Apple supplier audit reveals sub-minimum wage pay and records of underage labor
By Vlad Savov 
posted February 27th 2010 9:53PM
posted February 27th 2010 9:53PM
It should come as no shock to learn that cheaper overseas factories are cutting illegal corners, but it's disappointing to hear Apple's note that most of the 102 audited manufacturers said Cupertino was the only vendor to perform such rigorous compliance checks. Still, we'll take what we can get and the very existence of this report -- which can be savagely skewed to defame Apple's efforts (as demonstrated expertly by The Daily Telegraph below) -- is an encouraging sign that corporate responsibility is being taken seriously. We hope, wherever your geek loyalties and fervor may lie, that you'll agree Apple's leading in the right direction and that its competitors should at the very least have matching monitoring schemes. They may have to swallow some bad PR at first, but sweeping up the dirty details of where gadgets come from is juvenile and has no place in a civilized world. Hit the source link for the full report.
You're full of it. HAHA. Funny!
I buy LENOVO thinkpads. I KNOW! Mine was made with child labor. There's no secret about that. At least i'm honest.
@stabbytheicepic
Haha, yup. But they have houses of ill repute here, they're not streetwalkers like in the Philippines.
Shocking.
@Sean Connery
What does this mean for the sources of all those $300 netbooks and $500 laptops?
@Sean Connery : New slogan, "Just work!".
So that's why the best computer ever built (iMac i7) is so affordable.
@Steve2000 In what hell is the iMac i7 the best "computer"
What a double faced Apple Inc.
In one hand press the OEM converters with very low margin, very few lead-time, very high late delivery penalty; in another hand pretending concerning labor rights in public.
@drewmcd621 Try one and you'll get it.
So this is why all the boobs are gone...
@Dafrety
I love boobs
They already have insane profit margins, sans child labor!
@B3astofthe3ast
there's a good chance that the manufacturers charge Apple the same as they would if they used adult labor and payed the minimum wage.
If you bothered reading, you'd see that Apple is not pleased with the findings of their own investigative report.
@Liquidmark Yea you keep telling yourself that. I'm sure apple's shareholders are juts sooo upset. Upset that this news came out and their child labor violations have been exposed.
@theinternetstom
Yeah, exposed BY THEMSELVES!
Read the damn article, Apple are taking action AGAINST these practises.
@theinternetstom
Looks like the article has been paid for.
Apple has been caught. So apple catches itself to make sure it has the upperhand in squeezing its own balls. Which is safer.
But honestly who doesn't use child labour???
@martynmcfarquhar
You're so naive.... 99.9999% of their time Apple shareholders are perfectly happy of this. Right now they just need good publicity coz nobody liked the iPad when it was announced, so it was a good moment to publish this report.
Nothing will change, everybody will have forgotten about this next week.
@skalpa
Yeah, there's nothing like creating the opportunity for misleading articles such as the one in the Daily Telegraph to boost iPad sales...publicity about child labour really makes the shareholders happy.
Like Engadget point out this audit may well cause Apple some bad publicity for the time, but they're taking things in the right direction. They didn't have to do it, they chose to, and this certainly isn't the route to good publicity due to the nature of the topic.
I'm sure the shareholders would have been happier if they hadn't done this. Saying they're doing this to sell the iPad seems a stretch.
@theinternetstom
dude, I'm sure that they weren't AWARE of what the contractors were doing. If you bothered READING, you'd know that apple themselves did the audit and posted it online.
please, stop spreading FUD
@quakerface
Apple hasn't been caught doing anything, their contractors have been caught BY APPLE! That's what the audit is about. Apple wants to make sure that anyone that works on their products is being treated properly.
God, you guys need to work on your reading comprehension skills instead of sitting there HATING.
@martynmcfarquhar Whatever. You'd think Apple would have had tighter policies in place after the iPod incident a few years ago. This smells like pure lip service on the part of Apple. Righteous indignation on the part of Apple as a PR move. Behind the scenes they probably don't give a flying crap as long as it saves them money.
This is really upsetting
Good job Apple for acknowledging this situation. Maybe other companies will follow in their footsteps and make sure that their manufacturing facilities are not abusing their employees.
@Mjmar17 Big reason I bought he N1 over the iphone. Made in taiwan, not china. Taiwan at least has labor standards and fair wages.
@Mack Stone I seriously doubt the taiwan factorys are using child labor.
@stabbytheicepic That may be true but regardless of where your phone was made, the problem in China will remain if these companies don't do anything about it.
@Mjmar17 You might have a point.
@Mjmar17
Hence Apple's auditing policy. Obviously they are doing something about it. Where's Dell's audit? HP's? Gateway's? Acer's?
@Mack Stone You do realize that taiwan is a completely different country?
Yeah foxconn is a taiwanese company, but their factorys are mostly based in mainland china. The nexus one was built completely on taiwan. A democracy btw.
@Jack just because engadget hasn't written an article about it doesn't mean that other companies don't audit. I'm not taking sides on apple this or dell that. Exploiting labor has been around forever, this does not surprise me
@Mack Stone Republic of China != People's Republic of Chine
@Mack Stone What does Taiwan being "Chinese" have to do with anything?
@stabbytheicepic The Nexus One might be assembled in Taiwan, but that doesn't mean that many (or most) of the parts that comprise it weren't made in China.
@Mack Stone You're mistaken.
Taiwan is not a part of China, and it certainly is not IN China as you stated.
Taiwan, as stated by stabby, is it's own separate country. Different people run their governments, China is a communist country, while Taiwan is a democracy. They even speak different dialects.
And please, don't argue with me, I'm from Taiwan.
@haan
Well, go ahead and find proof that other companies are also auditing, and come back with it. Until then, it's safe to assume that they're not auditing.
@Mjmar17
phew. When I saw this headline I thought 'Oh shit, wait till the iHaters get hold of this one'. And from the headline it would seem that Apple would have some explaining to do.
But on a serious note, I don't know if I'm shocked at this, considering some of the backward things they do in China.
Kudos to Apple for bringing attention to this.
@Mack Stone
This is what you wrote:
--
@Mjmar17
I don't think you got stabbytheicepic's joke, but Taiwan is in China.
--
So what part of that did I misread?
@Jack
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/supplychain/index.html
Under "Results: SER in Action":
"In 2008, HP conducted 129 supplier site audits, bringing our total since 2005 to 480 (pilot audits we conducted in 2004 are excluded) from this total." "To date, we have assessed and audited (for high-risk sites) suppliers representing over 95 percent of our product materials and manufacturing spend."
@Mack Stone Foxconn may be a Taiwanese company, but do they make the phone in Taiwan? No. And for the record you should read the Wiki link you posted. Over half of it is about illegal shit they do.
@Mack Stone I still don't think you understand country boundaries and local laws.
If I, a Canadian want to start a business to build, lets say, phones. I designed this phone and its ready to be built. I have 2 options(in most cases), I can open a factory here in Canada and hire "skilled" workers and pay them between 12-15(let be fair), or if I was an ass, minimum wage(which is 10.25 as of next month). My other option is to build a factory in China and pay them $0.50 and hour for the same work(not to mention long work days, little breaks and so on).
If I build a factory in China doesn't make my company Chinese. I'm still based in Canada. Just like Foxxcon. You Understand? They can have companies in China and pay them very little in wage and higher children.
If you still don't get it. All I can say is... Stay in school.
PS No Taiwan is not China.
@Mack Stone oh by the way...
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/19/2-000-wintek-workers-go-on-strike-over-bonus-payments-may-affec/
Chinese Factory, owned buy a Taiwanese Company which makes iPhone parts. Happy?
@Mjmar17 If they are so "rigorous" How did they miss it? Apple new...Buy low sell high. That is truly the Apple way. They damn well Apple knew. Apple is money and power hungry. How could you not know, especially under "rigorous" compliance checks. If you guys really don't think Apple knew you are all gullible. Apple loves it.. they can have there garbage made for little to nothing and sell for ridiculously high prices. Take for example the piece of crap IPAD. The $799 version cost less then $300 to make. How you think they pull that off. You fanboy's will believe anything Apple says wont you!
@Mack Stone
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/gizmodo/2009/02/iphonenew.jpg
Are you still going to act ignorant?
@AssimilateTaiwanese companies manufacture a large portion of the world's consumer electronics, although most of them are made in their factories in mainland China.[
@mplaisance Yeah so? That wasn't the argument.
@Wesscoast
Herding cats? Where do I sign up for that?
@haan
Few companies would have the stomach to audit something this sensitive. Who wants to open a can of worms like Apple did when everyone is happily making money?
But let's be honest. Everybody should know that all developing country manufacturers have questionable labour practice. If you don't know, then you are an imbecile. The only reason for Apple releasing an "audit" is because they had made the decision to change this and start "doing the right thing".
Regardless whether the decision is made based on sudden realization of conscience or desire for political gain, I think the act itself deserves a praise at the very least. I just don't understand why so many people are bashing Apple for this.
@avonord
At least Nokia audits. They even allowed a documentarist, Thomas Balmes, to make a film of a audit of one factory. The film was named "A Decent Factory". Havent seen any other manufacturer being as open about it as this.
@Jack Most companies have internal audits, and then consult external ones in circumstances in which they believe sketchy is going on, loss of profit, or isn't as efficient as they want their supplies to be (or want to save money by finding ways to cut corners but legal). Or the other randomly occurrences in which companies just want to do inspections.
/Source - My Global Dimensions of Business textbook.
@yenlai They do not "speak different dialects" any more so than people in different parts of China speak different dialects. The dialect you probably know as Taiwanese is also spoken in parts of Southern China as it is a Southern Min dialect. And as I'm sure you know since you're from Taiwan, people in Taiwan also speak mandarin Chinese. Which is why those Taiwanese businesspeople have no problems dealing with mainland manufacturers. Here's the wikipedia entry so maybe you can get a clue about the Taiwanese dialect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Min_Nan
Since I know about Taiwanese politics I'll just say that democratic politicians can be just as corrupt and terrible leaders as any other kind. Also, like most politicians anywhere, these guys tend to be really, really, full of themselves.
And seriously, just because you're from a particular place it doesn't automatically make you super knowledgeable, otherwise your average American wouldn't be so clueless about U.S. History.