Samsung admits its Chinese supply chain still has labour-rights and safety problems Samsung has admitted that its Chinese suppliers are still guilty of legal and safety violations, despite its repeated promises to clean up its factories. In its annual sustainability report, the firm said that this year’s audits had found a number of instances of poor working conditions for people at 100 of its suppliers. The …
Whether it's selling lead-covered toys to Western children or treating its own people like animals, doesn't China always end up with a free pass to do whatever it likes without any real consequences?
And businesses doing business with China end up with the same free pass, provided that the infractions originated in China and not elsewhere.
"Tech firms like Sammy and Apple go in for the kind of liberal aspirational branding and reputation that doesn’t sit particularly well with the exploitation of workers in China,...."
That is in fact a reasonably objective description of the situation that firms like Sammy and the Fruity Company find themselves in. If you object to this description of the situation then I am forced to conclude that you are yet another example (AC, naturally) of the low forehead knuckle-dragging tribalists (regardless of the sect to which you belong) that we have all too many of here at El Reg.
@Arctic fox
"That is in fact a reasonably objective description of the situation that firms like Sammy and the Fruity Company find themselves in. If you object to this description of the situation then I am forced to conclude that you are yet another example (AC, naturally) of the low forehead knuckle-dragging tribalists (regardless of the sect to which you belong) that we have all too many of here at El Reg."
Hear Hear! I'd buy you a beer in real life for this example of eminent common sense - please accept a virtual one in the virtual world.
The report isn't about Samsung's own factories, it's about the ones they contract. Samsung's own factories in general have done well in these audits. Samsung also has a good record of pay levels and support facilities.
The problem is the huge electronics assembly industry in China built to produce goods at the lowest possible price and the highest possible speed. And guess who drives THAT market... (you might want to look in a mirror at this point).
Don't get me wrong, I'm not giving Samsung or Apple - or anyone else who uses these companies a free pass, but it's a bit simplistic to say they should fix things... they don't own those companies and there's not enough production capacity to easily eliminate them either.
On the other hand, at least Samsung does in fact own its own fabrication systems so they can control that part of their system.
The problem, as I see it, is that we all have unrealistic expectations of how much our gadgets cost. If you think back to the 1980's, when our computers* were largely built in America or Great Britain, they cost a good deal more than we're prepared to pay nowadays.
Take the BBC B, without a monitor or disk drives, adjusted for inflation you'd be forking out £1,176. The Apple II (again, without disks or monitor) would set you back a cool £1,538. Go for an IBM PC (yup, even back in the eighties you could have an IBM PC if you wanted) and you'd need to find £5,242, with disk drives and monitor. A Mac would see you shelling out £4,211 of your hard earned pennies - and that would only get you a measly 128k of RAM and no hard drive.
Not fair to list 'high' end machines? Even a Spectrum (£515 adjusted for inflation), or a Commodore 64 (£922 adjusted for inflation) busts wide open what most people are prepared to pay these days. And you still didn't get disks or monitor at that price.
So next time you look at the cost of a top price personal computer, and wonder why anyone would spend £2,500, consider that even that price is historically excellent value for money - and if we want to do something about the abuse of workers everywhere, we need to be thinking in terms of at least £1k for a base spec machine.
No, I can't easily afford it either. But, on the other hand, I'd rather have to scrimp and save for my next computer than be complicit in the abuse of the people who built it.
*our computers being those used in the UK. I have no data for other countries.
"Take the BBC B, without a monitor or disk drives, adjusted for inflation you'd be forking out £1,176"
I don't need to inflation-adjust. People in "some commonwealth countries" were paying more than that for the things back then, thanks to 200% import duty AND 40% sales tax.
Hey, I am not captain of that ship so don't point at me or anywhere outside of China. If I could, I would gladly pay more for a product that employed MY children and grandkids.
Point ALL your objections at Crapitalist China and the locations they sub work to!
Let's face the facts, life is cheap in mainland China, their people skirt the existing local laws and will not gladly obey ANY western rules or regulations (certainly not those that affect production or cost, even if they were required in the specs of the original offer) so it is nearly impossible to change the manufacturers mindsets or practices besides tarriffs or complete lack of business.
People say the price is "Too high" to make products here when we and all producers actually comply with the bid spec requirements and all applicable laws and regulations.
China simply does not and will not comply.
Let's see, no compliance with or respect for: environmental, health & safety, labor, child labor, slavery, intellectual property, company requirements, everyday laws & regulations...yep that's the real reason there is such a difference in cost.
"The problem is the huge electronics assembly industry in China built to produce goods at the lowest possible price and the highest possible speed."
As I understand it, the Samsungs of this world specifically don't go for the cheapest bidder because they want to ensure everything is above board. They also audit companies before they start contracts.
As with scheduled fire brigade visits in this country, if you have warning an inspection's on its way then you can remove all the wedges holding the fire doors open. Should the fire brigade show up without warning one evening and find half a dozen exits chained shut (this _has_ happened at one place I know of) you can be assured the language used the following day won't be pleasant.
Almost every article about Apple has some Fandroid moaning on about 'slave labour' in Chinese Factories that may (or may not) have been once used by Apple to make 'stuff'.
Now we have Samsung saying that a lot of the facvtories they use are not good places to work.
I hope for two things:-
1) The fandroids lay off Apple now that Samsing has come out and said the same things.
2) that Samsung joins the likes of Apple and presses for better conditions in the factories of their supplies.
3) that other Tech Companies join them so that in time conditions for everyone who works in these factories can do so knowing that they work in safe conditions.
Wishful thinking?
Yeah and the Fandroids will be out in force venting their anger very soon. How can their great god Samsung be using these bad places to build their kit? It must be an Apple Conspiracy.
Yes, it's all wishful thinking in may ways that no one really wants to address except to pay lip service to. Just my $.02 (US).. if it's made in China for export or by contract, it's crap and workers who manufacturer the item are exploited.
A couple of points:
If those folks in the US who holler about exploitation in the US workplace actually paid attention, they'd know how well off they are.
Price? I'd rather pay more for something that a) lasted longer than a few months, b) was in spec. A lot of what I buy for personal use, I look hard to find it manufactured somewhere other than China just for those two reasons.
Lastly, let's talk piracy. If you hand them a set of blueprints to build a widget, expect said widget to be sold by either the same or a "different" (same manufacturer, different name) manufacturer. Since it wasn't copyrighted/patented by a Chinese national, it can't be copyrighted/patented there and is now fair game.
Yeah.. capitalism and communism are about the same in many ways... exploit workers and consumers for profit and power. Meh.... <./rant>
"2) that Samsung joins the likes of Apple and presses for better conditions in the factories of their supplies."
2 points were made:
1: Samsung has already taken business elsewhere in a few cases.
2: Samsung is not only auditing the factories, but also the _suppliers_ to the factories - so hiding all the kiddies in cousin Wang's premises down the road isn't going to work for long.
I'm pretty firmly of the opinion that the factory owners concerned have made representations they're paying decent wages and obtained contracts on that basis, then shortchanged the workers and trousered the difference. It's a time-honoured practice which didn't originate in china.
You should try living IN China or next to China.
At least they treat their own consumers just as badly as anyone else.
Here in VietNam, the Spratly Islands war aside, imports from China are regarded, rightly, with great suspicion.
Baby formula with dangerous additives; cheap jewellery which causes severe rashes and skin lesions; poor quality products (the fault of the importers, too); recycled plastics with poisonous residues from previous uses; 'brass' fittings made of mystery metal; extension cords with steel/iron conductors coated with copper-like plating instead of pure copper - a small problem until you have a fire where the whole extension cord/wire catches fire simultaneously.
If you see products marked 'Made in VietNam' at least your concious should rest easy. We have mandated over time and maximum hours per week, maximum work days per week, government enforced safety standards, even mandated annual vacations - something not even the USA has! We have a government health plan and even a pension plan.
So just because countries near China get tarred with the same brush - it's not neccesarily true.
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