New report: Apple supply chain still problematic

Pinga · Jul 28, 2013

Apple contractors are systematically violating Chinese labour law. More than 10,000 students have to work in the factories under dangerous circumstances, the report said. They are being interceded by their teachers and schools, which allegedly withhold a part of their salaries for themselves.

Some employees have to stand all day, and a working day often takes longer than twelve hours. 80 Hours of overtime per month are not uncommon, according to the report. Minors and pregnant women have to work much longer than the allowed eight hours a day. These abuses are allegedly systematically hidden by a fraudulent overtime billing system.

The tone is very rude in the factories, workers were systematically harassed and intimidated, according to CLW. In addition, there is a lack in the factories on safety training, of escape routes, and even of basic first aid equipment. Many of the young workers are leaving prematurely.
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http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/un...i-apple-zulieferern-in-china-an-a-913512.html

http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/

Pinga · Jul 29, 2013

Apple is preparing to release a cheap iPhone. Just how does a prosperous company like Apple produce a discounted version of its phones?

At this moment, in Shanghai, China, workers in Apple’s supplier factory Pegatron are monotonously working long overtime hours to turn out a scaled-back, less expensive version of the iPhone. Six days a week, the workers making these phones have to work almost 11-hour shifts, 20 minutes of which is unpaid, and the remainder of which is paid at a rate of $1.50 an hour ($268 per month) before overtime. This is less than half the average local monthly income of $764 and far below the basic living wagnecessary to live in Shanghai, one of costliest cities in China. So these workers rely on long overtime hours. If a worker does not finish three months at Pegatron, the dispatch company that got the worker hired will deduct a large portion of his wages.

After a grueling day’s work, what a worker has to look forward to is a 12-person dorm room, lining up for a quick cold shower in one of the two dozen showers shared by hundreds of workers.

At Pegatron, over 10,000 underage and student workers (interns), from 16 to 20 years of age, work in crowded production rooms, doing the same work as formal, adult workers. But some students are paid lower wages because schools deduct fees for the internship, while other students will not have their wages paid to them on time.

At Pegatron, a pregnant woman interviewed was working equally long overtime hours, despite Chinese laws protecting the health of pregnant women by mandating an eight-hour workday. After four months of intense work, she decided to leave and give up her maternity benefits rather than jeopardize the health and well-being of herself and her unborn child.

In addition, Pegatron has violations related to discriminatory hiring, harassment and abuse, fire safety, and more.

So what is the competitive advantage that Pegatron has utilized to win Apple’s order of the cheap iPhone? Extensive labor violations and suppressed wages that cheat workers of a living wage, a healthy working environment, and a voice. As Apple launches its cheaper iPhones, it continues to profit while cheapening the value of the workers in its supply chain.
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-http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/pdf/apple_s_unkept_promises.pdf-

SweX · Jul 29, 2013

Apple to Probe Claims of Pegatron Labor Violations

Apple Inc. will investigate allegations by advocacy group China Labor Watch that factories run by Taiwanese supplier Pegatron Corp. (4938 ) use underage workers, pay insufficient wages and force employees to work overtime.

Apple has been in close contact with the group for several months, yet the report contains “claims that are new to us,” and those will be probed immediately, Carolyn Wu, a Beijing-based spokeswoman for Apple, said in a phone interview today.

Apple became the first technology company to join the Washington-based Fair Labor Association last year after criticism by human-rights organizations about conditions at suppliers including Foxconn Technology Group. Pegatron factories “are even worse than those at Foxconn,” CLW Executive Director Li Qiang said in a statement today.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...of-labor-violations-at-supplier-pegatron.html

Pinga · Oct 5, 2013

Foxconn accused of exploiting workers in Europe
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http://www.dw.de/foxconn-accused-of-exploiting-workers-in-europe/a-17132689

noone_particular · Oct 5, 2013

Apple has no real intention of cleaning up their suuply chain. Treating people like slave labor is what made them rich. This will be the standard for manufacturing jobs everywhere in the near future. This is the true color of free trade. The only thing that can slow this down is people voting with their wallet. What goes around comes around. If you buy from companies that use slave labor, you're helping to create more of those jobs. When decent employers go bankrupt because they can't compete with slave labor, those slave labor jobs may be all that's available to you.

CloneRanger · Oct 5, 2013

Yeah it's a sick world, well some companies are, & the people who run them, & their .Gov's that allow such things

Not content with consistently tolerating those worker conditions/abuses, that enables Apple to make a Lot more $ than they otherwise would, they also make even More by evading tax http://appleinsider.com/articles/13...in-after-paying-no-2012-corporate-taxes-in-uk

Nice company to give your 4 to, NOT

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