Apple responds to claims over labour abuses at contract manufacturer Pegatron

Apple to investigate supplier over alleged labour abuses

Computer giant Apple has responded to a stinging report alleging labour abuses by its Chinese mainland contract manufacturer Pegatron.

The report, entitled Apple's Unkept Promises, compiled by pressure group China Labor Watch, claims that Pegatron is forcing staff to work unpaid over time, and that both their living and working conditions are substandard.

Indeed, the organisation claimed: "China Labor Watch's investigations revealed at least 86 labour rights violations, including 36 legal violations and 50 ethical violations."

It is also, it added, failing to adhere to Apple's own social responsibility code of conduct. Staff are paid $1.50 to produce, according to the report, a forthcoming iPhone C, a budget version of Apple's popular iPhone.

However, in a statement, the company hit back. It claimed that it has conducted regular audits at Pegatron since 2007, covering more than 130,000 workers making Apple products:

"Apple is committed to providing safe and fair working conditions throughout our supply chain. We lead the industry with far-reaching and specialized audits, the most transparent reporting and educational programs that enrich the lives of workers who make our products. Apple is the first and only technology company to be admitted to the Fair Labor Association, and we are dedicated to protecting every worker in our supply chain," claimed the company.

It added that it has "closely tracked working hours at all of these [Pegatron's] facilities. Our most recent survey in June found that Pegatron employees making Apple products worked 46 hours per week on average".

This contradicts China Labor Watch's claim that staff had to work at least 60 hours a week in long, 12-hour daily shifts.

Apple's statement continued: "We have been in close contact with China Labor Watch for several months, investigating issues they've raised and sharing our findings. When they first told us that workers' ID cards were being withheld, an auditor from our Supplier Responsibility program was on site the next day to investigate.

"We confirmed that labor brokers for Pegatron were holding a small number of IDs as they helped set up bank accounts for those employees. We demanded Pegatron put a stop to this practice and a new system was in place within a week."

However, Apple said that many of the claims in the report were new, but that it would "investigate them immediately".

It continued: "Our audit teams will return to Pegatron, RiTeng and AVY for special inspections this week. If our audits find that workers have been underpaid or denied compensation for any time they've worked, we will require that Pegatron reimburse them in full."

This audit would include a review of timecards "and other documents to guard against falsification".

It went on to promise a thorough investigation and that it would report "any violations of our code of conduct. We will not tolerate deviations from our code".