Apple, Samsung and Sony face child labour claims - BBC News:
Showing posts with label Apple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apple. Show all posts
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Report Cites Forced Labor in Malaysia’s Electronics Industry - NYTimes.com
Nearly one in three migrant workers in Malaysia’s thriving electronics industry toils under forced labor conditions, essentially trapped in the job, a factory monitoring group found in a report issued on Wednesday.
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Report Cites Forced Labor in Malaysia’s Electronics Industry - NYTimes.com:
Thursday, June 5, 2014
'Everyone has a little bit of Congo in their pocket' - Telegraph
Source: Telegraph:
A tiny portion of the price you paid for your smartphone, tablet or laptop could have been funneled to warlords in the Congo, lengthening a war that has already cost six million deaths - the deadliest conflict since WWII. It could also have led to slavery and systematic rape.
Continue here:
Monday, September 16, 2013
Fast and Flawed Inspections of Factories Abroad
Source: NYTimes
Inspectors came and went from a Walmart-certified factory in Guangdong Province in China, approving its production of more than $2 million in specialty items that would land on Walmart’s shelves in time for Christmas.
Continue:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/02/business/global/superficial-visits-and-trickery-undermine-foreign-factory-inspections.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Inspectors came and went from a Walmart-certified factory in Guangdong Province in China, approving its production of more than $2 million in specialty items that would land on Walmart’s shelves in time for Christmas.
Continue:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/02/business/global/superficial-visits-and-trickery-undermine-foreign-factory-inspections.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Monday, February 25, 2013
HP cracks down on forced labor from temps, students in China | VentureBeat
http://venturebeat.com/2013/02/08/hp-china-labor/#ZoP9l0WIj6WeAqS7.99
Source: VentureBeat
Source: VentureBeat
February 8, 2013 7:55 AM
HP has given direction to its Chinese
suppliers that the use of temporary and student workers should be
limited and should not be forced.
While child labor has plagued HP competitor Apple’s manufacturing facilities in the PRC, HP is addressing a separate issue: legal-aged workers who are required by local governments and school administrators to work in factories when orders from overseas surge.
Students in high school can be required to work overly long hours on tasks that have nothing to do with their chosen fields of study. More sinister still, the factories often give school administrators a financial kickback for the students’ labor.
Now, HP told The New York Times, it’s trying to make sure that work corresponds to students’ area of study and that both temporary workers and student workers at least feel free “to leave work at any time upon reasonable notice without negative repercussions, and they must have access to reliable and reprisal-free grievance mechanisms.”
Enforcing these demands will undoubtedly prove problematic and will require more audits and supervision of suppliers, as Apple has found over the years. After more than a year of concentrated effort and investigation, the iPhone maker is still finding underage workers at its suppliers’ plants in China.
Lest we jump to the conclusion that our Chinese manufacturing counterparts are purely evil slavedrivers, let’s take a look at the past few decades of Chinese labor. The PRC’s one-child policy is, as of 2011, starting to have a measurable impact on the country’s workforce.
A census conducted in 2010 showed the country’s population was then half urban and aging quickly because fewer children were being born. And in 2012, the available workforce for labor shrunk for the first time by 3.45 million year-over-year, again due to the one-child policy.
The shrinking Chinese labor force trend is expected to continue at least through 2030, and the National Population and Family Planning Commission has stated the one-child policy will remain in effect at least through 2018. More and more elderly folks in the PRC will require care from younger citizens, and less migrant labor from rural areas will be available.
Given China’s place in the world of manufacturing, it’s a small wonder the PRC’s plants and factories are turning to drastic measures to meet Western demands. The real question is what we all can do to alleviate the pressure on China’s workforce from external sources as well as the country’s own internal crises.
Image credit: Imaginechina/Corbis
While child labor has plagued HP competitor Apple’s manufacturing facilities in the PRC, HP is addressing a separate issue: legal-aged workers who are required by local governments and school administrators to work in factories when orders from overseas surge.
Students in high school can be required to work overly long hours on tasks that have nothing to do with their chosen fields of study. More sinister still, the factories often give school administrators a financial kickback for the students’ labor.
Now, HP told The New York Times, it’s trying to make sure that work corresponds to students’ area of study and that both temporary workers and student workers at least feel free “to leave work at any time upon reasonable notice without negative repercussions, and they must have access to reliable and reprisal-free grievance mechanisms.”
Enforcing these demands will undoubtedly prove problematic and will require more audits and supervision of suppliers, as Apple has found over the years. After more than a year of concentrated effort and investigation, the iPhone maker is still finding underage workers at its suppliers’ plants in China.
Lest we jump to the conclusion that our Chinese manufacturing counterparts are purely evil slavedrivers, let’s take a look at the past few decades of Chinese labor. The PRC’s one-child policy is, as of 2011, starting to have a measurable impact on the country’s workforce.
A census conducted in 2010 showed the country’s population was then half urban and aging quickly because fewer children were being born. And in 2012, the available workforce for labor shrunk for the first time by 3.45 million year-over-year, again due to the one-child policy.
The shrinking Chinese labor force trend is expected to continue at least through 2030, and the National Population and Family Planning Commission has stated the one-child policy will remain in effect at least through 2018. More and more elderly folks in the PRC will require care from younger citizens, and less migrant labor from rural areas will be available.
Given China’s place in the world of manufacturing, it’s a small wonder the PRC’s plants and factories are turning to drastic measures to meet Western demands. The real question is what we all can do to alleviate the pressure on China’s workforce from external sources as well as the country’s own internal crises.
Image credit: Imaginechina/Corbis
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Is cheap stuff worth child labor?- MSN Money
http://money.msn.com/investing/is-cheap-stuff-worth-child-labor#scpshrtu
SOURCE: MSN Money
By Michael Brush, MSN Money
SOURCE: MSN Money
From smartphones to chocolates to soccer balls, many of the products you use may be made by child workers or tied to other labor abuses. Here's how 7 companies have faced the heat on these issues.
By Michael Brush, MSN Money
Sure, your new iPhone 5 is sweet. But would you like it so much if you knew parts of it were made by a child in China?
Unfortunately, that could be the case.
Last week, Apple (AAPL) announced it had found more than 100 cases of child labor in its supply chain in 2012, including one Chinese company that employed 74 children younger than 16.
Apple deserves kudos, though, for examining its supply chain and sharing the results publicly. If Apple hadn't told us, we might never have known.
A lot of companies fail to go this far. And that's a big reason that child labor is still so prevalent around the world. Children may have helped produce that cotton fabric in your shirt, the chocolate you love and the soccer balls your kids kick around on Saturdays.
Globally, about 215 million children between 5 and 14 work, 115 million of them in hazardous jobs, estimates the International Labor Organization. UNICEF believes nearly one in six children, ages 5 to 14, works. Child labor is most prevalent in agriculture, but it also appears to be common in consumer electronics and apparel production in China.
And child labor is only one of many ongoing worker abuses around the globe, says Kathleen Hamill, who teaches human rights courses at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Other kinds of abuse at foreign companies that produce cheap stuff for U.S. consumers include lousy pay, excessive unpaid overtime and dangerous working conditions.
So why hasn't anyone said “Enough!” and drawn a line in the sand? Politicians seem more concerned with free trade than with labor issues. And many U.S. companies still don't police their suppliers. "A lot of the monitoring they do is not very robust," says Farnam Bidgoli, an analyst with Sustainalytics, which analyzes corporate auditing efforts for investors.
You can also blame complacent consumers, including perhaps yourself. "It's not on the minds of most people when they go to buy things," says Terrence Guay, an associate professor at the Penn State Smeal College of Business. "People just think, 'Where can I get the cheapest stuff?'"
Click through this slide show, published Feb. 5, for a look at seven companies you might regularly buy from that have come under fire for child labor or other worker abuses -- and how they've responded. At the end, I'll show you a way to watchdog other companies you buy from.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Samsung accused of exploiting workers
Samsung accused of exploiting workers:
Workers barred from sitting during shifts and some suffer physical and verbal abuse, alleges China Labor Watch
Samsung Electronics, the world's largest mobile and smartphone maker, is being accused of exploiting younger workers and using factories in China where some employees were physically and verbally abused, and forced to work more than 100 hours per month of overtime.
China Labor Watch, a New York-based organisation set up by Chinese activist Li Quang in 2000, also alleges that its investigation of six Samsung-owned plants and two of its suppliers showed that safety measures – such as providing protective clothing for workers – were not followed.
Workers were barred from sitting during shifts and some suffered physical and verbal abuse, the organisation alleges in the 122-page report. The organisation said it investigated eight plants in China that produce mobile phones, media players, DVD players, TV components, mobile displays, printers, home appliances and mobile phone casings for Samsung. The plants' staff totals more than 24,000 workers.
Investigators entered the factories undercover, or spoke to workers away from the factories.
Samsung acknowledged to the Associated Press that poor working conditions "may have arisen" due to production demands and that a review would take place immediately.
"We frequently review our manufacturing facilities regarding overtime work. We will re-evaluate working hour practices," said spokesman James Chung. "When new production lines are completed or new products are launched, high demand has led to overtime work."
But the company denied allegations that it used child labour, saying it has "zero tolerance" for the hiring of underage workers. China Labor Watch alleged in August that a Samsung supplier, HEG Electronics, was using child workers. Samsung replied to that earlier this week by saying it will audit working conditions at about 250 Chinese companies in its supply chain by the end of this year, and would end contracts if any labour abuses or violations of its policies are found. But the company denied the presence of child workers under 16 at HEG Electronics.
In its latest report, China Labor Watch goes further, and accuses three factories which are all majority-owned by Samsung of hiring workers aged under 18. Hiring workers under the age of 16 is illegal in China, but it is legal to hire 16- and 17-year-olds.
"The SEHZ [Huizhou Samsung Electronics Co, 99% owned by Samsung, with about 10,000 workers] factory was even reported as having management hire underage workers by changing the name on the young person's ID card to the name of a past worker in order to create a facade of age legality," the report alleges. "Additionally, workers at SEHZ, Chaarmtech, and SSKMT [Shenzhen Samsung Kejian Mobile Telecommunication Technology, 60% owned by Samsung and which makes one set of its mobile phones] have reported that underage workers will enter the factories with fake IDs, indicating a major problem with the hiring and supervision system in these factories."
The accusation comes just days after Samsung was handed a billion-dollar fine by a jury in a court battle with rival smartphone maker Apple, in which it was judged to have copied elements of Apple's iPhone interface and earlier models' appearance.
Now, as Apple has done over the past year, it is facing accusations over labour conditions in factories in China – leading China Labor Watch to headline its report "Is Samsung Infringing Upon Apple's Patent to Bully Workers?"
The American company became so concerned about claims over working conditions in its Chinese suppliers' factories that chief executive Tim Cook paid a special inspection visit earlier this year, and Apple joined the Fair Labor Organisation, which monitors working conditions in far eastern factories used by a number of American companies.
The China Labor Watch report also said that while Samsung suppliers Tianjin Intops, and Tianjin Chaarmtech Electronics complied with minimum wage laws (workers were paid the base monthly salary of 1,310 renminbi or $206), the pay was so low that many workers were compelled to work overtime.
"Dependence on overtime work is characteristic of workers at almost every investigated factory," the report said.
The group also claimed that Samsung or its suppliers knew that Chinese underage youths were using forged identity cards to get jobs.
The group's report said that "the factory did not take any actions to prevent the hiring of child workers even when they know about them". Samsung also failed to provide a way for workers to lodge complaints, it said.
"Even when they suffered unfair treatment, workers at almost [every] factory lacked any effective channel by which to express grievances to management," the report said.
The allegations faced by Samsung are reminiscent of a labour scandal that dogged Apple through 2011. A flurry of worker suicides at Foxconn Technology Group, Apple's largest supplier, drew attention to conditions faced by workers in China who put iPhones and other devices together. Since then, Foxconn has raised pay and allowed anonymous audits of staff by the Fair Labor Organisation.
Related articles
Samsung Electronics, the world's largest mobile and smartphone maker, is being accused of exploiting younger workers and using factories in China where some employees were physically and verbally abused, and forced to work more than 100 hours per month of overtime.
China Labor Watch, a New York-based organisation set up by Chinese activist Li Quang in 2000, also alleges that its investigation of six Samsung-owned plants and two of its suppliers showed that safety measures – such as providing protective clothing for workers – were not followed.
Workers were barred from sitting during shifts and some suffered physical and verbal abuse, the organisation alleges in the 122-page report. The organisation said it investigated eight plants in China that produce mobile phones, media players, DVD players, TV components, mobile displays, printers, home appliances and mobile phone casings for Samsung. The plants' staff totals more than 24,000 workers.
Investigators entered the factories undercover, or spoke to workers away from the factories.
Samsung acknowledged to the Associated Press that poor working conditions "may have arisen" due to production demands and that a review would take place immediately.
"We frequently review our manufacturing facilities regarding overtime work. We will re-evaluate working hour practices," said spokesman James Chung. "When new production lines are completed or new products are launched, high demand has led to overtime work."
But the company denied allegations that it used child labour, saying it has "zero tolerance" for the hiring of underage workers. China Labor Watch alleged in August that a Samsung supplier, HEG Electronics, was using child workers. Samsung replied to that earlier this week by saying it will audit working conditions at about 250 Chinese companies in its supply chain by the end of this year, and would end contracts if any labour abuses or violations of its policies are found. But the company denied the presence of child workers under 16 at HEG Electronics.
In its latest report, China Labor Watch goes further, and accuses three factories which are all majority-owned by Samsung of hiring workers aged under 18. Hiring workers under the age of 16 is illegal in China, but it is legal to hire 16- and 17-year-olds.
"The SEHZ [Huizhou Samsung Electronics Co, 99% owned by Samsung, with about 10,000 workers] factory was even reported as having management hire underage workers by changing the name on the young person's ID card to the name of a past worker in order to create a facade of age legality," the report alleges. "Additionally, workers at SEHZ, Chaarmtech, and SSKMT [Shenzhen Samsung Kejian Mobile Telecommunication Technology, 60% owned by Samsung and which makes one set of its mobile phones] have reported that underage workers will enter the factories with fake IDs, indicating a major problem with the hiring and supervision system in these factories."
The accusation comes just days after Samsung was handed a billion-dollar fine by a jury in a court battle with rival smartphone maker Apple, in which it was judged to have copied elements of Apple's iPhone interface and earlier models' appearance.
Now, as Apple has done over the past year, it is facing accusations over labour conditions in factories in China – leading China Labor Watch to headline its report "Is Samsung Infringing Upon Apple's Patent to Bully Workers?"
The American company became so concerned about claims over working conditions in its Chinese suppliers' factories that chief executive Tim Cook paid a special inspection visit earlier this year, and Apple joined the Fair Labor Organisation, which monitors working conditions in far eastern factories used by a number of American companies.
The China Labor Watch report also said that while Samsung suppliers Tianjin Intops, and Tianjin Chaarmtech Electronics complied with minimum wage laws (workers were paid the base monthly salary of 1,310 renminbi or $206), the pay was so low that many workers were compelled to work overtime.
"Dependence on overtime work is characteristic of workers at almost every investigated factory," the report said.
The group also claimed that Samsung or its suppliers knew that Chinese underage youths were using forged identity cards to get jobs.
The group's report said that "the factory did not take any actions to prevent the hiring of child workers even when they know about them". Samsung also failed to provide a way for workers to lodge complaints, it said.
"Even when they suffered unfair treatment, workers at almost [every] factory lacked any effective channel by which to express grievances to management," the report said.
The allegations faced by Samsung are reminiscent of a labour scandal that dogged Apple through 2011. A flurry of worker suicides at Foxconn Technology Group, Apple's largest supplier, drew attention to conditions faced by workers in China who put iPhones and other devices together. Since then, Foxconn has raised pay and allowed anonymous audits of staff by the Fair Labor Organisation.
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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