Charges Against Chinese Journalists Lessened in Labor Dispute

It’s the type of announcement that makes journalists everywhere breathe a sigh of relief: Hongfujin Precision Industry Co., a maker of the omnipotent iPod, said it was reducing its demands for damages from a pair of Chinese journalists Thursday.

The Associated Press reported the demands of the Shanghai-based company were being reduced from 30 million yuan (a cool $3.8 million for those of us stateside). The company also requested the court unfreeze the assets of the accused. The crime: the journalists reported the company mistreated workers by paying them 1 yuan (12 cents) after some bad publicity hit the company. The company decided recently to reduce the damages “to avoid blurring the issue because of the great public attention on the target of the injunction.”

Let’s just say I’m glad I’m not a journalist working in China. Luckily, Reporters Without Borders got a hold of Apple’s stateside CEO, Steve Jobs, and urged him to go to Hongfujin’s parent company, Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group, to drop the case.

According to the Associated Press report, Apple said Wednesday it was working behind the scenes to help resolve the dispute.

A supplier to many big name brands beside Apple Computer including Intel Corp., Dell Inc. and Sony Corporation, Hongfujin issued a statement saying that any compensation it receives in the case would be donated to charity. This move, according to the company, would be to preserve its “Chinese dignity” because all it wants is to “protect its reputation.”

But the claim the two China Business News journalists (Wang You and editor Weng Bao) made is still out there: are iPod assembly workers subjected to 15-hour days without adequate pay? Foxconn and Hongfujing have vehemently denied the abuse allegations since the story broke earlier this summer. However, Apple issued a report earlier this month acknowledging some violations of its corporate code of conduct but no serious labor abuses.

“The company discounted allegations of forced overtime, noting that a chief complaint among workers was a shortage of overtime during slack periods…A statement defending the company’s labor policies detailed amenities it says are offered to employees, including free medical care, complimentary professional laundry services, soccer fields, libraries and an Internet cafe.” 

According to the Associated Press, Apple’s iconic iPod players are made mainly in China. Hongfujin was reportedly China’s biggest export manufacturer last year, with overseas sales totaling $14.5 billion.

“This is the toughest time I have faced since I entered the media business 10 years ago,” Weng wrote.

The June 12 MacWorld UK posting that followed the Mail on Sunday’s breaking story said “Apple’s iPods are made by mainly female workers who earn as little as £27 (approximately $52) per month.”

The Mail visited some of the Chinese factories and spoke with staff there (with security the way it is, how they scored those interviews is beyond me. Sounds more like a Mission: Impossible plot). The paper then reported Foxconn’s Longhua plant houses 200,000 workers, remarking: “This iPod City has a population bigger than Newcastle’s.” A security guard told the Mail reporters that the iPod shuffle production lines are staffed by women workers because “they are more honest than male workers.”

As outsourcing becomes the thing to do, Apple is just one of thousands of companies that now use Chinese facilities to manufacture its products. The Mail report cited low wages, long hours and China’s industrial secrecy making the country attractive to business, particularly as increased competition and consumer expectations force companies to deliver products at attractive prices.

At the June 16 afternoon press conference, Foxconn vice-president and general manager Li Jinming described the media reports as contrivances of jealous Apple competitors: “This is made up by the competitors of Apple, so that people think that this is an inhumane occurrence in an inhumane nation.”  He emphasized that Foxconn pays all of its employees wages in accordance with the law and no less than its competitors.