Pegatron, the Chinese assembler of Apple products, said on Tuesday that they haven’t been informed of any impending audits such as the one announced this week by Apple. Apple has said the audits will begin in the spring.
AppleInsider’s Sam Oliver:
The comments from Pegatron officials, obtained by Bloomberg, suggest that the company was caught off-guard by Apple’s announcement on Monday that audits and interviews will be conducted there this spring. Those reviews will be administered by the Fair Labor Association, an independent group of which Apple recently became a member.
The first FLA inspections began Monday morning in the Shenzhen, China, mega-facility of another Apple supplier: Foxconn. Those audits were led by a team of labor experts, including FLA president Auret van Heerden.
Apple announced in a press release Monday that, in addition to the Foxconn review, both Pegatron and Quanta would be audited by the FLA this spring. The assessment from the association will cover facilities where over 90% of Apple products are assembled.
Apple formally joined FLA a month ago, the first technology company to do so. The association will assess facilities in Apple’s supply chain, and supply findings on its website.
Oliver continues, “The audits from the FLA come soon after a number of reports have called into question Apple’s relationship with Foxconn for assembly of popular devices like the iPhone and iPad. Both The New York Times and CNN highlighted potential labor issues in Apple’s supply chain, with claims of forced overtime and low wages.
“The Times story even included comments from anonymous current or former Apple executives, who suggested that Apple has ignored some labor issues in overseas factories because the system “works” for the company.”
The reports prompted Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook to send an email to employees stating that, “any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive.” Vowing that Apple executives will never “stand still or turn a blind eye to problems in our supply chain.”
