That's one question raised by today's NYT must-read article on why Apple stopped manufacturing products in the U.S. And the answer appears to be no. As one unnamed Apple executive quoted in the story put it (emphasis added):
We sell iPhones in over a hundred countries. We don’t have an obligation to solve America’s problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible.
So much for corporate social responsibility. So much for noblesse oblige.
But does Apple think it works both ways? No. Apple may have no obligation to employ Americans or help us solve our economic problems. But it thinks our government ought to do lots of things to help Apple solve its many problems. Like foreign intellectual property (IP) piracy. It's a big problem for Apple, and Apple wants the U.S. Congress to crack down on it by passing SOPA. Apple also wants Congress to enact a "tax holiday" so it can repatriate its many billions in foreign profits tax free.
If corporations really are people (as our Supreme Court has declared), then it would seem Apple is a bit of a leech and a shirker. It wants all the benefits of doing business in America, where the rule of law prevails and capitalism is the air we breath. And it certainly doesn't mind our culture of creativity, which both produces and attracts the talent Apple needs to design its innovative products. There's a reason Apple is headquartered in Silicon Valley, after all. But Apple doesn't want to give anything back. Certainly not to the unwashed masses of Americans who cannot afford iPhones (but who might be able to if they had jobs that paid a living wage). So much for all the reports of Steve Jobs' Buddhist beliefs, which stress compassion.
But don't fret, middle and working class Americans. Apple may not want to employ us, but we probably wouldn't want to work for them anyway. The company does treat its mostly white collar U.S. workers pretty well. And its executives are doing gangbusters. Last year Apple's new CEO, Tim Cook, "received stock grants — which vest over a 10-year period — that, at today’s share price, would be worth $427 million, and his salary was raised to $1.4 million," according to the article.
But Apple's thousands of Chinese assembly line workers - who technically work for subcontractors, such as Foxconn - do not fare nearly so well. Their average annual salary is only about $2,200. That may not be bad by Chinese standards. But earning it requires working 12 hour shifts, 5 or 6 or sometimes 7 days a week (reports vary) under sweatshop conditions. Workers report being subject to draconian workplace rules and facing public humiliation for infractions. As one worker told two NGOs that conducted an investigation, "Sometimes my roommates cry when they arrive in the [company-owned] dormitory after a long day. It's difficult to adapt to this work and hard to be away from your family."
Compounding the problem is the fact Chinese workers enjoy few of the labor and workplace safety rights Americans take for granted. But those who make Apple products seem to face unusually harsh conditions. According to a coalition of environmentalist groups, Apple ranks dead last in terms of pollution and workplace safety among top multinational tech firms doing business in China. That may be one reason why several dozen workers were recently poisoned by a chemical used to clean iPad and iPhone touchscreens (something Apple admitted last year).
Needless to say, Apple denies any wrongdoing, and American consumers continue to do their part to make Apple executives wealthy. Too bad there's not an app to explain why that is so.
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