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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsApple supplier Pegatron under fire after more employee deaths, including alleged child worker
By Shane Cole
The recent unexplained deaths of 'at least five' workers including a 15-year-old-boy employed at mainland Chinese factories owned by contract manufacturer Pegatron have once again shone a spotlight on labor practices at the OEM.
One worker, Shi Zhaokun, was just 15 years old but was hired at a Pegatron plant in Shanghai after producing forged identity documents that said he was 20, according to a report from The New York Times. After one month in the factory, which manufactures Apple's iPhone 5c, Shi died of pneumonia in a Shanghai hospital.
Both Apple's Supplier Code of Conduct and Chinese labor law stipulate that workers must be at least 16 years old and may not work more than 60 hours per week, both regulations that are alleged to have been breached by Pegatron. Time sheets provided to the Times by Shi's family are stamped for an average of 77 hours each week, and while Pegatron did not dispute the documents' validity, the manufacturer did note that the logs do not include break time.
Shi's death is the latest in a string of Pegatron worker fatalities this year, and Chinese labor activists believe the deaths are related to working conditions at the company's factories. Pegatron has denied that accusation, but did acknowledge the deaths.
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http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/12/11/apple-supplier-pegatron-under-fire-after-several-more-employee-deaths-including-alleged-child-worker
frazzled
(18,402 posts)So your game console or LCD TV (if you still have one) or smartphone or cable modem may also be part of the evil empire. Your hands are not clean just because you don't buy Apple products.
onehandle
(51,122 posts)...etc, etc, etc...?
Why, yes it is.
There are three reasons that Apple is in that headline.
1 - It's an Apple Blog
2 - Apple is headline link bait
3 - Apple is the only company actively, and famously doing anything about these problems