Apple CEO Tim Cook was on 60 Minutes Sunday and was asked by Charlie Rose about his company’s manufacturing practices in China. He said that it has nothing to do with the fact that American workers demand higher wages. He said it was because the Chinese have more skill. “…Let me be clear,” Cook told Rose. “China put an enormous focus on manufacturing in what you and I [meaning he and Charlie Rose] would call vocational skills. The US, over time, began to stop having as many vocational skills.”

Rose then gave a vivid example of how grim it can be to be on the manufacturing line in China. “Manufacturing in China has brought serious labor concerns to Apple about low wages, long hours, and unsafe conditions,” Rose said. “After a series of suicides at Foxconn in 2010, the company installed safety nets outside its employees dormitories.”

According to a recent Wall Street Journal story, Chinese workers are getting angrier with the way their being treated by the corporations that employ them. The article reports that labor strife in the nation is, “larger and angrier than previous rounds, labor experts say.”

Cook says Apple is doing what they can to improve working conditions in China. “We are constantly auditing our supply chain, making sure safety standards are the highest, we’re making sure living conditions are the highest,” he insisted. “All of the things you would expect us to look for and more, we’re doing it.”

Yahoo