Tim Cook visits Foxconn plant

[Grace62]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/2...SW20120329

[john dough]

10 years ago I worked at a place that was corporately owned and the week prior to a visit from the CEO, everyone was scrambling to make their departments look as presentable as possible. Once it was announced when he would be showing up, all previously scheduled meetings were cancelled and a committee was assembled to handle the visit.

The CEO spent all of 2-3 minutes in our department, surrounded by a gaggle of managers, shook a few hands, and walked on. All I could remember is that we wasted a week for not much.

When I heard that Cook was at that plant, this is what first came to mind.

[Racer X]

same here John. Happens every year.

[Grace62]

His visit coincides with Apples's major announcement today that they are improving conditions for workers in China, after findings of the Fair Labor Association's investigation were released.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In a landmark development for the way Western companies do business in China, Apple Inc said on Thursday it had agreed to work with partner Foxconn to tackle wage and working condition violations at the factories that produce its popular products.

"Foxconn - which makes Apple devices from the iPhone to the iPad - will hire tens of thousands of new workers, clamp down on illegal overtime, improve safety protocols and upgrade worker housing and other amenities.

The moves come in response to one of the largest investigations ever conducted of a U.S. company's operations abroad. Apple had agreed to the probe by the independent Fair Labor Association in response to a crescendo of criticism that its products were built on the backs of mistreated Chinese workers.

The association, in disclosing its findings from a survey of three Foxconn plants and over 35,000 workers, said it had unearthed multiple violations of labor law, including extreme hours and unpaid overtime."

The report:
http://www.fairlabor.org/blog/entry/fair...es-largest

[Black]

Welcome news, thanks.

[mrbigstuff]

now, this begs the question: everything was "fine" before this lates report, according to the Apple Devoutists. so how will his visit to the company (and the report) improve upon what was "fine" before his visit?

[Grace62]

mrbigstuff wrote:
now, this begs the question: everything was "fine" before this lates report, according to the Apple Devoutists. so how will his visit to the company (and the report) improve upon what was "fine" before his visit?

I never quite got the defensiveness around the revelations (the worst of which came from Apple itself) that labor conditions at Foxconn were less than ideal. I think it's what we'd expect in that country - we also expect Apple and other American companies to be a force for positive change for those workers and the country as a whole. I have faith that they will be, evidence points that way so far.