08-06-2010 SACOM: Calls on Apple CEO Steve Jobs to reform purchasing practice in response to Foxconn suicides

Excerpt from the open letter by SACOM:

We call for a comprehensive, independent investigation into Foxconn’s
management systems to determine their connection to employee suicides.
Foxconn publicizing visits by psychologists with the dismissive suggestion that the
number of Foxconn suicides is below the national norm looks like a feeble effort to hide the problem. No genuine scientific study would end on such a comparison
which does not consider that the Foxconn suicides were of 18 to 24 year old young people employed in the city.* Nor does it consider the “norm” of Chinese workers committing suicide to fight terrible working conditions.

We call on Apple CEO Steve Jobs, head of one of the world’s most successful
technology businesses and a big buyer of Foxconn products, to swiftly reform
Apple’s purchasing practices to support the enforcement of workers' rights.

...

We wish to express concern that Apple is squeezing its suppliers worldwide with too little concern for the effects of this on the people who produce their products. While the economic crisis pushed hundreds of electronics suppliers out of business, Apple enjoyed record profits, and still Apple used every opportunity to secure ever lower prices from suppliers. Industry sources suggest that Apple awarded 2009 iPhone orders to Foxconn when Foxconn agreed to sell parts at “zero profit”. Apple revenues at the time were upwards of US$10 billion.

Under the direct pressure of Apple and other buyers, Foxconn pays production line workers at its Shenzhen plant only 900 yuan a month for a 40 hour week. This subsistence level wage is not enough to meet workers' needs and compels workers to work up to 100 hours of overtime a month, close to three times the maximum 36 hours permitted by Chinese labor law.

...

Apple's revenue for the first quarter of 2010 was US$13.5 billion, a 49% rise in
revenue and a 90% rise in profit for that period in 2009 — setting a new Apple record. But Apple fans and shareholders worldwide not only hope to see the business grow. They expect Apple's success to come from invention and cuttingedge design, not the squeezing of every penny out of workers without a voice. In short, they expect Apple to treat workers with respect and responsibility.