Dell is latest tech company accused of supplier labor violations in China
While media coverage of tech industry labor issues in the Far East often highlight Apple's involvement, other major electronics companies contract with the same suppliers. A new report this week now accuses a handful of suppliers for PC maker Dell of hiring underage workers in China.
The report from Danish watchdog group DanWatch claims that factories in Guangdong and Jiangsu have been employing underage workers, verbally abusing them, and requiring them to work long hours for amounts well below China's minimum wage. DanWatch collaborated on the report with China Labor Watch, an organization that has also been a frequent critic of the labor practices of Apple suppliers.
While DanWatch focused on Dell because it supplies computers to the Danish government, the suppliers in question also provide PC components for Asus, HP, Microsoft and Samsung. The report, which was highlighted on Friday by The Verge, claims many of the workers are students who are forced to work between 48 and 136 hours of overtime per month.
Dell responded to the accusations with a post to its official blog to say that it has already begun to take corrective action plans to address issues highlighted by the DanWatch report. The PC maker also plans to conduct a follow-up audit on all serious issues before any actions are considered closed.
"Challenges in the supply chain cannot be solved by one company alone," wrote Trisa Thompson, Dell vice president for corporate responsibility. "The best way to make lasting improvement in the supply chain is to work together with our industry partners to collectively implement accountability measures through third-party audits, common tools and best practices."
The allegations against Dell come just as Apple has found itself linked to yet another supplier accused of labor relations. This week it was said that Flextronics hired indentured servants in the weeks before the release of the iPhone 5, forcing migrant workers to pay more than a half a year's salary --?far more than is allowed by Apple -- in order to secure a job in another country.
Worker prepares iPhone for final assembly. | Source: Apple Supplier Responsibility Report
As criticism of foreign labor practices has grown, Apple has stayed proactive on the issue, and became the first technology company to join the Fair Labor Association for independent auditing of its partners in the Far East. The biggest target associated with Apple has been Foxconn, a company that is responsible for assembling a significant portion of the Cupertino, Calif., outfit's products.
Apple also publishes an annual Supplier Responsibility Report, and has continually pressed its suppliers to improve their labor operations over the past few years, going so far as to terminate a contract with one supplier found to be using underage workers. Among Apple's suppliers, 99 percent of the more than one million-strong workforce do not work excessive hours.
Of course, concerns over labor in the Far East are not restricted to Apple and Dell, as other tech companies have also been publicly linked to labor issues in the area. For example, Apple's rival Samsung became the target of a China Labor Watch report last year, and the South Korean electronics maker responded by vowing to fix alleged labor violations.
The report from Danish watchdog group DanWatch claims that factories in Guangdong and Jiangsu have been employing underage workers, verbally abusing them, and requiring them to work long hours for amounts well below China's minimum wage. DanWatch collaborated on the report with China Labor Watch, an organization that has also been a frequent critic of the labor practices of Apple suppliers.
While DanWatch focused on Dell because it supplies computers to the Danish government, the suppliers in question also provide PC components for Asus, HP, Microsoft and Samsung. The report, which was highlighted on Friday by The Verge, claims many of the workers are students who are forced to work between 48 and 136 hours of overtime per month.
Dell responded to the accusations with a post to its official blog to say that it has already begun to take corrective action plans to address issues highlighted by the DanWatch report. The PC maker also plans to conduct a follow-up audit on all serious issues before any actions are considered closed.
"Challenges in the supply chain cannot be solved by one company alone," wrote Trisa Thompson, Dell vice president for corporate responsibility. "The best way to make lasting improvement in the supply chain is to work together with our industry partners to collectively implement accountability measures through third-party audits, common tools and best practices."
The allegations against Dell come just as Apple has found itself linked to yet another supplier accused of labor relations. This week it was said that Flextronics hired indentured servants in the weeks before the release of the iPhone 5, forcing migrant workers to pay more than a half a year's salary --?far more than is allowed by Apple -- in order to secure a job in another country.
Worker prepares iPhone for final assembly. | Source: Apple Supplier Responsibility Report
As criticism of foreign labor practices has grown, Apple has stayed proactive on the issue, and became the first technology company to join the Fair Labor Association for independent auditing of its partners in the Far East. The biggest target associated with Apple has been Foxconn, a company that is responsible for assembling a significant portion of the Cupertino, Calif., outfit's products.
Apple also publishes an annual Supplier Responsibility Report, and has continually pressed its suppliers to improve their labor operations over the past few years, going so far as to terminate a contract with one supplier found to be using underage workers. Among Apple's suppliers, 99 percent of the more than one million-strong workforce do not work excessive hours.
Of course, concerns over labor in the Far East are not restricted to Apple and Dell, as other tech companies have also been publicly linked to labor issues in the area. For example, Apple's rival Samsung became the target of a China Labor Watch report last year, and the South Korean electronics maker responded by vowing to fix alleged labor violations.
Comments
This can’t be right… Someone misspelled ‘Apple’ in the title!
/sarcasm
Who?
This can’t be right… Someone misspelled ‘Apple’ in the title!
-kpluck
Every company in the article is a part of the problem, but only Dell is in the spotlight. The other companies can have the same problems as Dell, but they get to stay out of the spotlight because they do not sell computers to the Danish government.
Does this mean if Dell stopped selling those computers the publication would consider the use of under aged workers okay and not report anything about the abuse?
As long as we put dollars before people, we are doomed.
Doomed just like Apple.
Okay let's just get this out in the clear – if something is made in China, which is what... everything these days, then every product is most likely in violation of labor codes. Now can we move onto real news please?
You are right, of course, but yellow journalists continue to present this as an “Apple only” problem. And no one seems to see the hypocrisy of calling for a boycott on Apple products while continuing to use other Chinese manufactured products.
Dell and Apple, etc. are not in any violation, it's the outsource companies that do the hiring, so if there are any violations, it's the outsource company and companies like Dell, Apple, etc. can't control what these companies do 100% of the time because they aren't running the companies.
This is what Globalization meant, is was NOT a good thing, it was a way for the Greedy mofos at the top to make even MORE profit.
As long as we put dollars before people, we are doomed.
Doomed just like Apple.
If they didn't go to other countries, we wouldn't have the products we have and take for granted. They can ramp up production much faster since there are more people there willing to do the work. They have more people in concentrated areas.
Where in this country could they hire and get up to speed 90,000 people willing to work for minimum wage and be able to ramp up within a couple of months? In Silicon Valley? Texas? Mid West? Yeah, right. It takes much longer to ramp up production for this type of work.
Yeah, Apple's starting to make the MacPros in the US, but they have to have different parts made in different parts of the country and use a LOT of robots which are overseen by people. But they can't do that with mobile devices and laptops, yet.
I think the iMacs, MacMinis will be next to be made in the USA, but it may take a while for iPads and iPhones. Maybe eventually they will, but not right now.
Land is cheap in China, labor is cheap in China and the US mfg have to compete with the foreign mfg that also use similar companies to do the assembly work.
Okay let's just get this out in the clear – if something is made in China, which is what... everything these days, then every product is most likely in violation of labor codes. Now can we move onto real news please?
Absolutely. We tend to turn a blind eye to indentured slavery at factories in the Far East, whether it's China or one of the other countries. Unfortunately, way too many people simply don't care. For companies like Apple and Dell and the rest, it is very difficult to track down the abuse, much less do anything about it. They make huge profits helped by near slave labor and their stockholders expect it to work that way.
I thought only Apple was targeted in these reports. So much for that narrative. But then, I am sure the troops herein won't let facts get into the way of a perfectly fine whine.
"Challenges in the supply chain cannot be solved by one company alone," wrote Trisa Thompson, Dell vice president for corporate responsibility. "The best way to make lasting improvement in the supply chain is to work together with our industry partners to collectively implement accountability measures through third-party audits, common tools and best practices."
Says someone who was quite happy to sit idly by while Apple was that "one company".
The writing was on the wall years ago, it's a bit late to start fixing things now.
Enough of the bullshit excuses.
Really?
No mentioning of these recent events?
This page really is the Pravda of the tech-world...
Well, here are un-censored Apple Insights:
- iPad Air EXPLODES INTO FIREBALL as terrified fanbois flee Apple Store
- http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/8/ipad-explodes-setting-australian-store-customers-f/
and this:
- http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/07/apfelkind-cafe-trademark-battle-apple-germany
("The key factor that inspired Römer to fight back was a gagging clause. At first the US company had offered a compromise whereby she could use the Apfelkind logo on her own franchise products but not on any electronic equipment.")
Really?
No mentioning of these recent events?
This page really is the Pravda of the tech-world...
Well, here are un-censored Apple Insights:
- iPad Air EXPLODES INTO FIREBALL as terrified fanbois flee Apple Store
- http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/nov/8/ipad-explodes-setting-australian-store-customers-f/
and this:
- http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/07/apfelkind-cafe-trademark-battle-apple-germany
("The key factor that inspired Römer to fight back was a gagging clause. At first the US company had offered a compromise whereby she could use the Apfelkind logo on her own franchise products but not on any electronic equipment.")
Amazing ... just joined, multiple postings of the same garbage. Congratulations! You're the newest Troll Of The Hour!
Amazing ... just joined, multiple postings of the same garbage. Congratulations! You're the newest Troll Of The Hour!
What you fanbois call trolling, normal adults call the un-censored truth.
"An Apple iApparatchik was straight on the scene to work out why the Air had caught fire."