Apple Inc. used child labor in the making of its products by employing 106 underage workers across 11 facilitates in 2012, an internal audit revealed. According to a report, the company also discovered wage problems and forced pregnancy tests.
Apple’s annual ‘Supplier Responsibility’ report, which includes nearly 400 audits, 72 per cent more than in 2011, reviewed sites where over 1.5 million workers make some of the world’s leading products, including iPhone and iPad.
In addition to 106 underage children that were employed, the report discovered 70 more that either left or passed the age of 16 by the time of the audit.
Seventy-four of 106 underage individuals were employed by a single Chinese manufacturer, Guangdong Real Faith Pingzhou Electronics, responsible for producing circuit-board components for Apple.
The California-based company terminated work with all of the underage individuals following the investigation into the matter.
Inquiry revealed that a labor agency, Shenzhen Quanshun Human Resources, “knowingly” provided children with fake records after conspiring with families to forge identification documents, the report stated.
Upon discovery, Apple reported the labor agency to local authorities.
The children’s age was not disclosed, but according to Apple’s code of conduct, the company cannot employ workers under the age of 15, or under the legal working age in any given jurisdiction, which is 16 years old in China.
Filed under: Apple, Asia & Oceania, China, Corporations, Science & Technology
