(BN) Apple Says Children Were Used to Build iPhone, iPod

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "CONNIE GUGLIELMO, BLOOMBERG/ NEWSROOM:" <cguglielmo1 () bloomberg net 
> >
> Date: February 27, 2010 1:33:44 PM EST
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: (BN) Apple Says Children Were Used to Build iPhone, iPod

> fyi
>
> +-- 
> --- 
> --- 
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>
> Apple Says Children Were Used to Build iPhone, iPod (Update1)
> 2010-02-27 18:25:08.490 GMT
>
>
>     (Adds Apple comment in seventh paragraph.)
>
> By Connie Guglielmo
>     Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. said three of its
> suppliers hired 11 underage workers to help build the iPhone,
> iPod and Macintosh computer last year, a violation it uncovered
> as part of its onsite audit of 102 factories.
>     “Apple discovered three facilities that had previously
> hired 15-year-old workers in countries where the minimum age for
> employment is 16,” the company said in a 24-page report on
> “Supplier Responsibility” posted on its Web site. The workers
> were “no longer in active employment at the time of our
> audit.”
>     Apple didn’t name its suppliers and manufacturers. The
> company visited sites in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia,
> Singapore, South Korea, the Czech Republic, Philippines and the
> U.S. Apple also found three cases where suppliers “falsified
> records” to conceal underage hiring, more than 60 facilities
> where employees were overworked, 24 partners that paid less than
> the minimum wage and 57 who didn’t offer all required benefits.
>     “Apple’s Code sets a maximum of 60 work hours per week and
> requires at least one day of rest per seven days of work,” the
> company said. Apple also said it asked suppliers to end a
> practice “where wage deductions were used for disciplinary
> purposes.”
>     The company said it stopped doing business with at least
> one unnamed supplier after finding repeated violations and
> “inadequate actions” to address the problems.
>
>                        Recruitment Fees
>
>     Apple’s review also found that at eight facilities,
> including suppliers in Taiwan, foreign workers paid excessive
> recruitment fees to hiring agencies to get jobs. The company
> said employees were reimbursed $2.2 million in fee overcharges
> over the past two years and that Apple has set a standard
> limiting such fees to the “equivalent of one month’s net
> wages.”
>     Apple “also created extensive training programs to educate
> workers about their right to a safe and respectful work
> environment,” Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Cupertino,
> California-based Apple, said today.
>     As part of that training, more than 128,000 workers
> received information outlining their rights and more than 5,000
> supervisors and managers received training on their
> responsibilities to employees, Apple said in its report.
>     The company also established courses for workers to expand
> computer and technical skills and set standards for dormitories,
> medical treatment and pregnancy non-discrimination.
>     Apple rose $2.62 to $204.62 yesterday in Nasdaq Stock
> Market trading. The shares more than doubled last year.
>
> For Related News and Information:
> Apple management: AAPL US <EQUITY> MGMT <GO>
> Apple earnings: AAPL US <EQUITY> CH1 <GO>
> Apple earnings stories: AAPL US <EQUITY> TCNI ERN <GO>
> Apple revenue segments: AAPL US <EQUITY> PGEO <GO>
> Apple acquisitions: AAPL US <EQUITY> CACS 21 <GO>
> For top technology stories: TTOP <GO>
>
> --Editors: Theo Mullen, Joe Sabo
>
> To contact the reporter on this story:
> Connie Guglielmo in San Francisco at +1-415-617-7134 or
> cguglielmo1 () bloomberg net.
>
> To contact the editor responsible for this story:
> Jonathan Thaw at +1-415-617-7168 or jthaw () bloomberg net



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