Give Apple workers a voice in their future

The Fair Labor Association (FLA) is expected to release an investigative report about labour conditions in Foxconn’s factories in China that produce for Apple, later on this week. 

Most likely the FLA will report that labour rights violations are still taking place. And no doubt Apple and Foxconn will subsequently promise once more that they will clean up their act. The real question is whether anything will actually change.

First and foremost, Apple should give workers a voice in their future. If Apple is genuinely concerned about improving the labour rights of workers that manufacture its products, it must ensure that they can negotiate with their employer to bring lasting change to the way that work is performed and compensated.

Another Bad Apple: Apple’s Supplier Makes Workers’ Lives Living Hell - Read here also

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Serap Yazgac, a young worker in her twenties, decided she needed a union after she was severely burned by an industrial iron at a Trexta facility in Çerkezköy, Turkey, which makes accessories for Apple, Nokia, Blackberry, Samsung, Dell and other consumer electronics companies. The scalding hot manufacturing iron fell on her hand and stuck for several minutes before someone pulled it from her burning skin. Help could have come sooner but management had removed an emergency button, claiming that workers would “play” with it.

Apple’s supplier refused to pay for Serap’s emergency care. When she returned to work she was determined to make sure this tragedy never happened again, but when she tried to join a union to improve safety at Trexta she was fired without any valid reason.

Unfortunately, Serap isn’t alone. Apple’s supplier has made its workers’ lives a living hell by forcing employees to work 30 hours straight without notice, discriminating against women who don’t first ask for permission to get pregnant, and threatening workers when they raise safety concerns. To date, Trexta has fired thirty-two employees for organizing a union at the Çerkezköy facility.