Another Apple supplier accused of labour abuses

Pegatron, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer that produces products for Apple, has been accused of abusing its employees, with suggestions of unpaid overtime, poor living conditions and the use of underage labour.

China Labor Watch (CLW) - a US-based non-profit - said last week that three plants run by the Pegatron Group have violated Chinese labour laws and standards set by Apple.

CLW said that it sent undercover investigators into three Pegatron facilities and conducted almost 200 interviews with workers outside the factories between March and July this year.

CLW alleged that Pegatron is forcing employees to work unpaid overtime, providing crowded living spaces, subjecting staff to fines for behaviour such as “failing to tuck in one’s chair after eating”, and using underage labour.

The non-profit said that staff at the three Pegatron sites work an average of at least 66 hours per work and that “many” workers were under 18.

In response to the CLW allegations, Apple said that it has conducted 15 audits at Pegatron facilities since 2007, to ensure safe and fair working conditions.

Apple said, “Our most recent survey in June found that Pegatron employees making Apple products worked 46 hours per week on average.

“[CLW’s] latest report contains claims that are new to us and we will investigate them immediately,” Apple said. “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.”

Apple has attracted criticism in recent years for its use of supplier Foxconn, which has been accused of providing poor working conditions at some of its facilities.

After more than a dozen Foxconn workers committed suicide in 2010, Apple introduced new requirements of its suppliers including no underage labour, no mandatory overtime and a maximum work week of 60 hours.

Li Qiang, executive director of China Labor Watch, said that “our investigations have shown that labour conditions at Pegatron factories are even worse than those at Foxconn factories”.

Pegatron said it would investigate and correct any violations of labour laws or its own code of conduct.

Image courtesy of Apple