With its stock near a record high and its latest iPhone expected to be introduced on Tuesday next week, Apple Inc is facing new accusations of violations of labor rights and workplace safety at a supplier in China.
The allegations involve employees at a factory in Suqian owned by Taiwanese firm Catcher Technology Co (可成), that makes metal casings for Apple iPads and for other consumer electronics companies.
The employees are made to work excessive overtime and handle toxic chemicals without proper protective clothing, according to a report released on Thursday by environmental nonprofit group Green America and New York-based labor rights group China Labor Watch.
Apple, like Samsung Electronics Co and several other multinational companies, has previously faced scrutiny over the working conditions at the factories in China where its products are made.
However, the allegations in the latest report suggest that the company might need to increase its vigilance of the 200 major global suppliers that account for 97 percent of Apple’s component costs.
In a statement on Thursday, Apple said its most recent annual audit of the Suqian plant in May had “found some concrete areas for improvement in Catcher’s operations, and we worked with Catcher to develop a corrective action plan.”
Apple had scheduled a follow-up visit to the plant next month, but dispatched a team immediately to investigate the allegations in the new report, Apple spokesman Chris Gaither said in a statement.
An undercover investigation by China Labor Watch at the Suqian plant last month found that fire exits were locked and that flammable aluminum-magnesium alloy dust and shavings filled the air and littered the floors of some workshops.
Investigators also found that employees were forced to work as many as 100 hours of overtime a month and failed to receive the social insurance payments required under Chinese law, according to the report.
It said the plant made aluminum covers for an upcoming iPad and parts for the iPhone 5.
Workers at the plant, about 480km northwest of Shanghai in Jiangsu Province, were also required by Catcher to sign forms saying they had completed safety training, even though they had received none, according to the report.
China Labor Watch privately raised concerns about conditions at the Suqian plant with Apple in April last year, after an earlier undercover investigation.
According to the group, Apple responded at the time by conducting its own inspection, after which it said that Catcher would make changes, especially those related to occupational safety.
“The health and safety violations found in this factory two years in a row are startling,” Green America campaigns director Elizabeth O’Connell said.
Apple’s audits showed that the plant’s aluminum-polishing systems exceeded international safety standards, Apple’s Gaither wrote, while a fire safety inspection last week corrected some of the problems identified in the report, like unblocking corridors and fire exits. He said that the plant made cases for the iPad and MacBook but did not mention iPhone parts.
Regarding the allegation of excessive overtime, Gaither said Catcher had averaged 95 percent compliance, as of the end of last month, with the maximum 60-hour workweek that Apple enforces.
“We are deeply concerned about the claims made by China Labor Watch, and we take the report very seriously,” Greater Tainan-based Catcher Technology said in a statement on Thursday. “We are committed to following Apple’s supplier code of conduct and will investigate thoroughly.”
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