Apple admits using child labour

IrishTonyO

Interesting article in the Independent, where Apple admits using child labour. I am sure this will not sit well with a lot of their customers.

http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/apple-admits-using-child-labour-2084268.html

Fighting Irish

Either Apple pay them or they don't eat

preilly79

there's a couple of things you may not have known, but that's not really your fault; the article is just a bit of spin.

Apple audits its manufacturing suppliers to ensure no child labour is used and that workers are treated fairly (max. 60 hour work week for example). So this audit wasn't done to expose apple's practices, it was done BY apple to expose their supplier practices. they then made this public knowing that it would be cast in bad light by media outlets.

almost everything tech is sourced from suppliers in asia, and of the big computer manufacturers (Dell, IBM, HP ...) apple is the only one to audit and make public these findings.

their customers should be happy that they are being responsible corporate citizens by making public this data ... nobody else is.

IrishTonyO

preilly79 wrote: »

there's a couple of things you may not have known, but that's not really your fault; the article is just a bit of spin.

Apple audits its manufacturing suppliers to ensure no child labour is used and that workers are treated fairly (max. 60 hour work week for example). So this audit wasn't done to expose apple's practices, it was done BY apple to expose their supplier practices. they then made this public knowing that it would be cast in bad light my media outlets.

almost everything tech is sourced from suppliers in asia, and of the big computer manufacturers (Dell, IBM, HP ...) apple is the only one to audit and make public these findings.

their customers should be happy that they are being responsible corporate citizens by making public this data ... nobody else is.

But this is the part I found disturbing

"However, Apple has not stopped using the factories."

What is the point of having standards etc if you don't enforce them??

NinjaTruncs

In fairness it was eleven 15 year olds, i worked in a super valu when I was 15, should we out them as using child labour?

When i read the thread title i was thinking of 9 or 10 year olds.

preilly79

Page 22 of the actual source document, Supplier Responsibility says that they will work with senior management to fix the situation. given the report has only been published in the last week, i'd think it's something they're working on right now.

give the other big players a call and see what they're doing to address the problem (as it's a problem all companies face who outsource manufacture to asia)

Rulmeq

Typical sensationalist journalism...

Apple instigated an investigation into its suppliers, the reason they had the investigation was to find out where abuses were going on, and to eliminate them.

Every other company in the world that "out-sources" it's manufacturing is guilty of using companies that abuse human rights, the difference is that Apple actually audited theirs, and have published their results.

Also Apple didn't use child labour, companies that supply Apple used child labour, there's quite a difference.

Magenta

OP maybe you should actually read links before you post them...
"Apple said the child workers are now no longer being used, or are no longer underage."

IrishTonyO

Magenta wrote: »

OP maybe you should actually read links before you post them...
"Apple said the child workers are now no longer being used, or are no longer underage."

I did read the article and Apple did admit using child labour as in the title of the thread. The fact the the children in question are now older and legal does not negate that fact

Magenta

IrishTonyO wrote: »

I did read the article and Apple did admit using child labour as in the title of the thread. The fact the the children in question are now older and legal does not negate that fact

How is this a Consumer Issue anyway? Have you not heard of the Humanities forum?

edit- Thanks for the rather sexist PM. Do not send me any more.

preilly79

Magenta wrote: »

edit- Thanks for the rather sexist PM. Do not send me any more.

Interesting. Not suitable to be pasted here?

Cuddlesworth

can I get a sexist pm? Or should we outsource sexist pm writing to Asia so you can complain about them too.

Magenta

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

can I get a sexist pm? Or should we outsource sexist pm writing to Asia so you can complain about them too.

Hold on til he trawls through pages and pages of your posts until he finds one where you make reference to being female... that gets him even madder than the sensationalist crap he posts about.

Rulmeq

IrishTonyO wrote: »

I did read the article and Apple did admit using child labour as in the title of the thread. The fact the the children in question are now older and legal does not negate that fact

No they didn't. The results of the audit are very clear on this. Companies that supply Apple used child labour. Apple have not. And given that these companies are the largest companies in China (if not the world), e.g. Foxconn, and supply every other technology company on the planet (Dell and HP being their main customers by virtue of their size), it means that what Apple have uncovered is the use of child labour in the out-sourced computer manufacturing industry (not exactly news).

IrishTonyO

Rulmeq wrote: »

No they didn't. The results of the audit are very clear on this. Companies that supply Apple used child labour. Apple have not. And given that these companies are the largest companies in China (if not the world), e.g. Foxconn, and supply every other technology company on the planet (Dell and HP being their main customers by virtue of their size), it means that what Apple have uncovered is the use of child labour in the out-sourced computer manufacturing industry (not exactly news).

The title of the article in the Independent was as in the title of the thread "Apple admits using child labour" I merely repeated it here and linked to the article.

keefg

IrishTonyO wrote: »

I am sure this will not sit well with a lot of their customers.

As a Apple customer I for one am outraged at this revelation.

Had I known children were involved in making Apple products (and being paid a much reduced wage no doubt) I would have asked for a better deal on my Macbook Pro.

If these big corporations are going to employ street urchins then the very least they could do is pass those savings onto hard working Joe Public.

/storms off to R&R to start a rant.

preilly79

IrishTonyO wrote: »

The title of the article in the Independent was as in the title of the thread "Apple admits using child labour" I merely repeated it here and linked to the article, without actually doing some research of the source article and coming to my own conclusions.

Fixed that for you.

jor el

Putting a stop to the childishness until the forum mods can comment/reopen.