Introduction
Globalization has allowed for the birth and nurture of an increasingly open, integrated, and borderless international economy wherein not only international trade goods and services grew, but also “exchanges of currencies, capital movements, in technology transfer, in people moving through international travel and migration, and in the international flow of information and ideas” (Intriligator, 2003, p. 2). Economic globalization, in particular, was defined by Chase-Dunn (1999) as that globe-spanning economic relationships manifested through the interrelationships of markets, finance, goods and services, and networks created by the transnational corporations.
In the paper writer by Gissinger & Gleditsch (1999), it was concluded that while the consequences of globalization process may be positive for rich countries with their exports of manufactured goods leading to higher economic development, equality and higher political stability, its result is undesirable to the poor, agricultural societies who export primary agricultural products, leading to lower economic welfare, inequality and political unrest.
In this paper, I will highlight the adverse effects of globalization on migrant workers by looking at how Apple, Inc. operates in the global market. The Fair Labor Association defines a migrant worker as a person who migrates or who has migrated from one country to another or in some cases between regions or provinces of a country for the purpose of engaging in an economic activity from which they will receive wage. According to Perlin (2013), migrant workers comprise the greatest population of factory workers in China with a floating population of two-hundred million. The high concentration of migrant labor combined with the fact that migrant workers are in a vulnerable position in terms of exploitation presents a major problem: it presents a contemporary sweatshop labor condition indicative of a new kind of slavery (Turner & Khondker, 2010).
I will approach to globalization is through the global capitalism model (see Ross & Trachte, 1990; Sklair, 1995; McMichael, 1996; and Robinson, 1996, as cited in Sklair, 1995). Particularly, I will focus on the transnational practices that originate with non-state actors and cross state borders. These processes are distinguished in terms of its economic, political, and cultural-ideological spheres with particular institution that represents each sphere (Sklair, 1995).
In terms of economic transnational practice, the transnational corporation of Apple Incorporation will be focused on; for the transnational capitalist class, I will focus on the political side of the spectrum (i.e. leaders of Apple such as Steve Jobs and Tim Cook who, as I will illustrate, President Obama and other national governments can no longer fully control); and lastly, the culture of consumerism (i.e. the popularity of Apple products and the seemingly apathetic consumers) will be the focus in the cultural-ideological practices. Following this approach to globalization, I will show how transnational corporations and the capitalist class are today’s “global ruling class” (Sklair, 1999).
The Popularity of Apple Products
Apple, Inc. dominates the smartphone and computer industry even if we just simply look at the gadgets that most people use in our society nowadays; of course, there are other companies which remain to be a large competitor but the popularity of iPhones and Mac computers cannot be overstated. Just last September 19, the company released the newest addition to the iPhone series: iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models and according to the company’s press release, they were able to sell ten million copies just three days after its launch. The iPhone 6 sells for a suggested retail price of $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for the 64GB model and, for the first time, a new 128GB model for $399 while the iPhone 6 Plus sells for $299, $399, and $499 dollars, respectively. While the availability of the smartphones is limited, these are expected to be for sale in 115 countries by the end of the year (Apple Incorporation, 2014b).
Last July, the company reported its financial results for its fiscal 2014 third quarter which ended June 28, 2014. The company posted quarterly revenue of $37.4 billion and quarterly net profit of $7.7 billion, compared to $35.3 billion and net profit of $6.9 billion in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 59 percent of the quarter’s revenue (Apple Incorporation, 2014a). These numbers goes to show how much of the global population are increasingly preferring the products of the company over its competitors despite the relatively high difference in their price.
Apple and Outsourcing
One of the most evident manifestations of globalization is the outsourcing of manufacturing work to countries outside of the corporation’s base. Many people wonder why Apple chooses to outsource the job to China when they can help stabilize the country’s economy. Steve Jobs bluntly answered this question directly to President Obama when they last February: “Those jobs are not coming back” (Duhigg & Bradsher, 2012).
Reports show that Apple employs 43,000 people in the United States and 20,000 overseas. Many more people work for the corporation’s contractors: 700,000 engineers build and assemble the product but almost none of them work in the United States. Instead, these employees are situated elsewhere (Duhigg & Bradsher, 2012). In the same report, Hade Bernstein, a previous economic adviser to the White House, said that “Apple’s an example of why it’s so hard to create middle-class jobs in the U.S. now If it’s the pinnacle of capitalism, we should be worried” (Duhigg & Bradsher, 2012, para. 10-11).
There are several issues surrounding outsourced jobs and the exploitation that it is doing to migrant workers. While the succeeding sections will highlight the case of China, it is nevertheless necessary to highlight some stories of migrant workers in order to illustrate the widespread abuse that corporations do to powerless laborers. Verité, a non-government organization, along with the United States Department of Labor, conducted a study on Malaysian migrant workers who are working for Apple supplier factories and found out that thirty-two percent of the two-hundred thousand migrant workers are employed in forced situations: they either had passports confiscated or indebted by high recruitment fees (Verite, 2014). Similarly, in Nepal, workers were recruited to make an iPhone camera component but after the production, the factory shut down and the workers were abandoned without food, housing, or passports for over a month (Greenhouse, 2014).
The Relationship of Apple, Inc. and China
One reason why China remains to be the most valued investment site of the corporation is its effective supply chain which meets the high demands of the product without jeopardizing its quality. Amidst the financial crisis in the United States, a news report by Duhigg and Bradsher (2012) stated that even President Obama failed to convince Steve Jobs to entrust the job to the many middle-class Americans who needed it. Moreover, a former executive described “how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves” (Duhigg & Bradsher, 2012, para. 12). The screen had been redesigned at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. The foreman in China immediately summoned 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories in order to meet the demands of the company. These workers started a twelve-hour shift fitting the new glass screens into the frames. Within ninety-six hours the factory was producing ten thousand iPhones a day, shared the former executive. It is hard to imagine the speed and effectiveness of the corporation’s recovery if not for the various exposes on how these employees are actually treated in the workplace.
The effective supply chain and production of factories in China is only a small reason why Apple relies on China on assembling its products. The central reason remains to be the favorable state policies for capitalist corporations which aim at maximizing profits and minimizing production costs, including wages for its employees. China is rigid with its policies on cheap labor and it has financially benefitted the corporation. These cost-cutting techniques however, brought about disasters to its workers which irked many people into questioning the real consequences of globalization. For example, migrant workers who do not have an urban household registration are effectively reduced to the level of non-citizens in Chinese cities, sociologically this allows for extreme forms of “hyper-exploitation” (Sparke, 2013). To further illustrate the consequence of Apple’s concern over decreasing production costs and increasing profits, I will several news reports released just few years back.
One of the most controversial stories was the series of suicides in Foxconn Technology in 2011, one of the largest factories in China which assembles Apple products and devices of other large multinational companies. In a report by John Watts (2010) for The Guardian, a death of a worker in January has led to a dozen employees jumping from the buildings in and around the complex. According to the report, “the first death, that of Ma Xiangqian, occurred on January 23 and still remains shrouded in mystery. The battered body of the 19-year-old migrant from Henan was found outside a company building in the wake of a dispute with his manager” (Watts, 2010, para. 8). While Foxconn denied the allegations, the damage to the company’s reputation has led to succeeding twelve known suicides of migrant employees in the 19-24 year old range. Statistical analysis suggests that the difficulty of adjusting to the city and the demands of the job may be factors of the suicides.
A year later later, Barboza (2011) reported the story of a fifteen year old Chinese laborer named Shi Zhaokun who died days after he was checked into a hospital on October 9. He was too young to legally work but the boy is an employee of a huge manufacturing plant that was producing Apple’s iPhone 5C. The Taiwan manufacture denied the allegations that his illness was caused by the poor workplace environment of the factory but a spokeswoman admitted that several other young workers from the factory had also died in the past few months. While Apple’s supplier responsibility statement, and the Chinese law, prohibits employees of supplier companies in China form working more than sixty hours a week, Mr. Shi “worked 79 hours in his first week, 77 in his second and 75 in his third, according to documents provided by his family” (Barboza, 2011, para. 11).
Steps taken by Corporation towards Social Responsibility
There has been a media outcry to held Apple, Inc. responsible over the many social issues and tragic deaths of its employees that the company has faced for years. However, it is legally right to say that the company cannot be held responsible for the events happening in its supplier companies such as Foxconn but as Richard Brubaker stated in his interview with Hangqin Chen (2012), “just because Apple is not "responsible" does not mean that it cannot be held responsible legally” (para. 19). According to him, Apple can be held responsible if it can be proven that they knew of the poor conditions of the factories that are supplying them with their needed materials. It is by this logic that Apple has sought to provide compensation to workers and families affected by the many tragedies that happened in the Chinese factories.
In response to the criticisms towards their managerial policies and decisions, Apple decided to join the Fair Labor Association in 2011 to improve their public image. The Fair Labor Association performs comprehensive and independent review of Foxconn (Fair Labor Association, 2012); however, there are issues surrounding FLA with regards to its credibility. According to Sethi (2012), the leaders of the association are actually made up of industry representatives who can manipulate the results of the supposedly “comprehensive and independent” review: they can decide the factories that are audited and the scope of such audits, some findings are deliberately disclosed while some are concealed, and the corrective actions necessary. Apart from the FLA, it has also been noted by the author that even Chinese factories are hiding problems from non-government auditors by keeping workers away from the factories during audits and creating multiple sets of books and personnel files. In instances when auditors are required to interview the workers in the factories, the managers of the factories coach their workers to give legally correct answers to auditors when asked of their working hours, wages, overtime, luring them with the idea that they will be compensated if the auditors give the company a good review and punished if they give statements that will endanger their company’s image. As a result, the auditing bodies only reported problems mentioned and identified by Apple’s previous audits (Sethi, 2012).
Nevertheless, the media continues to be an effective strategy in exposing the situation of the migrant workers in the assembly lines of China. It places the seemingly unreachable big corporations under the scrutiny of the increasingly concerned mass. Indeed, much of what have been written by commentators, reporters, and other journalists about the situation is placing a stress to the corporation to address the issues immediately or suffer from financial repercussions.
Are Consumers Apathetic to the Plights of the Chinese Migrant Workers?
So far what I have discussed is the corporation and the particular issues on production that the companies face. In this section I raise a controversial question: with all the news report readily available and accessible in the internet that talks about these social issues of the corporation, are we to say that the millions of Apple product consumers are apathetic?
At first glance, people may consider these consumers as apathetic to the living and work conditions of the migrant laborers in China. However, I argue that this is not necessarily the case. There is a continuous debates in the internet and elsewhere about the perils of globalization, particularly that of multinational corporations such as Apple. According to Robert Brubaker (as cited in Chen, 2012), since the series of suicides “a healthy discussion is beginning to occur in China about labor practices, the responsibilities of brands, and Apple was at the center of this discussion (para. 30).
As evidenced by the growing popularity of Apple products in the market, turning people away from buying these products is still too far from happening. However, many events in history (such as in the year 1997, when people collectively protested against Nike) show us the effectiveness of a collective and unified social movement as catalysts of change.
Conclusion and Recommendations: Challenges to Globalization
While the focus of this paper has been the disadvantages and threats of economic globalization and capitalism to migrant workers, it is not sufficient to conclude that globalization is a period of chaos and exploitation. In fact, globalization also allows for the birth of many new social movements which utilizes the interconnectivity of the globe, new technologies, and other offshoots of globalization to show their issues and discontent to the global audience.
Despite the many opposing definitions of globalization, a central feature in any definition is that many of our problems nowadays can no longer be solved in terms of nation-state boundaries but must be conceptualized in terms of global processes (Sklair, 1999). Consequently, the powers of the state are becoming more and more limited as national economies become more open and lenient towards transnational corporations – illustrated by the relationship of China with the United States. What we are seeing now is the rise of “new structures of powers” (Markoff, 1999: p. 284). Democracy and the legitimation of the powers of nation-states are problematized as governments are “losing their capacity to control the economic and cultural life of territories vulnerable to their authority” (Markoff, 1999, p. 285).
Another issue raised is the exploitation of migrant workers. Many proponents of globalization stated that “the untrammeled marketplace will augment aggregate wealth and the interplay of market forces will on its own, in the fullness of time, redistribute that wealth and relieve the crushing poverty in which many live (Markoff, 1999, p. 289). However, what we are seeing is actually the opposite of the story: one look at the income of the corporation and wages of the workers in their assembly lines, the gap between the rich and poor is not becoming smaller through time, it is growing rapidly. What is even more alarming is how little and slow the deaths of the workers seem to affect and influence the political will of the Chinese government to implement strong policies to improve the conditions of its migrant population, and how wealthy democratic states and corporations such as Apple are in an “unexpected withdrawal from social provision” (Markoff, 1999: p. 290).
In my opinion, for globalization to fulfill its promise of global world order and stability, there is a need for strong states who are willing to assert their working population’s rights, including the due obligations and responsibility of transnational corporations towards them. Corporations must strike a balance between earning profits and their social responsibilities. Lastly, there is also a need for a more engaged and active citizenship who will be willing to criticize the consumerist culture of today and look at Apple beyond the sleek iPhones and iMacs that they offer to us.
References:
Apple Incorporation (2014a). "Apple Reports Third Quarter Results." Apple, Inc. Retrieved November 21 2014, from http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2014/07/22Apple-Reports-Third-Quarter-Results.html
Apple Incorporation (2014b). “First Weekend iPhone Sales Top 10 Million, Set New Record.” Apple, Inc. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2014/09/22First-Weekend-iPhone-Sales-Top-10-Million-Set-New-Record.html
Barboza, D. (2011). “Worker Deaths Raise Questions at an Apple Contractor in China.” International New York Times. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/business/international/worker-deaths-raise-questions-at-an-apple-contractor-in-china.html?_r=0
Chase-Dunn, C. (1999). Globalization: A World-Systems Perspective. Journal of World-Systems Research: Special Issues on Globalization, 5(2), 187-215.
Chen, H. (2012). “Interview: Richard Brubaker on Why Apple's Problems Go Beyond Foxconn.” Asia Society Organization. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from: http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/interview-richard-brubaker-why-apples-problems-go-beyond-foxconn
Duhigg, C., & Bradsher, K. (2012). “How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work.” International New York Times. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?pagewanted=all
Fair Labor Association. (2012). Independent Investigation of Apple Supplier, Foxconn Report Highlights. Fair Labor Association. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from: http://www.fairlabor.org/sites/default/files/documents/reports/foxconn_investigation_report.pdf
Gissinger, R., & Gleditisch, N. (1999). Globalization and Conflict: Welfare, Distribution, and Political Unrest. Journal of World-Systems Research: Special Issues on Globalization, 5(2), 327-365.
Greenhouse, S. (2014, September 17). Report Cites Forced Labor in Malaysia’s Electronics Industry. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from International New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/business/international/report-cites-forced-labor-in-malaysia.html?_r=0
Intriligator, M. (2003, January). Globalization of the World Economy: Potential Benefits and Costs and a Net Assessment. Los Angeles, United States.
Intrilligator, M. (2003, January). Globalization of the World Economy: Potential Benefits and Costs and a Net Assessment. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from Milken Institute Publication: http://assets1b.milkeninstitute.org/assets/Publication/ResearchReport/PDF/globalization_pb.pdf
Markoff, J. (1999). Globalization and the Future of Democracy. Journal of World-Systems Research: Special Issue on Globalization, 5(2), 276-310.
Perlin, R. (2013). Chinese Workers Foxconned. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from Dissent Magazine: http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/chinese-workers-foxconned
Sethi, S. (2012, April 2). Two Faces of Apple. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from Carnegie Council: http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/ethics_online/0068.html
Sklair, L. (1999). Competing Conceptions of Globalization. Journal of World-Systems Research: Special Issue on Globalization, 5(2), 143-164.
Sparke, M. (2013). Introducing Globalization Ties, Tensions, and Uneven Integration. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Turner, B., & Khonder, H. (2010). Globalization: East and West. London: Sage.
Verité. (2014, September). Forced Labor in the Production of Electronic Goods in Malayasia: A Comprehensive Study of Scope and Characteristics. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from Verité: http://www.verite.org/sites/default/files/images/VeriteForcedLaborMalaysianElectronics2014.pdf
Watts, J. (2010, May 10). Foxconn offers pay rises and suicide nets as fears grow over wave of deaths. Retrieved November 21, 2014, from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/28/foxconn-plant-china-deaths-suicides
