ABC announced Friday that it had secured exclusive access to Apple's Foxconn factories in China, and the network this week released a clip (below) with more details about its visit.
Nightline's Bill Weir is seen on the floor of Foxconn's Chengdu factory as workers clad in fingerless white gloves and uniforms pull and scan boxed iPads from the line.
"Tens of millions of people around the world have opened one of those sublime, white boxes to marvel at the brilliance of the iPad, but no one from the outside has ever seen how these machines are built. Until now," Weir says in a promotional video.
He goes on to mention the scandals with which Foxconn and Apple have had to contend in recent years - from the worker suicides to calls for an "ethical" iPhone. But despite the troubles, hundreds of hopeful workers are shown at the Foxconn gates, rushing the front door in the hopes of securing a job that pays less than $1.50 an hour.
The special, which will air on Tuesday night at 11:35pm Eastern, promises to show you how your iPhone, iPad, and MacBook is made, and feature interviews with Foxconn workers and execs alike.
The Nightline special comes after Apple asked the Fair Labor Association (FLA) to conduct audits of Apple's final assembly suppliers, including Foxconn. The issue made headlines after a series of articles in the New York Times questioned whether Apple products are manufactured under safe and humane conditions.
Apple chief Tim Cook last week defended the working conditions of the company's international suppliers, arguing that "we care about every worker."
"We believe that 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 complaints freely," Cook said during the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference. "And Apple suppliers must live up to this to do business with Apple."
In the wake of reports about poor working conditions, concerned Apple users launched petitions on the websites SumofUs.org and Change.org, calling for Apple to improve worker protections, increase transparency around the monitoring of its suppliers and make an "ethical" iPhone 5. Protestors recently converged on various Apple Stores, including the new one in Grand Central Terminal, to deliver the petitions, which garnered about 250,000 signatures.
For more, see A Foxconn Breakdown: Its Strengths, Strangeness, and Scrutiny as well as Foxconn Factories: How Bad Is It?
