Artist’s impression of discussion on freedom of association at
GoodElectronics and makeITfair Round Table with the electronics
industry, 9-10 May, Amsterdam. By Maarten Wolterink.
Latest News
Series of reports on corporate responsibility of mobile network operators across Europe
makeITfair reports on the corporate responsibility of mobile network operators across Europe. Focused research was conducted into the human rights policies and practices of mobile network operators in Sweden, Germany, Finland, and Hungary.
Apple fails in its responsibility to monitor suppliers
At the occasion of the Apple shareholders meeting, Hong Kong-based labour group SACOM has published a new report on Apple. SACOM is highly critical of working conditions at Apple suppliers in China. While Apple claims that it requires its suppliers to uphold its workers' basic human rights as understood by the international community, and to treat them with dignity and respect, SACOM's investigations demonstrate that Apple supplier factories are intensifying a military-style management of workers. To make sure workers meet the daily production targets, Apple suppliers resort to inhumane labour practices, even to the extent of denying workers' basic human needs, such as allowing bathroom breaks, sufficient rest, and access to proper nutrition; these conditions partly contribute to the high labour turnover rate. Increasingly, Apple suppliers use student workers from vocational schools from all over China, under the guise of “student internships”. These alarming findings prove that Apple suppliers are indeed sweatshops that exploit their workers, writes SACOM.
Un actionnaire d’Apple propose un Comité sur les Droits Humains
Ce 27 février à Cupertino (Siège d’Apple en Californie), John Harrington a déposé une proposition de constitution d’un Comité du Conseil d’administration d’Apple sur les Droits de l’Homme. Cet actionnaire minoritaire veut ainsi renforcer les efforts d’Apple pour tenir compte des droits de l’Homme au travail dans les pratiques de l’entreprise.
Search for a smartphone made of conflict-free minerals
‘If you are too well connected you stop thinking.’ The Guardian’s George Monbiot is not having a smartphone yet and does some research in this article to find an ethical one. Out of thousand problematic issues in the mobile phone industry he acknowledges, he’s focusing on one: “Are the components soaked in blood of people from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo?”
'Those Were the Years, When I Was at Foxconn'. Ex-worker speaks about working conditions
In this SACOM film a young female former Foxconn worker is interviewed about her work, treatment and working conditions at the mold production shop floor. She started there as a trainee, earning 1 Chinese Yuan a day, but in fact had to do the same work as other employees. Her story is one of many more about the treatment of workers in the electronics industry.
