Apple's Unethical Practices in Asia

Introduction

Apple Inc. is a multinational technology American company famous for their technology that creates and produces consumers electronics and server such as the Iphone, Ipad, Ipod, Iwatch, Macbook and many more. However they have a reputation for having poor working conditions of the workers in Foxconn, one of Apple’s biggest suppliers in China.

Employers Working Condition

Many employees in Foxconn are committing suicides and dying due to over exhausting working hours and overcrowding dormitories (Kieren, M 2015). Chinese workers usually work shifts of 11 to 13 hours and are supposed to stay in a dormitory room of 8 pax. However workers at Foxconn were forced to squeeze 12 pax a room instead. Usually when a new product is out, working hours get extended to the point workers fall asleep while on their duties at their workstation which is highly dangerous as they are surrounded by electrical machinery and will increase their chances of getting injured or electrocuted.

Companies should not compromise ethics and instead use it as a driving point towards a competitive advantage. However due to the highly competitive industry, Apple is leaning towards unethical practices to maximise its profits. Although Apple claims that they have made improvements to the work conditions however current workers and undercover reporters have proved otherwise (Dave, N 2012). Even though Foxconn is tarnishing Apple’s reputation, Apple is just taking advantage of this situation of the chinese factory’s low wages and long working hours to maximise the production of Iphones.

Supplier and Customer Relations

Tin is heavily used in Iphones and Apple gets its tin from illegal sea and mud miners in indonesia. The sea miners built dozens of illegal makeshift pontoons together to retrieve muddy tin ore from the sea bed. Based on the video, they use a 75 foot drill which penetrates into the sea bed and pulls out the tin sand. Although Apple promises to protect the environment, filthy sediment can be seen polluting the water. Not only is this bad for the wild sea creatures, it is also affecting the coral reefs that are dying. It would take at least 20 years for the coral to grow back and it will be possible if the corals are not further damaged by sand being thrown back in. As a result, wild sea creatures have to relocate as their habitat is damaged.

Children as young as 14 years old were found working in the mud pit where there were frequent landslides. Miners have to use water jets to spray the mud and scrabble in a damp pond at the bottom trying to extract tin ore by hands (Jim, E 2014). These spraying causes landslides which leads miners to be buried alive and leading to death. The mining deforests the landscape, transforming a lush tropical jungle into a moonscape. It is a negative impact on the animals and plants as their habitat gets destroyed and also lead to climate change.