Related

• Another Verizon Outage: 4G LTE Network Is Down
• Google Doodle Celebrating Heinrich Rudolf Hertz’s 155th Birthday
• Microsoft Launches All-Out Attack On Google Against Its Cloud-Based Apps With Googlighting Campaign
• British Student Who Hacked Facebook Sentenced To 8 Months In Prison

Recent, a lot of reports concerning Apple’s suppliers have surfaced on the web. More and more people are accusing Apple of accepting the poor labor conditions in China, at the company’s hardware suppliers. We’ve also seen proof that the company’s executives know about these working conditions, and that they’re simply accepting the situation because the laws in China allow such labor rules.

Today, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, has responded to these allegations in a lengthy email to 9to5mac, informing people that he knows what’s going on in China, however, the company is doing its best to improve working conditions.

Just like former CEO Steve Jobs, Tim Cook takes his time to respond to email inquiries from various people across the globe. The new CEO said that he feels angered by the fact that some people think Apple is capable of such atrocities because the reality is not like that. He said that the working conditions are a concern for the company, and that they [Apple executives] “care about every worker” in their supply chain.

Mr. Cook added that all accidents at the Foxconn buildings are regrettable, but they weren’t intentional. Apple is investing millions to improve working conditions at all its suppliers, and any accusations of wrongdoings are simply unfounded.

He doesn’t want Apple to be known as a company which mistreats its employees, and he said that those who are working closely to the company’s supply chains know the truth. Tim Cook admitted that it’s very bad for the people who live too far from their families, but they’re trying to change this fact, however, Apple cannot build a new factory in each Chinese town.

According to Tim Cook, Apple executives are inspecting factories yearly, and after each visit, the working conditions are improved as the company is getting more involved in the supply chain. Although the situation is nowhere near perfection, Apple has made a lot of progress and the conditions of thousands of employees in the supply chain have been greatly improved.

Apple is investing a lot of money in the employees’ training programs, and Tim Cook confirmed that more than 1 million folks have been trained by the company. The CEO added that if a worker feels that the working conditions are not safe, or that he has been treated unfairly, he has been trained to come forward, and speak up.

As we look deeper in the supply chain, we are finding more and more issues, admitted Cook, but this doesn’t mean that we closed our eyes. He said that whenever they found a problem inside the company, they’ve worked at fixing it.

On the other hand, the evidence may speak for itself as a former executive at Apple’s key manufacturer claimed that the iPhone maker was never concerned about improving the working conditions. The Foxconn executive is quoted as saying that Apple only wants to cut down the production costs, while increasing the quality and quantity of the manufactured products.

Also a lot of workers have complained about the fact that they are forced to work extra hours, sometime in double shifts in order to keep up with the demands of their overseers. A very young worker has been admitted to hospital due to working overtime, but his parents couldn’t do anything about it because everything was legal.

Last May, a building caught on fire, and the employees started running outside the building. There was a very thick black smoke coming out of the building as that was the place where the iPad plastic cases were manufactured. A report said that the building was repaired in record time in order to allow Foxconn to keep up with Apple’s demand.

We would really like to believe Tim Cook, but the truth is only known by the people working in those factories. Sadly, the law in China allows Foxconn to mistreat the workers, and as a results, several of them have committed suicide. These were all regrettable actions, and hopefully Apple will be actively involved in the supply chain so that the people who build our iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Macs will have a better life.