Apple said to be among US companies lobbying against Uighur forced labor bill
Major U.S. companies, reportedly including Apple, are lobbying against a new piece of legislation that seeks to prevent forced labor in China.
Credit: WikiCommons
The bill, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, levies sanctions on human rights violators and prevents imports of goods manufactured in the predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang unless companies can guarantee they weren't produced by imprisoned or coerced workers. As of November, estimates indicate that China has forced nearly one million Uighur Muslims into internment camps.
According to a report in The Washington Post, a group of U.S. companies, which is said to include Apple, oppose the bill as it's written and are actively attempting to weaken it.
A full list of the firms that are lobbying against the bill isn't available. An October report from The Information indicates that Apple's lobbying firm, Fierce government Relations, disclosed that it was lobbying on the bill on behalf of the Cupertino tech giant. However, the form that disclosed that Apple was lobbying does not contain any position information, nor is it required to.
Staffers familiar with the matter declined to detail Apple's specific lobbying efforts to WaPo, but characterized the effort as attempting to water down the bill.
Other companies are lobbying to have their names removed from the legislation, which specifically calls out U.S. companies like Coca-Cola, Costco, and Patagonia. The bill is said to focus mostly on textile manufacturing and other low-tech industries.
An Apple spokesperson told WaPo that the company is "dedicated to ensuring that everyone in our supply chain is treated with dignity and respect. We abhor forced labor and support the goals of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. We share the committee's goal of eradicating forced labor and strengthening U.S. law, and we will continue working with them to achieve that."
Earlier in 2020, select Apple suppliers were accused of using forced Uighur labor to manufacture components for the Cupertino tech giant.
In July, Apple said it was continuing to carry out investigations of the alleged forced labor. Results from the probe turned up no evidence of wrongdoing among its suppliers, Apple said.
"Forced labor is abhorrent," Apple CEO Tim Cook told Congress in July. "We would not tolerate it in Apple" and would "terminate a supplier relationship if it were found."
Credit: WikiCommons
The bill, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, levies sanctions on human rights violators and prevents imports of goods manufactured in the predominantly Muslim region of Xinjiang unless companies can guarantee they weren't produced by imprisoned or coerced workers. As of November, estimates indicate that China has forced nearly one million Uighur Muslims into internment camps.
According to a report in The Washington Post, a group of U.S. companies, which is said to include Apple, oppose the bill as it's written and are actively attempting to weaken it.
A full list of the firms that are lobbying against the bill isn't available. An October report from The Information indicates that Apple's lobbying firm, Fierce government Relations, disclosed that it was lobbying on the bill on behalf of the Cupertino tech giant. However, the form that disclosed that Apple was lobbying does not contain any position information, nor is it required to.
Staffers familiar with the matter declined to detail Apple's specific lobbying efforts to WaPo, but characterized the effort as attempting to water down the bill.
Other companies are lobbying to have their names removed from the legislation, which specifically calls out U.S. companies like Coca-Cola, Costco, and Patagonia. The bill is said to focus mostly on textile manufacturing and other low-tech industries.
An Apple spokesperson told WaPo that the company is "dedicated to ensuring that everyone in our supply chain is treated with dignity and respect. We abhor forced labor and support the goals of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. We share the committee's goal of eradicating forced labor and strengthening U.S. law, and we will continue working with them to achieve that."
Earlier in 2020, select Apple suppliers were accused of using forced Uighur labor to manufacture components for the Cupertino tech giant.
In July, Apple said it was continuing to carry out investigations of the alleged forced labor. Results from the probe turned up no evidence of wrongdoing among its suppliers, Apple said.
"Forced labor is abhorrent," Apple CEO Tim Cook told Congress in July. "We would not tolerate it in Apple" and would "terminate a supplier relationship if it were found."
Comments
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/6210/text
* Seriously, that was one Google search… Aren't you guys required to takes civics classes? Don't they teach you that the contents of bills are public knowledge?
Corporates having to apologise for for
democratic state actions is deplorable.
China has a lot of forced labor - heck, they have a lot of forced organ donation. There's a reason that if you've got a lot of money you can get an organ in a week. Went on for years with the Falun Gong ... now it's on to the Uighurs. The Chinese Communist Party claims they're taken from prisoners. Uh huh ... like Mr. Rich Guy is going to risk a transplant organ from the dregs of society.
There's so much wrong with China that I long ago urged Apple to leave China, except for products for Chinese domestic consumption. Move out production, move your supply chains. You don't want your speedy high efficiency chips confiscated by the People's Liberation Army and used for say hypersonic missiles (which could happen).
Really, China has become more and more belligerent and desperate as more foreign companies flee the dangerous environment that China is rapidly evolving into. China is attempting to evolve foreign manufacture into products for domestic consumption, but despite all there isn't enough wealth in China to absorb all that excess - and questionable quality - Chinese manufacturing capacity. Outside of the main industrial areas and cities, China is still quite an impoverished backwater.
IF you believe the allegations of the China Haters....
Why not draw a line and say any nation that has an incarceration rate of greater than 500 per 100k should be treated as a rogue state?