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Agonizing argument

There are plenty of reasons to dislike Apple.

There are probably even more to dislike Apple’s late CEO, Steve Jobs.

I’m just not sure The Agony And The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs presents any of them.

The one-man play takes on Apple’s iPhone manufacturer Foxconn Technology over conditions in its mega-factory, known as Foxconn City. But much of the play, it turns out, is not factual.

After closer inspection, I would further argue the whole premise is a red herring.

China is going through its manufacturing heyday. As in every country, there is progress to be made in regard to labour rights.

But for Apple’s iPhones, largely built in a cluster of factories in Shenzhen by Foxconn, exploited labour is not the case. The only way to make enough iPhones to meet worldwide demand – including in China – is a place like Foxconn City, with its gigantic-scale manufacturing capability.

“It really bugs me that in the West they still complain about Foxconn City,” an American friend living in Beijing told me recently. “Most of my friends would love to work there.”

It’s a relativist argument, sure, but one worth a look.

The wages at Foxconn are considerably higher than elsewhere in Guangdong province or anywhere else in China. (The average income of urban residents is 1,998 yuan a month, about $311 Canadian. At Foxconn, the monthly wage is 2,580 yuan, roughly $400 Canadian. This, according to Chinese census figures.)

Working conditions – suicides, underage workers and extreme injuries are cited in The Agony And The Ecstasy – are also better at Foxconn than elsewhere in China. The suicide rate is lower than the national average, the number of reported underage workers (91 out of 230,000 workers) is minuscule, and a network of health care workers exists in the factory.

There are, contrary to playwright Daisey’s initial claims, no guards with guns. (“Foxconn employs nearly 300 guards to direct foot traffic so workers are not crushed in doorway bottlenecks,” reports the New York Times.)

The standards here exceed those in Foxconn’s production of Hewlett-Packard hardware or Dell computers, Apple competitors that have escaped similar criticism.

So what provoked The Agony And The Ecstasy Of Steve Jobs? The company’s success? The ubiquity of its products?

Who knows? But for the many people who dislike Apple’s business practices, these trumped-up criticisms are maddening.

For example, Apple exploits tax loopholes in the U.S., China and almost everywhere else, skipping out on paying its fair share all over the world. This not only harms all stripes of factory workers burdened with higher taxes, but everyone else as well.

So when does that play come out?

For more on Mike Daisey and The Agony And The Ecstasy Of Steve Jobs, see cover story.

joshuae@nowtoronto.com | twitter.com/joshuaerrett

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