By Chris Chang, posted Mar 7, 2011 at 11:51 AM, 1,287 views,

Apple’s Supplier Secretly Using Video Cameras to Monitor Poisoned Workers?

Apple’s supplier, Lian Jian Technology (United Win), is installing surveillance cameras at the factory’s public rest areas, where workers always visit during their break time. It’s perfectly normal for a company/factory to do that, but United Win’s target is to monitor their poisoned workers, and check out if anyone of them is acting sick. What sounds even insane is that every worker’s movement is being watched by security guards in plainclothes. Whatever you do in the factory, United Win knows it very well.

A United Win worker wrote this on his Sina microblog:

“We lost personality and dignity, our behaviors and actions are being monitored. We do not commit crimes, and we are not spies. We are the poisoned workers from your company.”

And he posted a lot more information from the factory on his microblog .You must read them carefully! Click here to see.

You probably heard the news of workers from Apple’s supplier Wintek, getting poisoned while using the chemical “Hexane” to clean Apple touchscreens. The poisoned workers even made a direct appeal to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. You may ask, why not use alcohol? Well, several manufacturers replaced alcohol with n-hexane, since it works better than alcohol for cleaning parts, but poisons workers. In these factories, the workers, often women in their teens or 20s were forced to work with the poison in unventilated rooms. The supplier do this because it is the only way to complete the orders from Apple in time. Apple know this whole thing, and has told its suppliers including Foxconn, Wintek, and United Win to discontinue the use of this harmful chemical. And workers must be fully cured before work at the plant continued. However, looks like United Win is not listening.

In United Win’s plant, Suzhou No. 5, there are approximately 50 employees who fell ill. More employees were likely poisoned, but many were pushed out before they fell ill and United Win forced them to sign papers saying they would not hold the company accountable. Rumors claimed that the poisoned workers left with 80,000 – 90,000 Chinese yuan (about $12,000 – $14,000) that they got in exchange for their lives and health, with fees and medical costs they would have to pay for the rest of their lives. United Win denies treating their sick workers in that way, but here’s what an United Win worker said on his Sina microblog,

“I was poisoned and I had a 8-months treatment at a hospital in Beijing. During the 8 months, the medical fee required for every month is 20,000 yuan (about $3000). If the rumor is true, the 80,000 yuan could settle a part of the total medical fees I need for the treatment, but if I meet a relapse of sickness, especially for the kind of person like me who comes from a village, it is impossible for us to afford the treatment again.”

This may be true. According to China.org.cn, an authorized government portal site to China, reported two workers who were poisoned through exposure to toxic chemicals at a Suzhou factory of a main supplier (Wintek) to Apple, were terrified to see relapses in their diseases after they went for medical checks at a Shanghai hospital. When they went back to Suzhou from Shanghai for medical treatment, the workers were turned away by a Suzhou hospital as the doctors would not approve any diagnoses done by other hospitals. One of them, Liu Xiaojian, told Shanghai Daily:

“It gave us a terrible feeling that the old disease was coming again, it was only nine months since we were told that our diseases had been successfully cured.”

The diagnosis reports by the Shanghai hospital showed that the two workers were suffering nerve damages to their arms and legs. The reports said that they had to be hospitalized immediately, while the Suzhou hospital refused to accept them as patients as doctors told them that the Shanghai hospital’s diagnosis reports did not prove they were ill. What’s even worse is that Liu and his colleague had to carry on working at the factory otherwise their salary would be cut due to absenteeism. The factory refused to finance their medical treatments.

In case you are interested about the sickness of the workers, the only thing we know is that they would experience symptoms of sweaty palms, weak legs, and constant fatigue. Below is a news report interviewing the poisoned workers, in Chinese.

Previously, Wintek workers made three requests to their company: (1) issue a public apology (2) offer hospital check-ups (3) offer follow-up treatment. However, Wintek has not given a satisfactory reply to the workers as of yet. While we are wondering if there’s any workers signing up for health insurance, here’s what a worker from United Win factory told the media,

“The health insurance companies do not accept our insurance application, since relapses are often seen in our diseases.”

What’s even more unbelievable is that the factories have replaced the original “hexane” with two new chemicals — “isopropanol” and “acetone”. Sadly, these two chemicals still contain irritating elements and are still poisonous – these two chemicals likely cause headaches, dizziness, and in the long run may cause cancer or severe allergic reactions.

Apple’s iPad 2 has been announced, and there’s a high demand for it. While we are happily getting one from the Apple store, the workers are risking their lives to clean the touchscreens with harmful chemicals to make sure the iPad’s screen is in perfect condition when it reaches our hands. We think Apple and its suppliers should work together to provide workers with suitable and effective protective measures and equipments for the production of iProducts. Most importantly, the factories must offer check-ups and follow-up treatments to the poisoned workers. So Apple users will be glad to use Apple products.

Source: Sina (Full Coverage)