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Apple Audit Shows Rash Of Serious Violations For Suppliers

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Eric Lieberman Managing Editor
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Apple revealed Wednesday that its suppliers made a number of serious labor and environmental violations, according to Reuters.

In its latest annual audit, the U.S.-based corporation outlined problems discovered among some of its partnered manufacturers, like falsifying work hours data and inappropriately exacting inordinate fees for initial employment.

Overall, there were 44 “core violations” determined by Apple, a two-fold surge from 2016 to 2017. One specific instance entails 700 foreign contract workers from the Philippines being exacted a total of $1 million to ultimately get hired, a policy Apple banned a few years ago. Furthermore, 6 percent of suppliers did not abide by the 60-hour work week maximum in 2017, while in 2016 only 2 percent didn’t adhere to the rules, Reuters reports. (RELATED: Factory Worker At iPhone Manufacturer Jumps Out Of Window, Killing Himself)

Foxconn, Apple’s primary supplier in Asia, was accused recently of illegally using students to assemble the newly-released iPhone X by having them work 11-hour days at a factory, well over the permitted limit.

Furthermore, Apple says that several smelting facilities and refineries were dropped because they refused to participate in required third-party auditing.

Still, Apple says that the number of associated companies being graded as “low performers” — showing weak compliance with the tech giant’s rules —  decreased to 1 percent in 2017, down from 3 and 14 percent in 2016 and 2014, respectively. “High performers” also increased by 12 percent, up from 47 percent the year prior.

Some of the positive statistics — which could arguably be subjective since they are conducted internally — may stem from a substantial increase in suppliers included in the assessment.

Nevertheless, Apple’s evaluation of how bad some of its business partners are treating employees and failing to abide by mandated standards flies in the face of CEO Tim Cook’s claim that he wants the company to be socially responsible.

Apple did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment in time of publication.

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