In addition to Apple, other electronics companies felt compelled to respond after the media exposed poor working conditions in Foxconn factories. Subsequent reports on Foxconn factories in 2007 prompted Apple to start auditing its supplier factories and also to begin publishing its annual Supplier Responsibility Progress Reports. In 2006, the Western media began investigating labor conditions in Apple’s supply chain in China. Apple has promised this year to improve working conditions in its Chinese supplier factories, but based on its track record of not meeting such promises in the past, we are compelled to ask: are these promises sincere or merely a public relations ploy? Background Information Unfortunately, Apple has never responded to any of China Labor Watch’s investigative findings. We hope that Apple will respond to these investigative findings, which go well beyond that of the Fair Labor Association (in a study paid for by Apple). We also document for the first time the tremendous problems caused by the use of ‘labor dispatching’ by Apple suppliers in China.Īpple must take on the responsibility of improving conditions in its supply chain and changing its purchasing system. More broadly, this investigation of ten different Apple factories in China finds that harmful, damaging work environments characterized by illegally long hours for low levels of pay are widespread in Apple’s supply, with working conditions frequently worse at suppliers other than Foxconn. For example, we found that at least two workers committed suicide at Flextronics’ factories last year (Ganzhou and Zhuhai) and that upwards of 59 workers were injured in explosions at Riteng’s Shanghai factory last December (both are Apple’s suppliers). This investigation of other Apple suppliers in China reveals that serious work-related injuries and worker suicides are by no means isolated to just Foxconn but exist throughout Apple’s supply chain. But these deaths and the focus on conditions at Foxconn reflect only a portion of the troubling conditions at Apple suppliers. Many additional suicides may have gone unreported. On June 14 th, a Foxconn worker jumped to his death from his apartment building in Chengdu, marking the 18 th reported worker suicide at Foxconn factories in China in just over two years. Working Environment and Occupational Safety Investigative Report on Labor Conditions at Ten Apple Supplier Factories in China.The Effect of Labor Dispatching on Workers’ Rights.Reasons for the Rise of Labor Dispatching.An Investigative Report on Labor Dispatching Practices at Apple Suppliers in China.Problems Overlooked by Apple/Labor Dispatching.
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