Makes me sick that I own an Ipad and therefore have contributed to this.
Also should give people pause who claim that the jobs going to China pay “competitive” wages and the like, the reality is that many of the people working those factory jobs are living like people in the 19th century in this country, as documented by people like Jacob Riis and the like. Read up sometime on the condition in so called company towns, like Pullman’s “model town” near Chicago, or the mining towns and mill towns, they would have an area with “showcase” housing supposedly showing workers with nice, bright little houses, etc, but if you were able to wander back a bit, you would see dilapidated shanties, no running water, paper in the windows instead of glass, etc.
My BIL taught English in China about ten years ago. His flat looked really squalid compared to the US, but he said it was pretty typical middle class there.
I lived in some pensiones in Italy that were pretty freakin’ scary (easily as bad as the ones in the picture), and had the same ratio of bathroom to people. It was gross and nasty, but I’m not sure it rose to the level of human rights violation.
That said, I own no Apple products, but the pictures don’t bother me that much. I’ve lived in worse.
Not bad for 16 pounds a month.
It never ceases to amaze me how the kumbaya people who rail about corporate “obscene” profits are the same people who give Apple a pass for their “obcene” profits, offshoring its corporate address for tax avoidance, offshoring manufacturing, and using sweatshop labor.
Well that’s because Apple is cool and the elite like the Apple toys. But yes, as the most profitable company in the world, Apple should not put their workers in what looks like 19th century tenement conditions. And surely some of those jobs could be US jobs without hurting the profitability too much.
Apple gets no kumbaya pass from me–won’t buy the stuff.
I’m surprised there any toilets. When we were there for a month back in 2011, most of the Chinese didn’t use toilets. As a matter of fact, when there was one (very infrequently), it wasn’t used with long lines waiting to squat at a hole. It isn’t the “west”.
Toilets are common in China, but most are of the [squat type](Squat toilet - Wikipedia). Many of those also do not have the familiar pool of water to keep the fecal smell contained while in use, and “flushing” them may not use enough water or water pressure to push solids down the drain, if you did not “aim” directly at the drain. The lack of useful “flushing” is also why it is common for there to be a wastebasket next to the toilet to put used toilet paper in.
It looks from the pictures that the toilets in those dormitories are of the “river” type, where squatting users are supposed to drop wastes into the “river” of flowing water that carries the wastes to the sewer (presumably, the “downstream” stalls get to have other users’ waste pass by).
So, yes, what seems to be “normal” for toilets in China can be rather nasty by US standards.
I’m confused as to why this is a surprise to anyone. Stories and pictures like this have been around for as long as I remember.
I don’t own apple products and don’t ever intend on it. Although I’m sure my electronics aren’t really from anywhere better. This is how a globalized economy works. We demand cheap products and turn a blind eye to anything beyond (and often even within) our borders.
Also for what it’s worth, these look better than most Detroit schools. So there’s that. I don’t think that makes it acceptable. I’ve lived in a mud hut that looks worse than that but that doesn’t make it acceptable either. I have this weird idea that everyone should be able to live in safe, healthy, affordable housing. But I guess that’s just the radical liberal in me.
we called them “squatty potties”
One thing to keep in mind which is underscored by the above is the fact that while Apple is the most prominent company to engage in such labor practices, they aren’t the only ones.
In fact, this practice is commonplace across the computer/electronic marketplace and is driven by a critical mass of consumers in the US and other first-world societies for cheap as possible computers/electronics. Your OEM PCs(i.e. Dell, HP, Sony, Toshiba etc), PC parts, Android device, television sets, tivos, etc are all likely produced in similar conditions and by some of the same companies*.
And if one really wants to engage in a boycott against companies which engage in this practice, one will practically need to abstain from purchasing/using any electronic gadget/parts.
- Pegatron and Foxconn also produce parts for OEM PCs like HP, Dell, etc, etc, etc....
What’s wrong with squatty potties? I used to see them all the time in Europe.
Is this something unique to those who work for Apple’s contractors, or is this simply the way life is for urban factory workers in China?
^Good point! About squatty potties. I liked it better in public places. You don’t touch anything with bare skin. I remember a potty in France that also worked as urinal. It was 3’x3’ square ceramic with two foot platforms. It took me a while to figure it out.
Scroll down and you’ll see a picture of accommodations eerily similar to the ones in the OP’s link-except they’re models’ housing in NYC at $75/night!
http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/11/news/runway-injustice-model-apartments/index.html
Many manufacturing industries in china pay obscenely low wages to obscenely young workers as well, not just Apple, So many goods sold in the US are made in factories around the world - India, China, Mexico (to name a few) for low low low wages to people working in sweat shop conditions. This is nothing new, and should not be surprising to anyone whose head is not in the sand. Companies that manufacture products in the US have a difficult time competing with prices due to this low cost of labor overseas.
In 1979 I was a research assistant to the Dean of my business school, and he decried the loss of domestic manufacturing to other countries. Finally today people are at least recognizing the problem.
I am typing this on a macbook. i have an iPhone 5.
I have mixed feelings about this. I think some of the “squalid conditions” are more cultural differences, honestly.
Otoh, the fence between the males and females seems pretty harsh, and the description of long lines to use the bathroom or shower - that is just not right, and that’s the kind of thing that robs a person of their dignity.
The place is pretty danged bleak and dreary, too, nothing but concrete everywhere.
It looked like it may have been clean enough, with people living there… Obviously, when places are no longer maintained, nature and mold will take over.
Perhaps I should no longer buy Apple products, though.
What are the conditions for the workers who manufacture other computers, phones, and tablets? That would be helpful to know.
The model’s “apartment” looks like a typical college dorm room, albeit with more beds… and actually look nicer than many summer camp bunkhouses.
But 60 bucks a night seems pretty steep, even for NYC, for what is essentially a bed in a bunkhouse/hostel type room.
How about this happening right here in America: http://qz.com/681025/big-poultry-workers-are-literally-peeing-their-pants-so-that-americans-can-have-cheap-chicken/
How can this even be happening??