“A labour rights group marked the launch of Apple’s latest iPhone Friday with a report accusing one of the smartphone giant’s Chinese suppliers of exploiting factory workers,” AFP reports. “Hong Kong-based Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) say Lens Technology, which makes touchscreen glass, used forced overtime, withheld wages and risked workers’ health after a months-long investigation into three of its factories.”
“As the iPhone 6s went on sale in markets including Hong Kong, Japan and mainland China on Friday, SACOM called for Apple to ‘apply immediate measures to rectify exploitations in its supply chain… We urge Apple Inc. to fulfil its corporate responsibility… to give workers a workplace with dignity and respect,’ it said in a statement,” AFP reports. “The rights group’s allegations include workers going for a month without a day off, wages being withheld for weeks and that the company failed to pay social security.”
“It sent undercover workers into factories, as well as interviewing workers off-site. SACOM was due to deliver its new report on Friday to Apple and Lens Technology, based in the southern Chinese province of Hunan,” AFP reports. “Around 10 protesters gathered outside one of Apple’s largest stores in Hong Kong Friday morning, holding giant phones with the slogan ‘Throw Away The Bad Apple.'”
“Lens Technology also supplies Samsung and other leading tech firms. It primarily makes touch-sensitive glass covers for mobile phones, computers and cameras,” AFP reports. “SACOM spokeswoman Liang Pui-kwan said the group was not only targeting Apple. ‘But Apple is the richest and has the biggest ability to make change and bring the industry forward,’ she said.”
MacDailyNews Take: Which is also why they’re issuing press releases and protesting on the day a new iPhone launches, of course.
AFP reports, “‘We’re trying to bring the facts in front of people and let them know what they are choosing.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “Lens Technology also supplies Samsung and other leading tech firms.” No company has done more to improve working conditions for Chinese factory workers than Apple Inc. So, choose away!
What Apple does to insure supplier responsibility around the world is unmatched. More info: apple.com/supplier-responsibility