The human cost of an iPad

Last Wednesday's New York Times carried an article about the inhumane working conditions at Apple’s Chinese manufacturers. But of course there's nothing new in this. I'm sure there's no difference between the working conditions in Apple manufacturing in China and any other sort of manufacturing over there. The whole point of globalization economics is that the contracts go to the lowest bidder...and that inevitably means the least regard to quality of working conditions and zero worker's rights. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work that out!

Many of my own ancestors toiled in the coal mines and cotton mills of Northern England in the 19th Century....and I would bet there isn't much difference between those working conditions and present day factory conditions in China...including the incidence of child labor and lack of health and safety. But, sadly, we in the West turn a blind eye so long as we are getting our cheap clothing, electronics, and other products from China.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/ieconomy-apples-ipad-and-the-human-costs-for-workers-in-china.html?pagewanted=all

It makes me think of an old Lancashire Cotton Mill (Grove Mill) which now houses a big antique market called Bygone Times. My grandmother (Annie) was a weaver at the mill up to the age of 24/25 when she married my grandfather. My great aunt (Tannie) worked there as secretary to the mill owner.  They say the place is haunted and certain parts of it do have a very creepy feel, especially the basement.  Many children worked there in the 1800s and some of them died in the mill after getting tangled - and then mangled - in the looms.  http://bygonetimes.co.uk/videos/bygone/index.php

Aerial view of Grove Mill, Lancashire (above)

Child Labor is common in much of the developing world. In the United States, the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1904 and incorporated by an Act of Congress in 1907 with the mission of promoting the rights, dignity, well-being and education of children and youth as they relate to work and working. I very much doubt it has an equivalent in China. In some respects it feels like we are moving backwards in time; history is repeating and we (the human race) never learn from past mistakes.