Apple wrestles with its ‘China problem’
With the reports of exploitation of employees in the Chinese factories where Apple’s much-in-demand iPhones and iPads are assembled, Apple took a public-relations retreat towards the end of the last week, despite having begun it on a high note by posting record-high profits for the 2011 fourth quarter.
Apple has caught the media’s attention after a recent story in The New York Times highlighted the deplorable working conditions at the company’s Foxconn supplier in China; and revealed that the workers have a seven-day workweek and put up in overcrowded dormitories.
While the magnitude of the difficulties that workers face in the factories can be gauged from the fact that Foxconn employs more than one million workers in the country, this is not the first time that Apple has had to wrestle with its ‘China problem.’ The issue earlier grabbed headlines in 2010 when a series of worker suicides were reported at the Foxconn factories in China.
Further, over and above the media reports, what apparently made yet another notable addition to the public relations hammering which Apple is currently facing was the fact that Jon Stewart’s Comedy Central recently featured a rather disquieting “Fear Factory” satire on the condition of the employees which contribute to the company’s phenomenal profits.
What is particularly problematic for Apple is that, the funniness and the distressing headlines aside, the working conditions in factories of Apple’s suppliers in mainland China are indeed so appalling that the truth can actually hurt several Apple users and eventually dent the company’s premium brand!
