Apple CEO Tim Cook Visits Manufacturer at the Center of Chinese Factory Scandal

Tim Cook is all smiles as he tours the factory floor

Apple ramped up its effort to turn the page on a scandal involving inhumane conditions at its Chinese factory suppliers by deploying CEO Tim Cook to the plant at the center of the controversy. 

Cook visited  Foxconn Technology’s manufacturing plant in the city of Zhengzhou on Thursday, according to media reports. 

Cook has been visiting China to meet with top Chinese leaders.

In a series of photographs provided to various outlets he was all smiles while interacting with workers on the Foxconn factory floor, despite sporting an unflattering yellow jump suit. 

Also read: Tim Cook Hits Back at Factory Abuse Reports: 'Apple Cares About Its Workers'

Apple struggled to contain the fallout from a series of devastating reports on public radio and in the New York Times on the poor treatment of workers in the factories of its Chinese manufacturing suppliers.

The stories described factory workers being saddled with excessive hours, chronic low wages and exposure to toxic chemicals.

Yet the company's efforts to hit back against the story were bolstered this month after “This American Life” retracted a damning report that centered on monologist Mike Daisey's visit to Foxconn.

In an hour-long retraction, host Ira Glass grilled Daisey about fabrications in his one-man show, "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" and pressed him about why he had misled fact-checkers. 

Cook has maintained throughout the scandal that Apple is working to improve standards across its global network of factories. 

"Our commitment is very, very simple,” Cook said at Goldman Sachs' Technology Conference last month. “We believe every worker has the right to a fair and safe work environment free of discrimination where they can earn competitive wages and where they can voice their concerns freely.”

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