This past October there was an outbreak of COVID-19 at the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou in China, the largest complex that produces iPhones for Apple, which houses different production plants. At the time, a spokesperson for Apple’s supplier said the impact was manageable and conditions at the factory were stable. However, the company prioritized maintaining production, rather than protecting workers from the outbreak. This unleashed further contagion, to which the company responded with very strict confinement measures.

On Monday, November 7, The Wall Street Journal published a report based on interviews with more than two dozen Foxconn workers and their family members, and the company’s announcements on its WeChat account.

Employees alleged that they began to comply with quarantine on October 7, and that they could not leave their production unit for 27 hours, until they were transferred to a new block of bedrooms in the complex, where they were quarantined for a few days. The workers complained about the lack of food and medicine supplies for the infected people. The situation reached such a point that, on October 28, many decided to leave the factory, on their own feet or using government buses to take them home. Foxconn offered five incentives for people who changed their minds and went back to work.

The iPhone manufacturer has not disclosed the number of COVID cases that have occurred. The company reportedly downplayed the dangers of contracting the virus, sharing statements from medical experts on the female workforce.

Some people did not believe that people returning to work after quarantine had still tested negative. Instead, one rumor claimed it was a plan to mix COVID patients with healthy people to promote herd immunity.

This episode highlights the tension between the need to continue bussiness activities and China’s desire to maintain the 0 COVID-19 policy. In much of the world, it seems that the COVID-19 pandemic is already winding down, but in China the situation is not yet back to normal.

A petition of signatures has been organized calling for Apple to take its responsibility to fully investigate the incident at Foxconn’s Zhengzhou factory. We ask these questions to be answered under an independent investigation authorized by Apple:

1. In mid-October, outbreaks occurred at the factory, creating harsh conditions that affected even those who were not infected. Why did Foxconn wait until October 30 to acknowledge this? What was Foxconn hiding, and why?
   

2. How many Foxconn workers contracted COVID-19 in October?

3. How many Foxconn workers died in October? What are the causes of death?
   

4. Who authorized the order prohibiting the workers from leaving the factory in October? What was the reason?
   

5. Why were the infected workers not given medical supplies?

6. Why were there cases in the distribution of essential products in the factory area?

7. What were Foxconn’s standards for housing conditions for workers during lockdown? How many people were isolated in October?
   

8. Why weren’t there enough isolation areas equipped with adequate basic supplies for workers?

9. How many temporary workers does the Zhengzhou Foxconn factory currently hire? Why don’t they have another type of contract?
   

10. Is there evidence of forced labor during the closed loop production period?

11. Are there workers whose movements have been forcibly restricted during the closed circuit production period? Who were the people who implemented these policies?

Sign the petition here!

Sources:

• The Wall Street Journal – Apple iPhone Assembler Tried to Ease Worker Fears About Covid—It Led to a Tighter Lockdown
  
• The Guardian – China braces for wave of workers fleeing iPhone factory in Covid-hit Zhengzhou
• AppleInsider – Foxconn reportedly downplayed severity of recent COVID outbreak
  
• Reuters – EXCLUSIVE Output of Apple iPhones at major China plant could fall 30% amid COVID curbs -source

Videos:

• China Insights – Zhengzhou Foxconn Factory: 10,000+ workers flee covid lockdown/Apple iPhone Production Plunges
  China Insights – Zhengzhou Foxconn workers keep on fleeing and now China locks down area around ‘iPhone city’

80% of the carbon footprint of our electronic devices is produced in the production phase, during the extraction of raw materials, transportation, manufacturing of the different parts, assembly, and distribution to points of sale.

In addition, the manufacture of each device requires raw materials, many of which are extracted through mining. Mining has strong environmental impacts, such as loss of biodiversity, soil contamination, deforestation; and also social impacts, such as the displacement of communities living in the territories where these resources are exploited, illegal financing of weapons by armed groups in conflict territories, precarious working conditions in the mines, insecurity and exposure to toxins, and child labor in many cases. In the manufacturing phase, we also found strong violations of human and labor rights, especially among women, who make up the majority of assembly line workers in many factories. Among these violations, we find excessive working hours, precarious wages, repression of unionization, exposure to toxins, among others.

When our devices break down, or we replace them with new ones, the impacts continue: high pollution caused by electronic waste landfills, waste of resources, export of waste to countries without an adequate recycling infrastructure…

For all these reasons, one of the most effective ways for consumers to reduce this carbon footprint, and the impacts associated with the production and consumption of electronic devices, is to try to extend the useful life of the device as much as possible.

On the other hand, during the time we use these devices, we can become very vulnerable in terms of our data privacy if we are not careful about how we access our information on the Internet.

Summer is a time of the year when we can spend more time outdoors doing outdoor activities. Temperatures are higher, and we often spend time cooling off by the water. We also have more free time to connect to the Internet during vacation days, and we may spend a few days visiting another city or country. Summer, therefore, is a time when our data, such as our phones and tablets, are more exposed to different types of risks. From the Just Electronics campaign we share some practical tips to protect our devices and our data!

– Beware of the heat! Most devices are designed to operate between 0 °C and 35 °C, so always leave your device in the shade, and don’t leave it inside the car on very hot days, as heat can damage it! Avoid using it in very hot weather, leaving it switched off, or leaving it on a surface heated by the sun. If it has warmed up, let it cool down in the shade without the casing, and do not put cold air or put it in the fridge… the cold can also damage it.

– Be careful with sand… just as dust is a great enemy of our devices, so is sand! try to use it with clean hands, and protect it from wind gusts.

– Watch out for water: keep your device away from water or use a protective case.

– Turn it off: it is advisable to turn off your device at least once a week, even for a few seconds, and not to keep it always on. This way you will also be able to disconnect more from the Internet and applications, and connect with yourself, the people around you and nature!

– Take care of the battery: do not to let the mobile phone reach too low battery levels, nor overload the battery. The advisable with the current type of batteries is to charge them between 30% and 80%. If you turn off the functionalities that you do not use in every moment (*Bluetooth, Wifi, GPS. etc.) you will avoid the overheating, you will save data, and battery too! You can also adjust the screen brightness if you want to save battery, your eyes will thank you.

– Now you have time to make room! it is better not to fill too much memory on your device, as it can worsen the performance… Delete the applications you do not use, and if you can, leave 25% of memory free- Keep your eyes open at all times: in summer, especially in cities, theft from tourists increases. Don’t carry your devices in accessible pockets, or on the table at the bar…- Make a backup of everything important to save your data in case your device is lost or stolen!- Familiarize yourself with pager applications that protect your device: many brands incorporate applications that can be activated to track your phone in case of theft or loss, do a data wipe, or block the shutdown option… If not, you can also download them. If your device is lost or stolen, you will have to act very fast, so you better know how to use them!

– Insure your device, but not just any way! If you already have a home insurance, check if it covers theft. From SETEM we recommend that you take out all your insurance with insurers that work with ethical and sustainability criteria. Look for them!

– Use an old cell phone: If you want to disconnect and protect yourself from theft, you can always rescue an old, simpler cell phone that still works. If you don’t plan to use it, take it to your SETEM collection point during business hours! We use them for repair workshops in schools, we give them to different initiatives, or we make sure they get to job placement companies that are dedicated to the management of electronic waste and that do their utmost to get them repaired!

– Caution with the use of open wifi networks: Open networks can be a way to save data, but they can also be insecure, as they are very easily accessible to third parties.

– Share these tips with friends and family!

SETEM Catalunya has joined forces with more than 20 organisations, trade unions and others to demand an ambitious waste law.

We need the future waste law of Catalonia to go radically against the current model that makes natural resources disappear and generates a great deal of pollution. We have been in front of the Government of the Generalitat to support the demand for waste reduction, liquid toxic products, an economy of reuse, which is paid for and maximum transparency with data.

Dimarts will participate in a performative and vindicative act in which the weight that we assume from the citizenship for the current production and consumption model will be shown. As explained by Rezero, one of the driving forces behind the event, three spheres of about two metres in diameter each will represent the three problems of the current production and consumption model. One evokes the evils derived from the toxicity of everyday consumer products and the pollution caused by bad waste management practices. Another sphere represented the economic costs that are unfairly borne by citizens, as companies externalise part of the costs derived from their activity and end up being borne via taxes. The third sphere denounces the environmental costs of the use-and-fill consumption model, which is mortgaging the future.

The law approved by the government must be as ambitious as possible in order to respond to the climate, social and economic crisis we are facing. The organisations demand from our political representatives policies that really transform the production and consumption model that is suffocating citizens and the planet.

More information at Rezero.

Original article by Alex Kamczyc – Recycling Today.

The New York State Senate has passed the Digital Fair Repair Act, which will expand consumer access to tools and information to repair personal electronics. The bill passed on 3 June by a near-unanimous vote of 145 to 1.

The bill requires original equipment manufacturers to make diagnostic information, replacement parts, schematics, special tools and firmware available to independent repair providers. “This means that repair shops that are fixing these devices will get the support they need without jumping through the hoops that manufacturers make them jump through to control their work,” comments Nathan Proctor, director of the United States Public Interest Research Group. “I hope this will put pressure on the industry to expand access to repairing their devices.

Read more here.