Nearly Two-Thirds of Apple’s Suppliers Don’t Abide by Worker Hours Limits

[meegbear]

Apple for the first time (to its credit!) released a list of suppliers today along with a compliance report that shows only 38-percent are abiding by rules on work hours limits.

According to Apple's audit, at 93 facilities more than 50 percent of people worked more than its limit of 60 hours per week. At 90 facilities it found people worked more than 6 consecutive days at least once per month, and 37 facilities failed to ensure that workers took at least 1 day off in out of every 7. In response Apple began weekly tracking of working hours at facilities where excessive work hours were commonplace.

All of which is to say, this is quite bad, and more than a little depressing. But look, Apple isn't the only guilty party here. Those 300 workers who threatened mass suicide last week were cranking out X-Boxes, for example. I'm glad to see Apple making this information public, and an attempt to do something about it. I'd love to see more companies doing the same.

Because if Apple is going public with this, and only 38-percent of its suppliers are in compliance, there's no telling how bad things are in the deep dark holes where most of our electronics come from.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1002

[hughee99]

1. Call it a hunch, but if Apple volunteered that only 38%

of it's suppliers are following the rules, then it was only done to preempt someone else from reporting it first. Otherwise, that's they sort of issue you try to fix internally, without the bad PR.

[rfranklin]

2. I think it would be a good gesture if the CEO of Apple would forgo his stock options...

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is due to receive annual compensation worth $378 million, boosted by restricted stock awards that are payable over the coming decade.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/01/09/bloomberg_articlesLXK2790YHQ0X.DTL#ixzz1jMmjtyPq

and cover the cost of rejecting all products from those suppliers until they follow the guidelines. They do have control over what the suppliers do, they just don't bother to enforce their own rules.

[tridim]

4. Or use their $82 billion in hoarded cash to build factories in the US that don't use slave labor.

Do something good for once Apple.

Not holding my breath.

[onehandle]

3. ALL of which supply ALL TECH COMPANIES. Samsung, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Sony, Intel, HP, Dell...

If you used an electronic device to post or view in this thread, you support the same suppliers, no matter what you use.

[meegbear]

5. No shit Sherlock ...

if the story was about any other company, you'd be praising it for it's journalistic integrity.

Deal with it - they're no better than any other company.

[onehandle]

6. You're right. They're no better than any other company. Except they are trying to be...

Apple Joins Fair Labor Association (First Tech Company To Join)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13, 2012 The Fair Labor Association today announced that Apple will join the FLA as a Participating Company, effective immediately. The FLA will independently assess facilities in Apple's supply chain and report detailed findings on the FLA website. Apple becomes the first technology company to join the Association as a Participating Company.

FLA Participating Companies agree to uphold the FLA Workplace Code of Conduct throughout their supply chains and commit to the FLA's Principles of Fair Labor and Responsible Sourcing. In 2011, the FLA worked with Apple to assess the impact of Apple's training programs which help raise awareness of labor rights and standards among workers in its supply chain. Like all new affiliates, Apple will align its compliance program with FLA obligations within the next two years.

"We found that Apple takes supplier responsibility seriously and we look forward to their participation in the Fair Labor Association," said Auret van Heerden, FLA's President and CEO. "We welcome Apple's commitment to greater transparency and independent oversight, and we hope its participation will set a new standard for the electronics industry."

In addition to conducting independent assessments of participating companies' supplier facilities, FLA works with civil society organizations, universities and companies to develop and improve social responsibility programs and provide training and capacity building at the facility and brand level.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/apple-joins-fair-labor-association-137285303.html

[lapislzi]

7. My company [name redacted] belongs to the FLA

It's not a guarantee of anything. We have to ensure compliance up and down our supply chain, and unless you have boots on the ground in China (which we don't, being a small company), there is no way to be sure that the data provided by the factories is accurate. The audit is based on the answers to a questionnaire.

During the audit process, money can and does change hands, and much depends on the "relationship" one vendor has with its own supply chain and the firm handling the audit.

We discovered by accident last week that one of our factories had deliberately fabricated and under-reported the number of workers it employed. This is serious; not only does it put our FLA standing in jeopardy, it means that the factory is probably in violation of any number of health and safety regulations.

I could spend all my time in China and still not make a dent in labor compliance.

It is frustrating and discouraging, especially when you work for a small company like mine; we're really trying to do the right thing and bucking the tide.

[onehandle]

9. Apple won't be able to get away with that.

Their high-visibility as the most valuable company in the world makes whatever they do, top news.

This move will increase it ten-fold and create expectations. I highly doubt they would have voluntarily done this without the intention to follow through.

Samsung, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Sony, Intel, HP, Dell, etc. Your move.

[LanternWaste]

8. So Pepsi is pretty much the same as Coke?

So Pepsi is pretty much the same as Coke?
I kinda though after the cola-wars of the 80's, everyone would have caught on to that.

But, thinking about it, I suppose the guy who buys only Pepsi because he hates Coke that much would need to rationalize it somehow...