http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/358192/prot ... conditions

Foxconn told them to go and jump

What other phone makers use the Foxconn factory? Does anyone know?

Boycotting Apple because a contractor has broken the law will not help the employees there. It is Foxconn who broke the law and terrorised their staff. Though Apple should reconsider the contract, maybe even moving production back to the US.

Or preferably eastern Europe.

TBH I think Apple's behaviour is below par on this one, they're not exactly giving Foxconn a kick up the arse are they? It's almost as if they're complacent about the working conditions (much like Primark and their questionable enforcement of their "ethical" buying policy). TBH if there was a 'phone manufactured in Western Europe I'd switch in a heartbeat, but I'm not familiar with any.

Whatever happened to corporate responsibility? Just because you outsource production it doesn't mean you can wash your hands of the matter.

Ummm, nobody gives a [LIFTED]. We're all apathetic Western consumerist [LIFTED] and we must have the latest clothes/gadgets/lifestyle accessories at a low price, whatever the cost to other human beings we don't know.

Firstly, Apple gear is anything but "low-price", it's a leading, top-end consumer device, with a price tag to match.

Secondly, regardless of consumer attitudes, corporate governance should still require an air of social and ethical responsibility to the boardroom.

It is because they assemble in low cost countries that they can maintain their profit margins. As for manufacturing back in the US I mentioned that because of the huge trade deficit that the US has and that would be a small step to reducing that problem. Corporate resposibility really should be higher up companies priorities, though with the fact that they are multinational they can use that as a way of keeping profits in low tax regimes.

The fact that every man on benefits can afford an iPhone/Pod means it's low price. Low price means something that's affordable to the general populace and not the preserve of the rich.

Consumer attitudes drive EVERYTHING. Wake up.

Yes but could they have sacrificed something else to get one?

Not the point. Really! It's a mass market, common device that everyone with a job (and a lot without) can have access to. Unlike say bespoke designer clothes or Bugatti Veryons etc. where hand assembly not by kids/impoverished refugees or whatever actually matters to the purchaser.

I would accept that the iPhone is more achievable than a Bugatti Veyron, or bespoke designer clothes, which probably start at well above the average persons pay grade.

Right. So would you accept that to keep things like that relatively cheap (which consumers want and that's where the bulk of "the market" is) manufacturers will use whatever labour and materials are cheapest to achieve lowest costs and maximum profit? Coz that's what we're talking about here.

Yes that is the capitalist model, but the issue can be resolved by manufacturing locally and splitting the rewards differently.

The issue can be resolved any number of ways.

My point is it won't be because WE, the western consumerist scumbags want our cheap, accessible non-essentials and we don't care how they arrive at our door.