The world famous Apple computer corporation is admitting to the use of child labor in some Chinese factories.
The underage workers were either fired, or are now working having become of age and thus eligible for employment.
Apple refused to release the names of the offending factories, or even to list their locations.
Apple has a history of labor practices that are often under fire and complaint from human watch groups. Recently, 62 employees at a factory that Apple contracts from became poisoned with n-hexane. Apple has yet to comment on the incident.
These most recent admissions will hardly clear Apple’s slate in the public eye. Nearly all Apple products are labeled “Designed by Apple in California Assembled in China.” The more news that comes out on its labor practices, the worse off Apple appears.
We all of course recall the incident last year concerning the suicide of a Foxconn employee after he was accused to have stolen an iPhone prototype. Foxconn is one the largest and most critical Apple suppliers. The death was swirled in intrigue and speculation.
Foxconn is something of a problem for Apple. Long has Foxconn forced workers to not only break China’s labor laws, but also Apple’s. China has rules stating that workers cannot labor more than 49 hours a week. Apple has a rule saying that 60 is the limit. Foxconn often works their employees even harder.
Apple still contracts heavily with Foxconn.
According to the Telegraph, many Apple contracted Chinese factories routinely cheat their workers, but yet still have Apple contracts:
Only 65 per cent of the factories were paying their staff the correct wages and benefits, and Apple found 24 factories where workers had not even been paid China’s minimum wage of around 800 yuan (Pounds76) a month.
Meanwhile, only 61 per cent of Apple’s suppliers were following regulations to prevent injuries in the workplace and a mere 57 per cent had the correct environmental permits to operate.
Apple has a wonderful reputation in the technology world, and it has tens of billions of dollars in the bank. You would think that they could end the abuse of the workers who are the source of their wealth.
For shame.
For shame, indeed. The real shame is all these products are made in China, just think how many Americans could be employed.
I think it's time to reconsider Apple.
The labor costs and corporate profits are more important for the company. The image is ruined but the money is still coming in. This is another role of Corporate America. All of these jobs can be here at home and the company is able to still make a profit, but these six figure salaries a year plus stock options makes it appealing to continue doing business in China. We can also be competetive in the US by training and paying a fair wage here at home. In addition by offering stock options to our employees, this will also encourage them to work more efficient and reduce labor costs. Having a goal set each quarter and proving that workers here in America are worth the investment, put them to the test and make it happen. Last but not least, ethical business practices are also important, Senior Management must understand the importance of employee and employer relations. Managers must be available to make changes if necessary to improve working and pay conditions. If we follow the same routine as the previous management, it will be harder to work things out.
Best,
Jorge L. De Jesus
slow weekend?
nope
I´m not american but I agree with you Spencer..
So Apple is voluntarily auditing their suppliers. They found malfeasance and in at least one case stopped using that supplier. They were informed by other suppliers that Apple was the first company to ever do an audit.
So, your conclusion is that Apple is somehow now not a good corporate citizen? How about every other company that also uses the same suppliers in China (and in other countries like the Philippines as well)? Any comment on their lack of auditing? How about Google. They use HTC for the Nexus One which is manufactured in China? Or is it that the only reason you even know about this is because Apple told you?
It seems to me that Apple is the only company dealing with China trying to change these practices. They are doing it alone apparently as well.
Alex do you wear an aluminum foil hat? Seeing great conspiracies hmmmmm – maybe Apple products are really made at Area 51 by slave Aliens.
Apple audits the factories that make their products for a reason. To STOP these type of practices. If Apple wanted to use child labor I think they would skip this audit.
Remember China is the country where they put a poison in milk so it would test higher to make more profits full well knowing that many people could die from it. They still use lead paint. For God sakes they eat cats! (yes I know the government is now trying to stop the eating of cats but it is still a common practice)
Does it really surprise you that an audit of working conditions in a Communist dictatorship, that needs over 8% growth to keep from having a revolution, are bad?
In its annual supplier report, Apple has admitted that its Chinese factories have employed children to build its gadgets. “Ones with a particularly refined sense of aesthetics.”
Apple revealed the sweatshop conditions inside the factories it uses. The child workers were found in a facility with high vaulted ceilings, elegantly crafted marble work benches and a classical quartet playing in the background in a corner of the floor. Young geniuses sat in their Aerons and levitated components into place with the powers of the mind, burning the famed Apple logo into the back of the assembled device with but a glance of terrifying but controlled power. Some lunches, with only an hour's break, would involve wines of less than ten years' vintage.
Competitors were outraged. “We are shocked, shocked to hear of Apple's ruthless exploitation of the chilll-drennn,” said Steve Ballmer of Microsoft. “But then, what do you expect when they actually ask their suppliers about this stuff.”
Apple's Chinese manufacturing facilities were the site of controversy last year when one young worker at Foxconn, who had teleported an iPhone home overnight, was found to have committed suicide by leaping from the top of the building, first breaking his own neck, and tearing out all his own fingernails on the way down. He was found with Apple logos carved into his back, obviously also self-inflicted. “A tragedy,” said the report.
Blog post: http://newstechnica.com/?p=1761
Fired? Why not pay for their education.
They are ineligible to work. Their employment must be terminated. Please pay for their education. Thanks!
Um, a company treats their workers like shit, I point it out, and somehow you try and make Apple look better?
They still contract with Foxconn, who we *know* abuses workers. When they fix that, you might have half a point IMHO.
So let me get this straight…
1. Apple seems to be the only US company that audits their Chinese suppliers even though they have no legal obligation to do so.
2. Apple finds 11 fifteen year old workers have been employed when the law requires them to be 16 years old.
3. Apple moves to correction the situation and gets vilified for doing so.
You call this journalism?
Pretty disgraceful
Wow. This is very challenging news for me. Ever since I bought my first computer in the mid-eighties, I've only owned apple technology. Once, around 1995, I bought a Toshiba laptop but I returned it. But I might not be able to buy anymore apple now that I read that they use child labor and that they continue to contract with companies that violate wage laws and work condition laws . . . it's once thing to find out a supplier is violating rules and laws but to keep on working with them without demanding that they change . . . This kinda breaks my heart cause I love my apple computers.
tammontag – before you do this, find other computer manufacturers who are conducting audits of their suppliers and their suppliers' suppliers. Chances are they're mostly in China, and quite possibly also using child labor/indentured servants, as Apple discovered. You could be dropping Apple, who is trying to correct the situation now that they've discovered it, for a computer maker whose suppliers are even more grievously exploiting children.
First, it needs to be said that while Apple has taken the steps to address these issues is not coming out of the kindness of their hearts, or as part of a core sense of responsibility. It is an action that they took after being pressured for years by external organizations as well as the growing number of problems that they have faced.
Case in point, Wintek. This supplier has over the course of the last 4 years had three violations grow beyond its factory walls. the first time (2006) was when its workers protested dormitory conditions and failure to pay for overtime , (2008) was another case of overtime payments, and (2009/2010) was the result of rumors that line workers had died due to exposure to chemicals and back pay.
So, let's drop the naivety. Apple has long known these problems have existed, but just as Mattel and Nike did before them, has largely been able to deflect the press.
Second, to those who say that Apple is somehow leading their industry in any form on this issue is either completely ignorant of the truth, unwilling to do a basic internet survey of Nokia, Moto, Dell, and other websites, or lying. Wintek is a group who has been audited before, and is well known in the industry for having poor labor conditions. Apple's contention that they are the first is either a lie, or is based on the fact that Wintek has set aside a specific factory just for their lines (I do not know which is true, but I suspect it is the second).
third, beyond the child labor issues that are reported in the 2010 report, the entire thing is nothing more than a glossing over of what is really going on. They have left out the Foxconn incident where a 21 year old line worker leapt to his death, they left out the chemical exposures that recently put 100 line workers in the hospital, and while they have done a great job to create a scorecard to rank performance.. they have the nerve to say that they have a 95% ethical compliance rating among suppliers. What a joke!
Finally, where this entire situation absolutely baffles me is that Apple is showing themselves to be very short sighted. That they are somehow different than others, and their brand can withstand a labor scandal like the one Nike went through. This is a product of arrogance and poor management, and with Apple planning to open up 25 stores in China, someone should have enough China knowledge to know that if they do not begin treating their line workers with respect, they are going to be tossed out of this market. Simply put, you cannot abuse Chinese laborers while at the same time pushing for their sales. It does not work like that, and Steve Jobs better wake up to that fact
to read more about Apple's issues with labor in China, please see my posts here.
http://www.allroadsleadtochina.com/tag/apple/
r
http://www.collectiveresponsibility.org
christopherletzelter
Actually, Apple is not (regardless of what it reports) going at this alone. Dell owns its own site in Xiamen, and audits suppliers. IBM had a large team before folding into Lenovo. Nokia/ Moto have teams as well.
Second, Apple's problems are deeper than this report, and they have done little to correct any of them (did they name a single supplier they cut ties with?). Wintek is the best example of this as they have in the last 4 years had three issues that have been large enough to warrant international press – the most recent being a strike of 2500 line workers and the hospitalization of 100 due to chemical exposure…. yet, Wintek is still a supplier.
Finally, it is not about who cares the least. It is about who is and who is not taken action and who is not. You do not see 100 Dell employees in the hospital do you? you do not see 50% of their suppliers failing compliance do you? No, you don't. Sure, they have problems, but it is not on this level
r
http://www.collectiveresponsibility.org