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Comment by Fnoord | Hacker News Reader

> A more accurate title is: suppliers break chinese labor law and apple's internal standards in order to meet deadlines.

Ah yes, of course Apple is not to blame here...

Apple going in bed with Foxconn is their choice. Apple can opt for a more fair supplier who pays their employees fair wage, and give them more fair rights (not up to Western standards but nonetheless a substantional improvement). If a small company like Fairphone can do it [1], so can Apple.

[1] https://www.fairphone.com/en/our-goals/social-work-values/

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Many things are harder, not easier, for large companies than for small.

And many things are easier, not harder, for large companies than for small.

This is a non sequitur.

It has taken Fairphone considerable effort to arrange these working conditions. It effectively makes their device more expensive, and gives them far less choice on suppliers.

Apple is such a powerful company with deep pockets that they could easily arrange better working conditions for employees of Foxconn if they wanted.

Then they lose business to phone makers that don’t choose to arrange for better conditions for employees.

This is a problem that needs to be solved by governments.

Apple doesn't compete on price point; they make luxury products. I would argue this means they would be more in a position to improve the conditions for their employees than other companies.

Government intervention would help, but I assume not before labour organises to put pressure on the government in the first place.

Exactly - they're even in the position to force this change, and then use it in their marketing since they're one of only a few companies with the economies of scale to support this (outside of those tailored to it like Fairphone).

Apple is already charging a premium for their stuff. Selling a more-expensive-than-the-competition product by pushing hard on style and branding is what they do.

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