Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) products are made at many of the Chinese factories where workers are not treated properly, such claims are not new. However, on Thursday, an investigation broadcast was made by the BBC informing that many of the workers are getting exhausted with work and sleeping during the 12-hour shift they serve.
BBC has evidence
At the Pegatron factories, jobs were taken by undercover reporters and they came with surprising findings. The company’s guidance restricts them to working 60 hours a week, but it was found that the limit was exceeded regularly by them. Breach of standards on ID cards, dormitories, work meetings and juvenile workers were also noticed. In the year 2010, a spate of suicides took place at supplier Foxconn after which Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) made numerous promises, and now the broadcaster notes that all those are routinely broken.
At a Pegatron factory, a health and safety exam was conducted in which answers were chanted out by workers in unison so as to avoid any chances of failures, and this was filmed by the BBC. It seemed like the workers had no choice but to work at nights or keep standing while working. BBC, further, reported that for 18 days in continuity a reporter had to work, and his request for a day off was ignored all through.
Apple denying all claims
The conclusions drawn by BBC were disagreed upon by Apple. “We are aware of no other company doing as much as Apple to ensure fair and safe working conditions,” the US consumer electronics giant told the BBC. The company said that for addressing the shortfalls it worked with suppliers, and it did lead to significant improvement of continuous nature. The company, further, informed that it monitored the hours worked by over one million employees after which it was found that 55 hours a week was the average of the staff at Taiwanese-owned Pegatron.
Panorama is the name of the flagship programme by BBC, and in the investigation it was also found that the supply chain of Apple can have the tins from illegal mines in Indonesia. BBC was told by Apple that it is making sincere attempts for driving the changes, but it did not want to withdraw from Indonesian mines altogether as it will be “the lazy and cowardly path, since it would do nothing to improve the situation,” said Apple.
