Apple Inc. probing charges
SHANGHAI, China – Apple Computer Inc. said Wednesday it was working to resolve a dispute over alleged labor abuses by an iPod manufacturer in China.
Hongfujin Precision Industry Co., a major exporter owned by a Taiwanese company, filed a defamation lawsuit against two journalists at the state-run newspaper China Business News over stories alleging that workers on iPod assembly lines worked under harsh conditions for low pay.
The dispute highlights challenges big companies face in living up to their codes of conduct while outsourcing most of their production. It also reflects the pressures Chinese journalists confront in doing their jobs.
According to local media reports, the Shenzhen Intermediate Court, in the southern export hub of Shenzhen, accepted the case on July 10 and froze the personal assets of the two journalists, Wang You and editor Weng Bao, of the Shanghai-based paper. Court officials in Shenzhen refused comment Wednesday.
Chinese media and a journalists’ advocacy group, Reporters Without Borders, have criticized the move and urged Apple, which has vowed to ensure fair treatment of workers at its suppliers, to intercede.
“Apple is working behind the scenes to help resolve this issue,” an Apple spokesman, Jill Tan, said Wednesday. She said she could not comment further.
Apple’s iconic iPod players are made outside the United States, mainly in China. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company has sold more than 50 million iPods since the product debuted in 2001.
Reporters Without Borders sent an open letter to Apple’s chief executive, Steve Jobs, urging him to persuade Hongfujin’s parent company, Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group, to drop its case against the journalists.
Foxconn has denied the allegations of labor abuses, although Apple issued a report earlier this month acknowledging some violations of its corporate code of conduct.
Staff who answered the phone at Hongfujin’s office Wednesday in Shenzhen refused to take any media inquiries.
The allegations against the iPod maker originally surfaced in a report in June by a British newspaper, the Mail on Sunday. It alleged that workers at the factory were paid as little as $50 a month to work 15-hour shifts making the devices.
Apple responded by promising to immediately investigate conditions at the factory. It issued a report earlier this month saying that it found some violations of its stringent code of conduct but no serious labor abuses. It pledged to immediately redress some problems with overtime, employee accommodations and administrative issues.
The company discounted allegations of forced overtime, noting that a chief complaint among workers was a shortage of overtime during slack periods.
Earlier, Foxconn issued a lengthy statement defending its labor policies and detailing amenities it says it offers to its employees, including “complimentary professional laundry services,” soccer fields, libraries and an Internet cafe.
“Foxconn has been recognized by Shenzhen government as a role model,” it said.