From CNET: Apple uncovered a higher number of serious labor and human rights rules violations at its supplier facilities in 2017, the company said Wednesday in its annual audit of its supply chain.
Apple identified 44 "core violations" of labor rules, according to its 12th annual Supplier Responsibility Progress Report (PDF), double the number it reported last year. Included in the report were three debt-bonded labor violations, two underage labor violations and 38 violations of falsifying work hours data.
Still, Apple said it found a higher level of compliance with its Supplier Code of Conduct during its review of 756 suppliers in 30 countries. Apple said 197 of those assessments were at new facilities to its chain it had never visited before.
The proportion of "low performers," or suppliers scoring less than 59 points on Apple's 100-point scale, fell to 1 percent in 2017 from 3 percent in 2016 and 14 percent in 2014. Supplier compliance with Apple's 60-hour work week limitation fell to 94 percent in 2017 from 98 percent a year earlier, although some of that may be attributable to the number of new suppliers in the chain this year.
In one instance of debt-bonded labor uncovered by Apple, more than 700 workers recruited from the Philippines paid placement fees of more than $1 million to work for an Apple supplier. Apple made sure that every worker was reimbursed for the fee.
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