In order to bring its products across millions of users across the globe, Apple relies on several manufacturing partners and one of them is the Taiwanese company, Pegatron. However, their relationship is now hanging in the air in relation to labour issues at Pegatron’s facility in China.
According to the report by Bloomberg, Apple has suspended its business with Pegatron after finding irregularities regarding the Taiwanese company’s student work study program. Even though there was no evidence that Pegatron has engaged in forced or underage labour, Pegatron has apparently allowed some student workers to work at night as well as overtime which is a violation of Apple’s Supplier Code of Conduct.
In the statement to Bloomberg from Apple, the company also said that some students have also been asked to perform tasks that are not related to their major. Furthermore, the company has also falsified paperwork in order to mask the violations.
Apple has also noted that the manager in charge of the student worker program has been fired by the Taiwanese company. In a separate statement, Pegatron has admitted that the incident took place in its campus at Shanghai and Kunshan but didn’t really explain whether the suspension will affect the existing production of Apple products such as the new iPhone 12 family.
