Il,r ^lortlanh (Observer
Page 6
July 20. 2011
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New Prices
Effective
May 1,2010
Martin
Cleaning
Service
Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
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Minimum Service CHG.
$45.00
A small distance/travel charge
may be applied
CARPET CLEANING
2 Cleaning Areas or
more $30.00 Each Area
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1 Cleaning Area (only)
$40.00
Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area
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(12-16 stairs - With
O th e r Services):
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Area/Oriental Rugs.
$25.00 Minimum
Area/Oriental Rugs (Wool):
$40.00 Minimum
Congo Mining, Worker Suicides and Tax Dodging
Heavily Soiled Area:
The three strikes
against Apple
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C erto
In college, I
c o n sid e re d my
A pple laptop a
faithful, effective
and occasionally
even fun machine.
A year past gradu
ation, this co n
stant companion to late nights spent
studying, working or wasting time
has aged into a decrepit device. Like
the old Windows hourglass, its col
orful pinwheel cursor consistently
heralds interminable delays.
Similarly, my prehistoric mobile
phone frequently freezes, drops
calls, or prematurely runs out of
battery power. Even in those trea
sured moments when it operates at
capacity, it lacks the touch screen,
em ail and Internet capabilities
today's savvy consumers suppos
edly demand. By all indications, I'm
ripe for an upgrade to a new
MacBook, iPhone or iPad.
Here's why I'm taking a pass.
Apple, like most other electron
ics companies, makes liberal use of
an ore called columbite-tantalite —
widely known as coltan — whose
electrical retention properties im
prove the battery lives of electronic
devices.
While Australia is the world's
largest coltan producer, suppliers
for Apple and its competitors often
prefer to buy their coltan at lower
cost from mining operations in
war-ravaged eastern Congo.
The money from these trans
actions rarely reaches the min
ers themselves. Rather, it's fun-
neled to Rwandan- and Ugan
dan-backed rebel groups inside
the Congo who control the
mines and use the revenues to
fund their operations in the world's
deadliest conflict since World War
II. Promises by the Congolese gov
ernment to shutter such mines and
by Apple to scrutinize its supply
chains have rung ineffectual and
hollow.
This "blood coltan" and other
components make their way to
China, where contractors assemble
products for Apple and virtually
every other major electronics com
pany. Journalist and playwright
Mike Daisey visited the Shenzhen,
C hina base o f o p e ra tio n s for
Foxconn, a Taiwanese manufactur
ing behemoth who reportedly as
sembles half of the world's electron
ics.
He reported interviewing work
ers who often labored for anywhere
from 12 to 16 hours straight or longer,
standing interminably and finding
little compensation for the inevi
table health problems and unpaid
overtime that result from such treat
ment. He also met dozens of child
laborers, who often lived with their
coworkers in cramped company
dormitories under constant surveil
lance for any hint of complaint or
worker organization.
The facility made news last year
for a ghastly streak of worker sui
cides. Today's Foxconn employees
are mildly better compensated, but
they must agree to sign "no-sui
cide" pacts with the company —
although the complex now features
a network of "suicide nets," just in
case.
Finally, inside the United States,
where Apple reaps the benefits of
America's taxpayer-funded physi
cal and legal infrastructure — and
makes billions off U.S. consumers
— the company has lent its support
to the ironically nam ed "Win
America" campaign.
Supported by several other tax-
dodging corporations, Apple is lob
bying Congress to let the company
repatriate and keep some $4 billion
in profits currently stashed in off
shore tax havens. This is money
that would otherwise be owed to the
U.S. government. At a moment of
fiscal austerity, when Congress and
state legislatures are gutting pro
grams that assist our most vulner
able citizens, Apple— like all corpo
rations and billionaires that have
benefited handsomely from the U.S.
system — should pay its fair share.
Industry analysts have estimated
the total production costs for
iPhones and iPads at a small fraction
of the company's revenues, espe
cially in light of those lucrative
m onthly contracts and endless
"app" sales.
Apple can hardly argue that such
abusive practices are necessary to
its bottom line. But even if they
were, do you really want blood on
your phone, laptop, or tablet?
Apple, of course, makes any num
ber of innovative products. But
being an innovator in technology
shouldn't require being a reaction
ary on human rights — or being a
shameless tax cheat.
As an industry leader with bal
looning profit margins, Apple can
afford to get its coltan from Austra
lia. It can shoulder the costs of a
living wage and basic labor stan
dards for its workers. And it can
surely pay its taxes.
But for now, Apple has perpetu
ated the relentless violence in the
Congo, abused hard-working and
disenfranchised laborers in China,
and, for good measure, sought to
stiff the American taxpayers who
have made it so wealthy.
Sorry, Apple. That's three strikes.
Peter Certo is an editorial assis
tant fo r OtherWords and Foreign
Policy in Focus at the Institute for
Policy Studies.