Blog 5: Are Chinese factory workers getting just $8 for every iPad sale?

      After a South Korean newspaper today reported that Chinese factory workers are paid substantially less than their counterparts elsewhere around the world, Apple's supply chain is once again in the center of interest. According to the Korea Daily, the factory workers in China who are producing iPads collectively earn about $8 per unit among them, or about 1.6 percent of the cheapest iPad's selling price. Korean factory workers, on the other hand, share about $34 per unit among them, giving them 6.8 percent of the sales price. Over the last several months, complaints about working conditions in factories across Asia that produce Apple products have grown louder. Last week, the criticism hit a tipping point when watchdog groups SumOfUs and Change.org protested outside Apple stores, calling on the iPhone maker to improve supplier working conditions. 

      CNN recently conducted an interview with an 18-year-old employee at Foxconn, a key Apple supplier. The young woman, called "Miss Chen" to protect her identity, described forced overtime and the inability to receive benefits and sick days. She added that her work, affixing stickers onto iPad screens, makes her feel dehumanized. It seems as though Apple isn’t doing much to stop these horrible working conditions even though they know that this is a huge problem. Even Apple CEO Tim Cook said yesterday during an investor conference "No one in our industry is doing more to improve working conditions than Apple”. Cook went on to say that child labor is "abhorrent" and is extremely rare in the Apple supply chain. Hopefully these conditions will soon be changed or Apple’s sales will being to suffer. 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-57378208-17/are-chinese-factory-workers-getting-just-$8-for-every-ipad-sale/?tag=mncol;mostRead