Chinese supplier standards at stake

Over 250,000 signatures from petitions on Change.org and SumOfUs.org will be delivered to New York City's Grand Central Apple Store on Thursday morning, according to an announcement. The effort is part of a campaign to push Apple to develop a "worker protection strategy," in light of stories of poor labor conditions at Chinese Apple suppliers like Foxconn. Employees are known to often work extreme amount of overtime for little pay, sometimes in dangerous conditions.

Of the signatures, the vast majority are from Change.org, with just 55,000 coming from SumOfUs. Within the latter amount, over 35,000 say they buy Apple products, and over 20,000 have iPhones. At the Grand Central the groups are promising to bring "large iPhone posters" and printed handouts promoting their cause.

Similar staged deliveries will take place several cities, including Washington, San Francisco, London, Sydney, and Bangalore. Apple has adopted a defensive stance in response to recent criticism, insisting that it maintains strict standards and is making progress. Recently it joined the Fair Labor Association, which could put suppliers under somewhat increased scrutiny.

by MacNN Staff