There has been a long list of major multinationals using production facilities in the developing world and the far east that have been found later to have been using child-labour, and to have been working with suppliers who paid low wages, most notoriously of all these was Nike.
Apple is the latest company to have been found out, but admittedly in their own internal audit document which they released themselves.
Their Supplier Responsibility 2010 Progress Report highlighted operations where 54% of all manufacturing plants were failing to meet the company’s standards of less than 60 hour working weeks. They also revealed that 25% were paying less them the minimum wage and some had employed 15 year old labour.
Apple has been quick to respond and has told all its 102 manufacturers that they must comply with company standards or their contracts will be pulled.
It’s good to see Apple taking such a quick and responsible line on this, as was reported today by the Daily Telegraph, though it’s unsurprising to find some companies exploiting their workforce like this.
Apple have said…
"In each of the three facilities, we required a review of all employment records for the year as well as a complete analysis of the hiring process to clarify how underage people had been able to gain employment"
The Daily Telegraph have reported that…
Apple has been repeatedly criticised for using factories that abuse workers and where conditions are poor. Last week, it emerged that 62 workers at a factory that manufactures products for Apple and Nokia had been poisoned by n-hexane, a toxic chemical that can cause muscular degeneration and blur eyesight. Apple has not commented on the problems at the plant, which is run by Wintek, in the Chinese city of Suzhou.
So there might be some ongoing repercussions that Apple will have to answer in this whole affair.
In the mean time this is an all too rare example of corporate responsibility taking place.
