Tim Cook’s Dark Legacy in China
thediplomat.com
Cook’s leadership perfected Apple’s production – but Chinese workers paid the price.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/59445915

This piece is written by Li Qiang, founder and executive director of China Labor Watch, and a human rights advocate with over 30 years of experience investigating global supply chains.

Archived

[As Tim Cook handed over the reigns at Apple’s CEO on 1st September], he leaves a second, but related, legacy: workers on Apple lines toiling 60 hours a week or more, often without a rest day and depending on overtime to cover the basic cost of living.

[…]

At China Labor Watch, we just completed a new investigation into Apple’s supply chains in China. Our conclusion is not simply that Apple’s compliance system fails to prevent violations. Many of the labor conditions that the report identified are baked into the production model itself.

[…]

Since 2006 we have investigated Apple’s suppliers in China, publishing 19 reports. I have come to believe blaming Apple alone would be unfair. Apple’s supply chain in China was built on a trade. China needed foreign capital, technology, and jobs. In return, Western firms got cheap labor and speed built on long overtime and extreme scheduling flexibility.

The Chinese government, Apple, and the supplier factories all bear responsibility for the conditions workers face. But Apple has treated allegations of wrongdoing as a compliance problem, rather than the output of its own production model.

[…]

In 2019 we [the NGO China Labour Watch] found withheld wages at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant. At the same plant, more than half the workforce was on dispatch contracts, far above the legal cap of 10 percent. Apple disputed most of our findings but acknowledged excessive use of dispatch workers. In 2022 thousands at the same plant clashed with police over pay promised at recruitment; Foxconn apologized, blaming a computer input error. In 2025 we found dispatch workers still being used above the legal cap.

This August we [the NGO China Labour Watch] found a full-time assembly worker at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant on a base wage of 2,450 yuan a month, about $363, a little above the city’s legal minimum of 2,350 yuan. To reach 4,200 yuan he has to work 60-hour weeks, totaling roughly 87 hours of overtime a month, against a statutory ceiling of 36.

[…]

As an addition, there is a documentary from 2021:

Profiting form Authoritarianism: How Tim Cook Surrendered Apple to the Chinese Government

Apple is making billions of dollars integrating into countries with authoritarian regimes. Even if it means helping to cement the power of the ruling elite or enabling egregious abuse of human rights. And there doesn’t seem to be anything Apple wouldn’t do for the sake of growth and expansion. Apple cites compliance with local laws as the reason for giving human rights abuse a go. But the actions of the most valuable company in the world go far beyond compliance with the law. - [Alternative Invidious link]

[…]

    • 挂路灯人@lemmy.ml
      31·
      2 天前

      996 is sadly very common in China

      Not only was it not common at all (affecting roughly 40 companies), it’s been illegal for over half a decade.

      • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
        8·
        2 天前

        How comes it is still happening? According to my Chinese colleagues, there are contracts with even more hours that, and they came to Japan to avoid this culture. I thought this government had the means to impose its laws. Unless it has an interest not to, maybe?

        • 挂路灯人@lemmy.ml
          21·
          2 天前

          Why does murder still happen? I thought your government had the means to impose its laws. Unless it has an interest not to?

          See how silly you sound?

          Also I’m inclined to think your Chinese colleague doesn’t exist, moving to modern Japan for better working conditions (especially as someone Chinese) it’s beyond belief.

          Average working hours have been under 50 since at least 2022

          • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
            3·
            2 天前

            The frequency of murder is much much lower than the frequency of over work at those giant companies. It’s clearly not the same kind of challenge for a government. They could very easily knock at the door of those companies if they wanted to. But my guess is they don’t because they want to keep growing fast on the international markets. It does sound silly be cause it is a false equivalence.

            Well, you should have a check at any Japanese tech company. Japan does not produce much IT professionals, so these companies are made of a majority of foreigners for the tech part and most of them are Indian or Chinese. Rakuten is my example, but you can also check PayPay and Mercari. Japan also has a problem of overworking at the infamous “black companies” but those are definitely not of them. Out of all the shitty stuff at Rakuten, the work hours are actually reasonable and respected, down to 7:45 per day in some parts, if my memory is correct.

            • 挂路灯人@lemmy.ml
              11·
              2 天前

              It’s really not, why don’t they just solve all crime is not a valid point I was hoping by using a more obvious example you would more easily notice this.

              That’s a lot of not engaging with what I said but that’s fine. I never said no Chinese people work in Japan just that the idea of someone moving to a country who’s PM is currently pushing for longer working hours and worse conditions that is currently stoking xenophobia especially against Chinese people for better conditions is just unrealistic to put it lightly.

              I also notice you didn’t bother to engage with the fact that the actual average working hours are not that far off the western world being under 50 hours a week consistently since at least 2022. (And that’s without looting the global south to fund it)

      • HotznplotznOP
        4·
        2 天前

        Despite being against the law, the 996 working culture is still common in China

        … For the past few years, the Chinese government has attempted to stamp out “996”, including by outlawing it in 2021. That year, tech giants including TikTok parent company ByteDance and Tencent also tried to halt “996” after a 22-year-old woman at e-commerce firm Pingduoduo reportedly collapsed to her death on her way home from work past midnight.

        But intense overtime has remained a common practice in China. The reasons are complex, including a lack of enforcement of the labour law and the country’s low minimum wages, according to researchers and executives interviewed for this report …

        There is ample evidence that Chinese workers have practically no rights, even though the official law and political rhetoric may tell you otherwise.

    • frongt@lemmy.zip
      2·
      2 天前

      A revolution is how the current Chinese government got there, I’m not sure it would help