Apple admits child labor, falsified records & hazardous waste

Apple admits child labor, falsified records & hazardous waste 

Apple have published their 2010 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report [pdf link], The stated purpose of the report is to ensure that "the companies we do business with... provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made."

The report discovered 17 "core" violations, including hazardous waste disposal, falsified records, and "excessive recruitment fees." It makes for interesting reading, not least in the face of ongoing industry-wide concerns about child labor, unsafe or unfair work practices and the general cost of making the gadgets we all enjoy. According to Apple’s own figures, in 2009 there were three manufacturing facilities where underage workers were employed. Apple have, obviously, leapt into action to deal with the so-called “core violations”, and they’re highlighting that only 2-percent of the core issues they assessed with non-compliant, but whether that’s sufficient to take away the bad taste in consumers’ mouths remains to be seen. All three factories hired 15-year-old workers, despite their countries' minimum employment age of 16. Eleven underage workers were hired in total, according to the report, and while all had reached the legal age of employment by the time the audits were conducted, all had been hired illegally.

After the discovery, Apple "required each facility to develop and institute appropriate management systems--such as more thorough ID checks and verification procedures--to prevent future employment of underage workers."

In a way, Apple are suffering by their own hand. The company claims that suppliers have told them no other firm they work with has gone into such stringent investigations, and it seems likely that these issues that affect Apple’s production lines will also be echoed on those of others’. Still, given the halo around Apple, and its regular mention of environmental issues and the like at their press events, this could prove an embarassing blot on their account book.

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