http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46143670/ns/business-us_business/#.TyFM7YHsaq0

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/454/mr-daisey-and-the-apple-factory?act=1

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/play_full.php?play=454

Well the truth has finally come out.  Apple and others are using Chinese labor to make high quality and high priced iPhones, iPads, tablets, smartphones, etc. and making a ton of money on the cheap labor and unsafe working conditions.

There is nothing wrong with using low cost labor.  It is difficult for products companies to keep track of labor abuses.  However, that is why companies hire auditors and have their own teams focus on labor safety.  This posting started off as a look at Apple.  The problem is bigger than Apple.  However, because Apple is one of the companies that have become a focus of so-called mainstream media, I will focus on Apple.

Does Apple ever proclaim their manufacturers are ISO 9000 compliant?  If so then someone better nail them for lying to the public and the international standards organization ought to give consideration about how corporations throw that designation around.  All that aside.  Let us focus on the issue.

According to recent articles, Apple has known about these abuses for years.  Where are the outraged celebrities and politicians?  I certainly hope this is not “an Asian thing”.  Or maybe this is about “money”?

I actually think it is about “money”.  I like money.  I do not begrudge anyone who wants to make anyone; as long as it is done honestly. 

I understand that consumers have no way of knowing what manufacturers are used by the various products companies that are selling their products.  The average consumer assumes the sellers are doing what they are supposed to be doing, which is to make products that are free of blood.

They use to call these sweatshops in the US.  Now that the USA hardly makes anything here it is easy to forget that we would never want our own citizens treated in the way the Chinese workers are treated.

However, if Apple really wants to be a respected brand then it needs to put its foot down and demand its outsourced manufacturers improve worker safety.  Unfortunately, because Apple makes so much money, the financial world and the average consumer consider Apple the most respected company on the planet.  I no longer think so.

Apple has known about the abuses for the last 4 years.  Intel can make a chip without having a factory explode on them leaving injured and dead workers; why can’t Apple?  Wall Street obviously has no problems making blood money otherwise they would have been demanding the abuses be stopped.

Remember, Chinese labor working on US railroads in the 19th Century?  Cheap labor and a lot of them killed as a result of unsafe labor practices and other horrendous acts.

Apple can force all of its manufacturers to comply with the most rigorous safety practices in the world; if it wanted to.  Yes, the company’s profit would be lower or it can simply charge more for their products.  Then there could be another issue; very companies can tell the Chinese government what to do in terms of establishing safety requirements.  Maybe Apple has no influence?  Nah, Apple actually does have the influence it just chooses not to exercise it.

Here is a suggestion to Apple:  move the manufacturing to another country that needs employment as much as China does.  I am sure Mexico, Germany, Japan, India, Viet Nam, and the United States would not only benefit from having Apple spend billions in those countries but also they would manufacture Apple products safely.  However, I cannot say any manufacturer in those countries would do it less expensively than China.  So - Apple what will it be?  Make money under safe working conditions or make money leaving a trail of bodies along the way?

Check out the discussion running below.  Also check out the links above.  Mike Daisey, who is not a reporter, has a one-man show running about Apple and Steve Jobs and he discusses the labor abuses he has found.  Bear in mind he characterizes himself as a story teller and not a reporter.

People care more about their iPhone than the working conditions in China.  A tragedy.

Maybe protesters ought to boycott Apple products.