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BlackBerry manufacturing partner Jabil Circuit says it's looking at how it will 'wind down the relationship'
The news for BlackBerry is just going from bad to worse these days. The latest development comes from its manufacturing partner Jabil Circuit, which has apparently had enough of the company's troubles and is looking for a way out. Speaking on the company's quarterly earnings call yesterday, Jabil CEO Mark Mondello said that "we are faced with a strong possibility of disengaging with BlackBerry," adding, "our team has worked diligently over the past few days to comprehend the recently announced changes," and that "we're in discussions right now on how we're going to wind down the relationship." As All Things D notes, BlackBerry is Jabil's second-biggest customer (behind Apple), so this is no doubt not a decision it's taking lightly, but it looks like it's one it intends to move quickly on. Mondello went on to say that while the company is looking for a path that's in the best interest of its shareholders and also "supports the needs of BlackBerry," it plans to "take a restructuring charge, move swiftly and decisively and mitigate the impact to FY '14 as best we can."
iPhone factory Jabil Circuit accused of labor abuses
The nonprofit China Labor Watch group says they have uncovered multiple labor violations in a US-owned factory in China. The factory is currently among those producing the soon-to-be-released new iPhone for Apple. China Labor Watch says the plant infringements include millions of dollars in unpaid overtime wages, lack of rest for workers besides a 30-minute meal break, inadequate pre-work training, discrimination in hiring practices and more. The China Labor Watch group says the violations contradict the codes of conduct of both Apple and Jabil Circuit. Jabil Circuit is headquartered in St. Petersburg, Fla. You can read the full PDF report at this link. Apple has a history of claims that labor in its partner plants have been mistreated, most recently in a report about Apple manufacturing partner Pegatron. Update: Apple issued a statement to Business Insider saying that in 14 audits since 2008, the factory has achieved 99% compliance with making sure each factory worker put in less than 60 hours a week.
