Sallow
The Big Bad Wolf.
The other shoe sorta dropped. Apple shipped a crap load of jobs (in the spirit of American Patriotism) because of cheap wages..and almost zero regulations concerning Worker safety thanks to the lack of Unions. Well..some of the chickens have come to roost. Sorta.
Welcome to the future, folks...when Unions get broken.
Workers Sickened at Apple Supplier in China
By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: February 22, 2011
SUZHOU, China Last week, when Apple released its annual review of labor conditions at its global suppliers, one startling revelation stood out: 137 workers at a factory here had been seriously injured by a toxic chemical used in making the signature slick glass screens of the iPhone.
Workers at a Wintek plant in China, top, that supplies Apple have complained of poisoning by the chemical n-hexane.
Apple, describing it as a core violation of worker safety, said that it had ordered the contractor to stop using the chemical and to improve safety conditions at the plant. Apple also said that it would monitor the medical conditions of those workers.
But in interviews last weekend, nearly a dozen employees who say they were harmed by the chemical said they had never heard from anyone at Apple.
Instead, they said the contractor a Taiwanese-owned company called Wintek had pressed them and many other affected workers to resign and accept cash settlements that would absolve the factory of future liability, charges the company denied.
o< snip
Some members of the group said they were still suffering health problems while working at the factory, which employs 18,000 workers at an average monthly wage of about $200, after overtime.
o< snip
But China is also known for factories that routinely flout labor and environmental laws.
o<snip
This years review was particularly sensitive because it was the first since several suicides last year among workers at Foxconn Technologies, one of Apples biggest suppliers in China. Some labor rights advocates had attributed the suicides to harsh working conditions at its huge factory compounds, some of which employ 300,000 people.
In the report, Apple praised Foxconn for its response to the deaths. Foxconn hired counselors, raised salaries and even put up nets on some of its buildings to prevent suicide attempts.
But Apple also said it had discovered that some of its other Chinese suppliers had employees younger than 16, the legal working age. One supplier factory had 42 under-age workers, the company said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/technology/23apple.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2
Welcome to the future, folks...when Unions get broken.