeting in Germany, Tim Cook announced intentions to begin sourcing processor chips from an Arizona factory, including possible purchase of chips from European nations. Presently, Apple designs its own chips, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company manufactures the A-series and M-series processors that power iPhones and Mac computers. Tim Cook was quoted as saying, “We’ve already made a decision to be buying out of a plant in Arizona, and this plant in Arizona starts up in ’24, so we’ve got about two years ahead of us on that one, maybe a little less.”
And in 2013, Apple announced construction of a manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona which would be operated entirely on renewable energy.
Some of Apple’s AirPods ear buds earphones are presently made in Vietnam.
Warm Southern Breeze 
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