Apple dumps manufacturing partner for employing children

by Steven Mostyn - Feb 16 2011, 06:39

Clearly keen for its business reputation to reflect the whiter-than-white aesthetics of its products, Apple Inc. has dropped one of its Chinese manufacturing partners due to the employment of underage workers.

The announcement was made on Tuesday following the release of its internal ‘Supplier Responsibility’ review, which discovered that said production facility accounted for 91 percent of the underage workers employed by Apple contractors during 2010.

Apple has said the decision to sever business ties with the factory was made because “management had chosen to overlook the issue and was not committed to addressing the problem.”

The report also revealed that local school kids under the age of 16 (the country’s legal minimum age for employment) were being filtered into production-line positions within the facility—every one of them equipped with a fake student ID provided by the school.

Nine other manufacturing partners found to be employing a total of 49 underage workers have escaped Apple’s wrath after agreeing to adhere to the labour policies set out by Jobs & Co.

According to Apple, all the underage workers uncovered by the audit of 127 separate facilities will be given “individual assistance” with regard to contacting their families, identifying educational options, and re-enrolling back into school.

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