Apple Supplier Workers Describe Noxious Hazards at China Factory
Apple Supplier Workers Describe Noxious Hazards at China
Factory
Rights group alleges 14 violations of Apple supplier
standards
Apple says it investigated claims, found no standards
breached
Bloomberg News January 16, 2018, 5:00 AM PST
At a Catcher Technology Co. manufacturing complex in the
Chinese industrial city of Suqian, about six hours’ drive from Shanghai,
workers stand for up to 10 hours a day in hot workshops slicing and blasting
iPhone casings for Apple Inc., handling noxious chemicals sometimes without
proper gloves or masks.
These conditions -- some described in a report Tuesday by
advocacy group China Labor Watch and others in Bloomberg News interviews with
Catcher workers -- show the downside of a high-tech boom buoying the world’s
second-largest economy. Chinese recruiters play up the chance to build advanced
consumer electronics to attract the millions of typically impoverished,
uneducated laborers without whom the production of iPhones and other digital
gadgets would be impossible.
Goggles and earplugs are not always available, a problem
when some factory machines are noisy and spray tiny metallic particles or
coolant, according to Bloomberg interviews with workers. CLW said the noise was
about 80 decibels or more. That’s roughly equivalent to an average factory or a
garbage disposal, according to IAC Acoustics, an industrial noise-control
specialist. Hundreds throng a workshop where the main door only opens about 12
inches. Off duty, they return to debris-strewn dorms bereft of showers or hot
water. Many go without washing for days at a time, workers told Bloomberg.
“My hands turned bloodless white after a day of work,”
said one of the workers, who makes a little over 4,000 yuan a month (just over
$2 an hour) in her first job outside her home province of Henan. She turned to
Catcher because her husband’s home-decorating business was struggling. “I only
tell good things to my family and keep the sufferings like this for myself.”
All workers who spoke with Bloomberg asked not to be identified out of fear of
recrimination.
Apple spent years upbraiding manufacturers after a rash
of suicides at its main partner, Foxconn Technology Group, in 2010 provoked
outrage over the harsh working environments in which its upscale gadgets were
made. Foxconn hired psychological counselors, set up a 24-hour care center, and
attached large nets to factory buildings to prevent impulsive suicides,
according to a 2011 Apple progress report. Soon after, Apple developed
standards and started audits of the hundreds of companies that produce components
for its devices, threatening to pull business from those who flout labor laws.
But the sheer scale of Apple’s supply chain, as well as
less quantifiable variables such as living standards and sanitation, make
monitoring and enforcement of those standards difficult. Apple sells more than
200 million iPhones a year these days, up from 40 million in its 2010 fiscal
year. It outsources manufacturing, boosting profitability. Late last year, the
company released two new iPhone models for the first time, piling pressure on
suppliers to churn out millions of handsets ahead of the holiday shopping
season.
An Apple spokeswoman said the company has its own
employees at Catcher facilities, but sent an additional team to audit the
complex upon hearing of the CLW’s impending report. After interviewing 150
people, the Apple team found no evidence of violations of its standards, she
added. Catcher, which gets almost two-thirds of sales from Apple, said in a
separate statement it too investigated but also found nothing to suggest it had
breached its client’s code of conduct.
“We know our work is never done and we investigate each
and every allegation that’s made. We remain dedicated to doing all we can to
protect the workers in our supply chain,” the Apple spokeswoman added.
In its supplier-responsibility report covering 2016,
Apple said it conducted a record 705 comprehensive site audits. The number of
high-performing supplier locations increased by 59 percent, while
low-performing sites decreased by 31 percent, the company reported.
In a probe spanning roughly three months involving an
undercover investigator and about 50 worker interviews, CLW said it found
"major issues" with occupational health and safety, pollution and
work schedules at the Suqian factory complex run by Catcher, which works with
Apple and other companies and makes parts including iPhone and MacBook casings.
The advocacy group alleged that wages for resigning
workers are not settled the day they quit, something CLW said Catcher is
legally required to do in China. Hiring agencies sometimes refuse to let
contract employees quit, withholding their full salaries if they insist on
leaving, according to CLW’s report and Bloomberg interviews with workers. Other
findings either violated Apple’s supplier code of conduct, didn’t meet
Catcher’s stated standards, or simply highlighted harsh conditions at the
facilities, according to CLW. The group found no incidents of child labor
during its recent investigation.
It’s the second critique in less than two months
involving a major Apple supplier. Late last year, Apple said it found that
interns at a factory operated by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., part of
Foxconn, were working illegal overtime on iPhone X assembly lines. Foxconn
confirmed that some interns worked overtime in violation of its policy, and
said it would review the program to ensure similar incidents wouldn’t happen
again. In the past, Apple has cut ties with other factories for violating
overtime and child labor laws. Hon Hai Precision is still one of Apple’s
largest suppliers, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Catcher facilities were the subject of scrutiny in 2013
and 2014, when another investigation by CLW and Green America found 22 issues,
including forced, unpaid overtime and improper handling of hazardous materials.
At the time, Apple dispatched a team to investigate, and reiterated its
commitment to “ensuring safe and fair working conditions for everyone in our
supply chain.” The Cupertino, California-based company continued to work with
Catcher, according to its annual supplier lists.
Catcher started out as a magnesium components specialist
in 1984. It expanded into other metal components for electrical devices, and
built a client base including Apple, Lenovo Group Ltd., HP Inc., Samsung
Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. Videos Apple often shows of machines
milling single-body aluminum MacBooks replicate the processes Catcher performs.
Since its 1999 initial public offering, Catcher’s market value has soared more
than twentyfold to more than $8 billion.
Catcher’s manufacturing complex in Suqian is an isolated
site on the city’s western outskirts ringed by electrified and barbed-wire
fences. It groups multistory workshops housing the computer-numerical-control
machines that cut aluminum alloy plates into iPhone frames, as well as
sand-blasting facilities that give the iPhone a brushed-metal look. It also
makes components for other Apple devices, including MacBooks.
In all, the facilities violated 14 of Apple’s
supplier-responsibility standards, according to CLW, ranging from a failure to
communicate the risk of handling hazardous chemicals to forcing probationary
workers to pay for uniforms.
“Supplier shall provide and maintain a safe work
environment and integrate sound health and safety management practices into its
business,” Apple’s supplier code of conduct states. "Workers must be
treated with the utmost dignity and respect," it adds. "Workers shall
have the right to refuse unsafe work and to report unhealthy working
conditions."
Catcher’s factory-floor staff are mainly low-skilled
laborers recruited through hiring agencies from rural areas across China. They
travel to the coast in time for peak-season production -- usually three months
in the second half of the year -- before making the long return trip. That
stint at a plant, particularly one affiliated with Apple, often yields much
more than they could hope to earn back home. As seasonal workers far away from
their families, they may be reluctant to push back against managers and
complain about conditions for fear of losing shifts.
One production line is required to crank out about 1,450
units during a 12-hour shift, which includes breaks for meals, according to
CLW. In interviews with Bloomberg, workers expressed concern about safety
issues and a lack of training about the materials they come into contact with.
Some have to quickly switch between at least four machines, increasing the risk
of accidents, the workers said.
“One has to constantly work without stopping,” said one
of the workers, a 25 year-old father of two.
CLW’s investigation found training for new staff lasted
about four hours, versus Catcher’s official 24-hour requirement for the
factory. As workers fill out required tests after training, an instructor reads
out the answers, CLW said. Some workers told Bloomberg they were asked to sign
forms confirming they completed the full training, when they hadn’t.
Catcher doesn’t properly outline standard procedures,
meaning workers aren’t always aware of the best ways to protect themselves in a
hazardous environment, employees told Bloomberg.
The workers Bloomberg interviewed said they got headaches
from the noise. Catcher didn’t distribute earplugs to new recruits until well
into their first month, according to two of the employees. “I asked for the
earplugs many times but they didn’t have any. The loud noise of ‘zah-zah’ made
my head ache and dizzy,” one of those employees said.
Apple’s supplier code of conduct says suppliers should
"identify, control, monitor, and reduce noise generated by the facility
that affects" noise levels at the boundary of factories.
Catcher provides sand-blasting workshop employees one
active carbon face mask a day to protect against fumes and dust. But some
workers said the masks can quickly clog up, according to Bloomberg interviews.
Supervisors hand out thicker 3M-branded face masks only when they expect an
inspection, one of the workers told Bloomberg. High temperatures in the
workshops make wearing the 3M masks unbearable, the worker added.
Rubber gloves -- designed to shield hands from external
fluids -- are also in short supply and often don’t last an entire shift,
workers told Bloomberg. Some of the employees said they end up buying
5-yuan-a-pack flimsy disposable plastic gloves -- the type used in the kitchen
-- to protect themselves.
“After a few hours, the gloves swell, and get soft, like
they’ve been corroded. The fingers would be exposed,” said one of the workers.
CLW reported irritated and peeling skin on workers’ hands.
Workers also complained about the smell in interviews
with Bloomberg. Air filters are installed on cutting machines to clear vapors
produced by the process, but workers said the system doesn’t work fast enough.
The filters clear the air when workers slice metal about once every 20 seconds,
but that’s too slow to meet the workers’ production quotas, so they said they
cut quicker despite the fumes.
“In the first few days of work, when I opened the
cabinet, the smell made me nauseous," said one worker, who hails from
Shanxi province some 500 kilometers away.
Apple’s supplier code of conduct says suppliers should
"identify, evaluate, and manage occupational health and safety hazards
through a prioritized process of hazard elimination, substitution, engineering
controls, administrative controls, and/or personal protective equipment."
The end of the shift brings new challenges. Up to eight
workers share a cramped dorm room of about four bunk beds. When Bloomberg
visited in January, outside temperatures often fell to close to freezing and
the workers kept all windows shut to preserve heat.
That created a humid atmosphere in which odors of sweat,
cigarettes, feet and unwashed clothing mixed freely. Workers living in about 20
rooms per floor share one wash space with 14 cold-water taps, a big public
toilet -- but no shower. Taking a proper bath required walking to an adjacent
facility.
Apple’s code of conduct says worker dormitories provided
by suppliers or a third-party should "be clean and safe and provide
reasonable living space." Catcher said the rooms meet local standards, but
it is about to buy land near the factory area and build new dorms for use next
year.
Workers said one of the few sources of entertainment out
of factory hours is playing with their smartphones.
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