A new report today claims that Apple is reluctant to ban suppliers found guilty of labor violations, and it could take years to do so, even in the most serious cases.
In one case, it says, Apple took three years to stop using a Chinese supplier that was repeatedly found to be using child labor …
The Information carry the report:
Seven years ago, Apple made a staggering discovery: among the employees in a factory in China that used the most computer ports in its MacBooks were two 15-year-olds. Apple told manufacturer Suyin Electronics that it would not get any new business until it improved employee screening to ensure no more people under the age of 16 were hired.
Suyin undertook to do so, but three months later Apple found three more underage workers, including a 14-year-old. Apple, which has promised to ban suppliers who repeatedly use underage workers, has stopped giving Suyin new business because of the violations. But it took Apple more than three years to completely sever its ties with Suyin, which continued to make HDMI, USB and other ports for older MacBooks under previous contracts.
Apple claims that they are not tolerant of such abuses, but several sources accuse Apple of dragging its feet when there is no alternative provider ready to make a gap.
Apple has trouble removing vendors that consistently violate these rules, immediately: of course, there are not many alternative manufacturers that can easily pick up. New vendors can take years to meet Apple’s strict quality and volume standards. In the case of Suyin, Apple’s procurement team was reluctant to suddenly transfer orders to other suppliers because it would cause delays and incur higher costs, a former employee said.
In interviews, ten former members of Apple’s supplier responsibility team – the unit responsible for monitoring manufacturing partners for breaches of labor, environmental and safety rules – claimed that Apple avoided or delayed cutting ties with offenders as soon as it would harm his business. The former team members, for example, said that Apple continued to work with suppliers who refused to put in place safety proposals or who consistently violated labor laws.
An Apple reaction that has been seen twice recently is to win an offending supplier to win new contracts, but let it work on the current contracts.
This is the action the Cupertino company took in response to Pegatron allowing students to work nights and overtime, in violation of Apple’s code of conduct, despite the fact that the supplier “made an extraordinary effort to hide what he was doing – which means that future audits can be unreliable. Apple took exactly the same line as Wistron in India, where it was confirmed that workers were underpaid.
Since companies may consistently continue to work for Apple and win new business once they resolve the issue, it’s unclear how much incentive there is for vendors to stick to the rules.
This is not the first time that former Apple staff have accused Apple of being complicit in labor law violations. A former senior executive at Apple, who is familiar with the company’s Chinese operations, said earlier this month that the company would not act if the supply of a supplier led to production delays.
The need to be stricter about such abuses was one of the few criticisms I made on my 2020 Apple report card about the company.
Photo: Qilai Shen / Bloomberg
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