TUAW Fact Check: Apple using underage labor? No.

TUAW Fact Check: Apple outsources manufacturing to shady companies residing within a communist country which it cannot control? Yes

Fixed.

First, it needs to be said that while Apple has taken the steps to address these issues is not coming out of the kindness of their hearts, or as part of a core sense of responsibility. It is an action that they took after being pressured for years by external organizations as well as the growing number of problems that they have faced.

Case in point, Wintek. This supplier has over the course of the last 4 years had three violations grow beyond its factory walls. the first time (2006) was when its workers protested dormitory conditions and failure to pay for overtime , (2008) was another case of overtime payments, and (2009/2010) was the result of rumors that line workers had died due to exposure to chemicals and back pay.

So, let's drop the naivety. Apple has long known these problems have existed, but just as Mattel and Nike did before them, has largely been able to deflect the press.

Second, to those who say that Apple is somehow leading their industry in any form on this issue is either completely ignorant of the truth, unwilling to do a basic internet survey of Nokia, Moto, Dell, and other websites, or lying. Wintek is a group who has been audited before, and is well known in the industry for having poor labor conditions. Apple's contention that they are the first is either a lie, or is based on the fact that Wintek has set aside a specific factory just for their lines (I do not know which is true, but I suspect it is the second).

third, beyond the child labor issues that are reported in the 2010 report, the entire thing is nothing more than a glossing over of what is really going on. They have left out the Foxconn incident where a 21 year old line worker leapt to his death, they left out the chemical exposures that recently put 100 line workers in the hospital, and while they have done a great job to create a scorecard to rank performance.. they have the nerve to say that they have a 95% ethical compliance rating among suppliers. What a joke!

Finally, where this entire situation absolutely baffles me is that Apple is showing themselves to be very short sighted. That they are somehow different than others, and their brand can withstand a labor scandal like the one Nike went through. This is a product of arrogance and poor management, and with Apple planning to open up 25 stores in China, someone should have enough China knowledge to know that if they do not begin treating their line workers with respect, they are going to be tossed out of this market. Simply put, you cannot abuse Chinese laborers while at the same time pushing for their sales. It does not work like that, and Steve Jobs better wake up to that fact

to read more about Apple's issues with labor in China, please see my posts here.
http://www.allroadsleadtochina.com/tag/apple/

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www.collectiveresponsibility.org

First, it needs to be said that while Apple has taken the steps to address these issues is not coming out of the kindness of their hearts, or as part of a core sense of responsibility. It is an action that they took after being pressured for years by external organizations as well as the growing number of problems that they have faced.

Case in point, Wintek. This supplier has over the course of the last 4 years had three violations grow beyond its factory walls. the first time (2006) was when its workers protested dormitory conditions and failure to pay for overtime , (2008) was another case of overtime payments, and (2009/2010) was the result of rumors that line workers had died due to exposure to chemicals and back pay.

So, let's drop the naivety. Apple has long known these problems have existed, but just as Mattel and Nike did before them, has largely been able to deflect the press.

Second, to those who say that Apple is somehow leading their industry in any form on this issue is either completely ignorant of the truth, unwilling to do a basic internet survey of Nokia, Moto, Dell, and other websites, or lying. Wintek is a group who has been audited before, and is well known in the industry for having poor labor conditions. Apple's contention that they are the first is either a lie, or is based on the fact that Wintek has set aside a specific factory just for their lines (I do not know which is true, but I suspect it is the second).

third, beyond the child labor issues that are reported in the 2010 report, the entire thing is nothing more than a glossing over of what is really going on. They have left out the Foxconn incident where a 21 year old line worker leapt to his death, they left out the chemical exposures that recently put 100 line workers in the hospital, and while they have done a great job to create a scorecard to rank performance.. they have the nerve to say that they have a 95% ethical compliance rating among suppliers. What a joke!

Finally, where this entire situation absolutely baffles me is that Apple is showing themselves to be very short sighted. That they are somehow different than others, and their brand can withstand a labor scandal like the one Nike went through. This is a product of arrogance and poor management, and with Apple planning to open up 25 stores in China, someone should have enough China knowledge to know that if they do not begin treating their line workers with respect, they are going to be tossed out of this market. Simply put, you cannot abuse Chinese laborers while at the same time pushing for their sales. It does not work like that, and Steve Jobs better wake up to that fact

Yeah, I am a little confused by some points in this article. Apple's own report admits that they have used child labor in the past, whether accidentally or not, so how can TUAW say that the Telegraph article's title was completely different from the "actual reporting" if Apple did in fact use child labor?

While I don't think Apple is voluntarily going around saying, "hire child workers!" what bothers me more is, "The technology company's own guidelines are already in breach of China's widely-ignored labour law, which sets out a maximum 49-hour week for workers."

So Apple doesn't go around telling people to hire child workers. That's great. But they're going around telling people to break the law? Whether it's widely ignored or not, to have your official guidelines break the law seems a bit...shady.

@ColonelSmith: That is true about child labor, but Apple was telling people it was ok to overwork the workers BEFORE any audit.

@Chris Rawson: You accuse others of being sensationalist, implying that's not a good thing. Then you say, "That means Sony, Lenovo, Dell, HP, and all the other manufacturers out there may well have even worse working conditions at their suppliers' factories than those reflected in Apple's audit, but until or unless they perform similar checks, we have no way of knowing."

If we have "no way of knowing" how can you say that they are worse? Yes, you say, "may" but that doesn't mean you can just say anything you want. Their working conditions could be worse, yes, but it could be the same or better also.

If Apple really gave a damn about workers they'd bring their manufacturing to countries that actually protect workers rights. Like the continental US.

It would at least justify the idiotic prices they charge.

Apple doesn't so they don't.

Well, the truth is out about why most everything is made in China, cheap labor. How do they get the labor so cheap? Easy, employ the very poor and the very young. Apple may or may not have known, but they're not stupid. Why did they close down the Cork, Ireland plant in the late 90's? That plant made some real decent Macs. It was price. Plus who is really to blame for all this? Us, we are. Why? Because we want to pay a certain price to get high tech gizmos. We also don't want to make these gizmos, since we should be paid a lot more because we are so important, even though we are now unemployed. We also own stock in Apple and don't want to see our shares go down because Apple has to pay more for manufacturing. So we are a bunch of greedy bastards and deserve to either pay more for our goods, or feel the shame of making children make our products because we don't want to pay any more for them. And if you are pro-union, you are also part of this problem. Your unions have gone from protecting the workers to coddling them and making sure that you can be a drug addict, or psychologically unstable and still keep your job.

I also worked dangerous jobs when I was under 18. And now, with years of experience as a mathematics teacher I am often asked to work overload at a very low wage.

"Apple said the child workers are now no longer being used."

Disposed of, eh?

Kudos for Apple for initiating the report and taking appropriate action. SHAME on TUAW for attempting to gloss over the infraction by using the "supplier" card.

It's not like macBooks are made in a macBook factory owned by Apple. All Apple has are suppliers and assemblers, so for TUAW -which must know better- to imply that the infractions are of a lesser order because they didn't occur in Apple owned and operated factories that don't exist, is disingenuous at the least and appears to be nothing more than fanboy boosterism at it's worst.

The apples and oranges comparison of Apple to Dell, Sony, Lenovo, HP because they MIGHT have poorer working conditions just more of the same.

Apple has higher profit margins than any manufacturer in the industry. They SHOULD be at the human and worker rights forefront.

Yeah, it's tough to keep up with when you start outsourcing, but no one held a gun to it's head.

@Joel's right when he says there's a degree of relativity where the blind imposition of western ideals don't make much sense, but that doesn't absolve Apple of responsibility in assuring that minimal standards are met.

The fundamental question of this story should be; "Why are Apple products made in China and not in the United States?"

I was raised on a farm and operated farm machinery when I was 10 years old. You learned to listen to and more importantly, follow instructions at a very young age.