Apple Factories Come Under Scrutiny
Cited: CNN
Apple will be paying a close eye to a report regarding those companies that supply them with components for their various gadgets that we all seem to love so much. The report called the supplier responsibility report covers 197 of Apple’s supplier factories around the world, though 97% of them are located in the Far East. The report point out many violations that were discovered at these factories and exactly what action took or is planning on taking to remedy the situation.
The report shows that in 52 plants that supply Apple there were no procedures in place that prohibit discrimination on the results of medical tests, including hepatitis B. In 24 suppliers, pregnancy tests were given but again there were no policies in place to keep women from being let go because they were pregnant. At 93 plants 50% of the workers were on shift in excess of 60 hours in a week, with many also working more than 6 days in row. At least 37 of the facilities lacked any way to track and ensure that work hour guidelines were being followed. Among the problems were 42 plants with payment issues, included delayed payments and no payslips. Many others don’t have proper benefits as required by law and regulation while others used deductions from pay as disciplinary action.
Almost all of the plants were cited for one or more violation but at least 70% were found not to be paying adequate overtime. At this time Apple has only cut its ties to one of these suppliers as they have failed to be in compliance on numerous occasions. Critics are likely to come down hard on Apple since they are at the top, but others do note that Apple is one of the only American electronics makers to conduct the annual reports.
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My take:It is refreshing to see that Apple isn’t afraid to bring scrutiny on itself in conducting these audits. Now it remains to be seen what they intend to do about it.
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