Apple’s Chinese factories to be audited after violation of working conditions | Technology | The Guardian
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jan/24/apple-factories-china-independent-audit
The man’s hand is twisted into a claw, crushed, he says by a metal press at the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, where Apple’s luxury electronics are assembled. He is looking at an iPad – he has never seen one switched on. His mangled hand strokes the screen, bringing it to life.
Back at the factory, where the buildings are swathed in nets after 12 workers committed suicides in a single year, a young girl emerges from the gates. Her job is to clean the iPhone screens before they are packaged. She says she is 13.
These are a few of the many shattering images in performer Mike Daisey’s account of his 2010 visit to China. After hearing about the Foxconn suicides, he determined to meet members of Apple’s largest subcontracted workforce.
What he discovered ultimately led to the firm’s announcement this month that it would throw open its factories to independent auditing by the Fair Labor Association (FLA). A non-profit group founded in 1999 after sweatshop scandals, it already audits Nike, Adidas and H&M. Apple is its first tech industry member.
