Apple is again under fire for breaking child labor laws, which is not new for them. This time, Amnesty is accusing many global tech companies of sourcing their cobalt from companies that utilize child labor. Their argument is that the companies, like Apple, Samsung, and Sony did not perform basic checks intended to filter out child labor in the companies they get their minerals from. In a response from Apple, they reiterated their child labor policy, which prompted a further look at the policy as a whole. According to Apple’s website, “Underage labor is never tolerated in our supply chain. If we find it, we put a stop to it. Any suppliers found violating our zero tolerance policy are put on probation. Our underage Labor Remediation Program requires that any supplier found hiring underage workers fund the worker’s safe return home. Suppliers also have to fully finance the worker’s education at a school chosen by the worker and his or her family, continue to pay the worker’s wages, and offer the worker a job when he or she reaches the legal age.”
On the surface, that seems like a pretty good policy. I mean, when a child is being exploited by a large company for labor, the least they can do is pay for that child’s education; however, the flaws in this system come to light when reading the story immediately underneath this listing. Apple tells the story of Ran, who loved technology and needed to support his family. So, at the age of 15, he borrowed an ID in order to “bypass a nearby factory’s underage labor screening process” and was successfully hired.
In October 2013, Apple discovered that he was working there underage and employed the policy outlined above. The story goes on to tell how great he’s doing now that he’s 16 and in school full-time. This all seems great and Apple seems like a hero for saving this child from the horrible factory, but there are much deeper problems going on here. First of all, they completely glaze over the fact that Ran purposely subverted the hiring process by using a fake ID, which is ILLEGAL. The company, which had its partnership with Apple terminated, thanks to Ran, must have lost a lot of business from that, which means they probably had to lay off or fire many people who were working there legally. Then, the company was forced to pay for his schooling and continue to pay him wages when he didn’t do any work, even though this was completely his fault. This wasn’t some kid that was manipulated or coerced into working in a mine, or a child working in a sweatshop 20 hours a day.
If I was in charge of this company, I’d be pretty upset. Yes, they could have stopped this by realizing that it wasn’t his ID, but he borrowed it from someone else, so it was clearly a legitimate ID, not a fake. This one is completely on Ran, and I think it’s very unfair to give him a free education and wages when he is the one that was purposefully deceitful. I think this necessitates a deeper look at the real problem behind child labor: the motivation behind it. Is it really that children are being coerced into it, or is it more that kids younger and younger are being pressured to provide for their families? Both are obviously huge problems, but they do require much different solutions.
To check out the policy and story for yourself, go to: http://www.apple.com/supplier-responsibility/labor...
