After a a Chinese labor watchdog fingered Samsung with child labor allegations, the company set to auditing its entire catalog of factories. Initial results weren’t too great, but now the final results are in—and while there’s no evidence of child labor, there are plenty more problems to worry about. More »
So many things are made in China: DVD players, handbags, adorable shoes, kitchen gadgets, watches, t-shirts, laptops, and more. Some of them are made in happy, shiny factories. Some are born out of deplorable labor conditions that ruin and cost lives. We usually don’t know which. More »
Just a week after riots broke out at Foxconn over working conditions at the Chinese plant that manufactures Apple’s glorious new iPhone 5, the company is mixed up in another labor imbroglio. This time, it’s over the admitted use of child labor. But sheath thy pichforks because Foxconn’s not entirely to blame. More »
Yesterday, reports came in that around 4,000 over-worked and under-paid Foxconn employees began to strike, potentially hitching up iPhone 5 production, the stresses of which had pushed them to the breaking point. According Foxconn, however, everything at the plant in question is just peachy. More »
The underpaid, overworked Chinese workers of Foxconn have had enough, according to a new report by China Labor Watch: thousands have gone on strike over immense iPhone manufacturing pressure and fistfights with their bosses. More »
A prototype weed-seeking automaton could change the way seven billion humans eat, as well as help to end industrial agriculture’s reliance on toxic herbicides and itinerant labor. More »
Another report from a Chinese labor watchdog suggests that reports of Samsung’s underage and abused workforce weren’t a one-off. More »
Last month a Chinese labor watchdog fingered Samsung for employing, and abusing, underage workers in its factories. Now a Samsung audit has found no evidence of underage workers—but plenty of other problems to worry about. More »
Samsung faced some serious allegations surrounding the plants of its Chinese contractor HEG Electronics earlier this month, including potentially dire accusations that HEG was employing child labor. The Korean firm promised audits to set the record straight, and we’re seeing the first fruits of those inspections today. The results were decidedly mixed. While there weren’t any underage workers when Samsung visited, it did find HEG staff working excessive overtime, some unsafe practices and a system that punished late workers with fines. Samsung’s response will go beyond just asking HEG to shape up, though: it plans to finish auditing all 105 of its exclusive Chinese contractors by the end of September, determine whether inspections of non-exclusive contractors are needed and set up a long-term audit schedule past 2013 that includes tougher requirements. While there’s no certainty that the reforms will lead to the intended results, we’re glad to hear that Samsung wants to turn things around at such a rapid pace.
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment
Samsung finishes initial Chinese factory audits, plans long-term solutions to labor woes originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Sep 2012 09:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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