Top: Tim Cook and Steve Jobs; photo credit to James Martin/CNET. Bottom: Mike Daisey at the Public Theater; photo credit to Mike Daisey.

[Editors’ Note:  This letter to Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, is one of several written by participants in the Fall 2011 Theater Teen Reviewers and Critics program after attending a performance of THE AGONY AND ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS at the Public Theater.  At the end of Mike’s Daisey’s solo performance, fliers are distributed with information about the labor practices he discusses in the show, along with Tim Cook’s email address and a call to action.  Mr. Daisey suggested emailing Mr. Cook with concerns.  He politely asks that you do not send SPAM.  We obliged, and decided to publish them as open letters as well.]

Dear Mr. Tim Cook,

I am not a Mac. Nor am I a PC. I am what most would call “old-fashioned” – so my bias stems from there. But that is also where my objectivity rests.

I am not seeking to attack Apple. In fact, I respect Apple. Your company is the leading innovator in the field of technology. Lives are changed and times are revolutionized with every product that makes it on the shelves of stores across the globe. Apple has turned the handheld device into a physiological need. You have the world on the palm of your hands.

Keep in mind, however, the fact that this “world” is not only composed of your consumers. Even those that have not purchased a single Apple product (like myself) are affected in their daily lives. Unfortunately, the biggest population of this “world” is that of its creators. No, not Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak. Not the staff of Apple either. I’m talking about the over-worked, under-paid and disregarded Chinese factory workers that physically create your company’s products.

Prior to seeing THE AGONY AND ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS, an eye-opening monologue performed by Mike Daisey, I had been clueless. Daisey was successful in dispensing the truths behind the production of technology’s latest products, the emphasis being on Apple. I was ignorant of the manpower that fueled the production, distribution and satisfaction of the hungry masses. They are tired. The workers are tired.

They don’t get a cozy seat in a warm office chatting it up with people who make a lot of money. They are everyday people stuck in the limbo of a life spent on the assembly line so that corporate hotshots like you can keep sitting on cozy chairs along with your fellow hotshots. It would be unfair to say that production should halt. That would be a preposterous idea. What can be done is a thorough investigation of the factories and facilities that churn your products out on a daily basis and house the discriminated workers. The human cost of building these gadgets and producing them are much more valuable than the dollars added to your already big paycheck.

Take a minute out of your day to consider this. Think about the deteriorating hands of young children, weak elders and those that are trying to make a living; they’ve never been given a voice. Give them that voice. Give them that chance.

Sincerely,

Carina Clores