Apple cuts off supplier Pegatron for student labor violations

[lazypc]

Summary

After finding violations and falsified paperwork concerning it's student labor program, Apple has cut off major supplier Pegatron from any new contracts.

 

Quotes

Quote

 Pegatron was found to have misclassified the student workers in their program, and falsified paperwork to cover up violations of the Supplier Code of Conduct. Apple has taken the immediate action of placing Pegatron on probation until corrective action is completed, and will only be able to secure new contracts once the probation is lifted.

 

My thoughts

We hear Linus speak fairly often on going to manufacturing facilities to inspect working environments concerning merchandise, and I know it is a practice that is becoming more standard with imported goods. But, rarely does it seem like any violations or corrective actions make the news. So I appreciate knowing when inspections do actually find something and what is being done to correct it. Not an Apple fan... but kudos

 

Sources

https://basictech.tips/2020/11/09/apple-cuts-off-supplier-pegatron-for-student-labor-violations/

https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/9/21556154/apple-supplier-pegatron-student-labor-violation

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-09/apple-suspends-new-business-with-pegatron-over-labor-violations

https://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/pdf/Apple-Supplier-Code-of-Conduct-January.pdf

[Vishera]

When it comes to labor Apple protects workers in some places and abuses them in others,an example:

Quote

At a Catcher Technology Co. manufacturing complex in the Chinese industrial city of Suqian, about six hours’ drive from Shanghai, workers stand for up to 10 hours a day in hot workshops slicing and blasting iPhone casings for Apple Inc., handling noxious chemicals sometimes without proper gloves or masks.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-16/workers-at-apple-supplier-catcher-describe-harsh-conditions

 

Quote

Apple, Foxconn Broke a Chinese Labor Law to Build Latest iPhones

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-09/apple-foxconn-broke-a-chinese-labor-law-for-iphone-production

 

[Master Disaster]

58 minutes ago, Vishera said:

SNIP

Yep, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a deliberate move by Apple to seek out a positive headline for once.

[Lord Vile]

1 hour ago, Vishera said:

When it comes to labor Apple protects workers in some places and abuses them in others,an example:

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-16/workers-at-apple-supplier-catcher-describe-harsh-conditions

 

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-09/apple-foxconn-broke-a-chinese-labor-law-for-iphone-production

 

They have reworked their deal with Foxconn though since that

[Vishera]

21 minutes ago, Lord Vile said:

They have reworked their deal with Foxconn though since that

First of all Catcher Technology is not Foxconn,both are still working for Apple.

As for Foxconn the sucide rate in their Apple factories was so high that it made headlines and bad rep for Apple - 

So they installed nets around buildings and hired psychiatrists to reduce those numbers to a minimum while the awful conditions remain.

[lazypc]

Is that why this building has no stairs???

[Lord Vile]

34 minutes ago, Vishera said:

First of all Catcher Technology is not Foxconn,both are still working for Apple.

As for Foxconn the sucide rate in their Apple factories was so high that it made headlines and bad rep for Apple - 

So they installed nets around buildings and hired psychiatrists to reduce those numbers to a minimum while the awful conditions remain.

They have improved the conditions over the last few years 

[Gaires]

30 minutes ago, Vishera said:

As for Foxconn the sucide rate in their Apple factories was so high that it made headlines and bad rep for Apple

Well, no wonder when they use forced labour.

https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-forced-uighur-labor-iphone-factory-2020-3?op=1&r=US&IR=T

 

1 hour ago, Master Disaster said:

Yep, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a deliberate move by Apple to seek out a positive headline for once.

It's still better than doing nothing. We cannot just accept these working conditions as the norm, because then nothing will change. So give a good feedback when deserved and criticize them otherwise.

[Vishera]

1 hour ago, Lord Vile said:

They have improved the conditions over the last few years 

The news article i quoted about Foxconn is from 2019:

2 hours ago, Lord Vile said:

3 hours ago, Vishera said:

 

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-09/apple-foxconn-broke-a-chinese-labor-law-for-iphone-production

 

They have reworked their deal with Foxconn though since that

The suicides story happened in 2016,this is a different and more recent one though.

[Sauron]

They're ok with it until they're caught breaking laws, at which point they performatively suspend their involvement with that supplier until the controversy dies out.

[Vishera]

Just now, Sauron said:

They're ok with it until they're caught breaking laws, at which point they performatively suspend their involvement with that supplier until the controversy dies out.

This one is different though,Apple cut them off primarily because they lied to them by falsifying paper work.

Lying to the richest corporation in the world is bad for business,trust and reputation.

[Sauron]

5 minutes ago, Vishera said:

This one is different though,Apple cut them off primarily because they lied to them by falsifying paper work.

Lying to the richest corporation in the world is bad for business,trust and reputation.

So... I guess they just care when they're not told about something awful rather than about the awful thing itself, kind of like a mafia boss. Nice.

[BuckGup]

2 hours ago, Sauron said:

They're ok with it until they're caught breaking laws, at which point they performatively suspend their involvement with that supplier until the controversy dies out.

Exactly it’s just for good PR to make them seem like they care

[SpaceGhostC2C]

I don't care for charity. I'm for social security.

I don't care for corporate social responsibility. I'm for unionization and the increase of labor regulation and inspection by a democratic China.

 

But I'll take what I can get. I'm not one to criticize the band-aid for not being the cure, the patch for not being actual good programming. Just let's not get distracted by it either. They will need their 1st of May arc sooner or later.

[Lord Vile]

3 hours ago, Vishera said:

The news article i quoted about Foxconn is from 2019:

The suicides story happened in 2016,this is a different and more recent one though.

the law they broke was on temp workers not working conditions...

[Commodus]

I think Apple does care about improving labor conditions for its devices, it's just not realistically able to uproot its entire manufacturing infrastructure to solve those issues. It can diversify, but much of the supply chain remains in China and eastern Asia — despite what some politicians think, it can't just move everything to the US .

 

And I'm still amused by the people who try to claim Apple is uniquely bad about this, only to turn to an Android phone made in similar conditions, a Windows PC made in similar conditions, a console made in similar conditions... only without as much transparency. It's more a pretense for rabid fandom than to push for a meaningful improvement in labor conditions, which would require a complex, concerted effort that won't happen overnight.

 

[Gaires]

1 hour ago, Commodus said:

I think Apple does care about improving labor conditions for its devices, it's just not realistically able to uproot its entire manufacturing infrastructure to solve those issues. It can diversify, but much of the supply chain remains in China and eastern Asia — despite what some politicians think, it can't just move everything to the US .

 

And I'm still amused by the people who try to claim Apple is uniquely bad about this, only to turn to an Android phone made in similar conditions, a Windows PC made in similar conditions, a console made in similar conditions... only without as much transparency. It's more a pretense for rabid fandom than to push for a meaningful improvement in labor conditions, which would require a complex, concerted effort that won't happen overnight.

 

Sure, it's problem with every company. Doesn't mean we cannot criticize one of them specifically.

Easiest way to change the situation would be to first make few big companies to change their behaviour regarding labour standarts, because then they would start to lobby for others to change too.

Amazon was pushed to pay their employees $15 per hour and now it's lobbying hard to raise the federal minimum wage.

[Commodus]

12 minutes ago, Gaires said:

Sure, it's problem with every company. Doesn't mean we cannot criticize one of them specifically.

Easiest way to change the situation would be to first make few big companies to change their behaviour regarding labour standarts, because then they would start to lobby for others to change too.

Amazon was pushed to pay their employees $15 per hour and now it's lobbying hard to raise the federal minimum wage.

You can criticize Apple, but there's a distinction between that and singling out Apple as if it was uniquely to blame, as multiple people here have done. It's not just a thinly-veiled excuse to indulge in anti-Apple bashing; it's a genuinely problematic stance that gives other vendors a free pass, in some cases for doing things that make Apple look enlightened by comparison.

 

 

[Gaires]

1 minute ago, Commodus said:

it's a genuinely problematic stance that gives other vendors a free pass, in some cases for doing things that make Apple look enlightened by comparison.

Sure, your first post just sounded to my ear like "you cannot single out one company because they all do it".

[poochyena]

10 hours ago, lazypc said:

But, rarely does it seem like any violations or corrective actions make the news.

Thats because unless the claims are made from the result of a criminal investigation, then they could be sued for libel. Its one thing to witness conduct you don't like, and another to publicly call that company out for that conduct. Its a lot simpler to just quietly back away from a company than to make a big legal mess about it. Its why "white collar crime" is less likely to be reported.

[lazypc]

There have been a few good points here.

I think there is a difference between a company not choosing to work with another company over their working conditions and a company violating supplier agreements over working conditions. I can see how the former may never get talked about, but the latter would even if there wasn't criminal charges due to violations of said agreement.

 

I understand that this is far from the only case of labor misuse not only by Apple, but companies everywhere. Just the other day I read an article about Costco dropping a coconut milk supplier over forced use of monkey labor. Where monkeys where being used to harvest over 1,000 coconuts per day and chained to tires or put in small cages when not working or performing.

 

Over the years a number of companies have been found to use Child Labor, Forced Labor, or just not pay employees enough to live off of. But as much as I dislike some of the ways the internet has become a way to spread fake news, or it's effects on youth with social media. The spread of information has gotten better and less dictated by mainstream media. Otherwise I think we would still hear little on the subject and a lot of the recently exposed examples would still exist.

[Vishera]

10 hours ago, Commodus said:

I think Apple does care about improving labor conditions for its devices, it's just not realistically able to uproot its entire manufacturing infrastructure to solve those issues. It can diversify, but much of the supply chain remains in China and eastern Asia — despite what some politicians think, it can't just move everything to the US .

 

And I'm still amused by the people who try to claim Apple is uniquely bad about this, only to turn to an Android phone made in similar conditions, a Windows PC made in similar conditions, a console made in similar conditions... only without as much transparency. It's more a pretense for rabid fandom than to push for a meaningful improvement in labor conditions, which would require a complex, concerted effort that won't happen overnight.

 

Apple chose these manufacturers because they are cheap - regardless of their treatment of their employees.

And yes i agree that other manufacturers do that but the topic at hand is about Apple after all.

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

Related 
 

 

[Commodus]

3 hours ago, Gaires said:

Sure, your first post just sounded to my ear like "you cannot single out one company because they all do it".

I should be clearer. It's okay to call out Apple; it's wrong to call it out as if it's the only one, or to pretend that it's much worse than others despite a lack of evidence.

 

I'm not letting Apple off the hook, but I am thankful that it does take steps to improve labor conditions and is transparent when it falls short. While labor issues are a problem across the board, there are tech companies that either don't share their contractors' work conditions or have abuses that fly under the radar.

[ThePointblank]

The problem from my experience dealing with Chinese companies is that often, they'll say and promise one thing, and will do their damn best to hide the true situation, or deliver something that falls far short of what was promised.

 

And when you confront the company about the issue; they'll often just ignore you. And if you cut them off, they'll just shut down the company, and restart it again almost the same day, and you're back at square one trying to figure out if the new company you've started working with is going to pull the same stunt with you again.

 

There are some Chinese companies that do actually care about their reputations and try to produce quality goods, but those companies are few and hard to find.