4 Worker Conditions

We’re all familiar with Apple’s devices. For many of us, we probably own or have owned quite a few of them. But many people in the U.S. and Europe are probably much less familiar with exactly how their beloved Apple products are made. Sure, the backplate of an iPhone says “Made in China,” but that’s a little vague as to the exact details of the process. And Apple has historically been a bit quiet on the subject.

But earlier this year, an NYU student spent six weeks working at a Pegatron facility near Shanghai — and he revealed the bitter truth of sub-habitable housing, 12-hour workdays and an average wage of a little over $2 per hour. And it’s not just Pegatron: Apple supplier Foxconn has been called out for poor working conditions, too, including a string of deaths at its plants last year. And in 2016, a China Labor Watch report indicated that conditions at Pegatron plants worsened since the previous year. Apple, of course, maintains strict supplier guidelines, but whether its partners follow them is another matter.