The Telegraph:
The BBC’s Panorama programme sent undercover reporters to Pegatron factories on the outskirts of Shanghai, where it claims to have uncovered poor treatment of workers and a breach of standards on workers’ hours.
In an email to around 5,000 staff across the UK, Apple senior vice president of operations Jeff Williams said both himself and the chief executive were “deeply offended by the suggestion that Apple would break a promise to the workers in our supply chain or mislead our customers in any way”.
“Panorama’s report implied that Apple isn’t improving working conditions,” he continued. “Let me tell you, nothing could be further from the truth.”
A core part of the allegations center on Apple’s use of tin from Indonesia. Apple cannot control the sourcing of this tin at a fine enough level to guarantee that that part of the supply chain is completely clean.
“Apple has publicly stated that tin from Indonesia ends up in our products, and some of that tin likely comes from illegal mines,” Williams countered.
“Tens of thousands of artisanal miners are selling tin through many middlemen to the smelters who supply to component suppliers who sell to the world. The government is not addressing the issue, and there is widespread corruption in the undeveloped supply chain. Our team visited the same parts of Indonesia visited by the BBC, and of course we are appalled by what’s going on there.
“Apple has two choices: We could make sure all of our suppliers buy tin from smelters outside of Indonesia, which would probably be the easiest thing for us to do and would certainly shield us from criticism. But it would be the lazy and cowardly path, because it would do nothing to improve the situation for Indonesian workers or the environment since Apple consumes a tiny fraction of the tin mined there. We chose the second path, which is to stay engaged and try to drive a collective solution.”
Seems to me that the Panorama program was very selective in their reporting, that they were determined to paint Apple as a villain, rather than tell both sides of the story. Follow the headline link to read the full text of Jeff Williams’ letter.
The frustrating thing about this whole affair is we all know there ARE issues in that supply / production chain. It’s be an ongoing problem for years and likely will be for years to come. But because Apple are the biggest brand in the world they’re the ones that are targeted for bigger headlines while many, many other companies who aren’t pushing as hard to improve conditions continue to slide under the radar. Frankly I expected better from the BBC, shame they couldn’t resist the temptation to tabloid it up…
The BBC have always had an anti-Apple bias. Even more so since Samsung started advertising heavily on their overseas channels. Although of course, we don’t see those ads in the UK.
Typical Fleet Street yellow journalism. Go for the sensational, leave the intellectual discussion for Oxford.
A company that only supports Gay Rights just because it is about to enter the fashion business.
Would be FOR Worker Rights if only workers could actually afford to buy their products
is Shocked that there is gambling going on.
Why don’t Apple reporter ask Apple about Net Neutrality whether that is a Human Right or not. Answer will be highly amusing.
This would be a pretty good troll, but you clearly don’t know your Apple history. Apple was a supporter of gay rights when it opposed California’s Proposition 8 way back in 2008, and it has done many other things over the years — not just now that it is entering the fashion industry.
By the way: Fashion industry and gay — stereotype much?
Wait. This post is being facetious, right?
troll much?
I don’t agree with this “why pick on Apple” argument. If the situation in Indonesia is as bad as it seems which company is the best to single out in order to improve the situation? I’d say Apple, because Apple is one of the few companies which would actually do something about it. In my mind this affair just boosts my respect for Apple.
Singling out Apple is lazy and sensationalist if you don’t mention all the other manufacturers who are benefiting from this to a much greater degree.
I saw this episode of panorama. I do agree that Apple have been singled out on this, I assume their major competitors supply chains will not be perfect. My problem is that we keep on hearing about how Apple are generating huge profits, why can’t they start to make a change. If they did I’m sure others would follow.
We already buy fair trade food. Why not fair-trade electronics?