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Apple’s iPhone 5C supplier, Pegatron, recently became the target of activist group China Labor Watch due to the death of one of its 15-year-old workers due to pneumonia, leading them to think the working conditions within the plant are unsafe. It looks like the activist group may have jumped the gun a bit as Apple’s medical experts have come out to say the teenage worker’s death had nothing to do with the facility’s working conditions. (more…)

Apple’s Medical Experts Find Worker Death Wasn’t Due To Working Conditions original content from Ubergizmo.

Chinese supplier Pegatron has been in the spotlight before, and not for reasons that are positive in the first place. Well, it seems that the company is in the limelight once again, having come under scrutiny after a bunch of employee deaths which were associated with its iPhone 5c production factory. There was an example where 15-year-old Shi Zhaokun finally gave in to pneumonia after having to work nearly 280 hours in his first month alone at the factory. Needless to say, this was definitely in violation of local labor regulations as well as Apple’s supplier code of conduct. One does wonder, however, with Pegatron having violated Apple’s supplier code of conduct, why can’t Apple choose a different supplier after all these years? Are there no capable suppliers apart from Pegatron to continue rolling out the slew of iDevices?

Shi Zhaokun apparently used a fake identification card so that he could get around China’s minimum hiring age laws, and there was a seeming lack of will to enforce government laws that cap the maximum working hours per week at 60 hours, whereas Zhaokun was said to have worked between 75 and 79 hours for the first three weeks there. Pegatron claimed that Zhaokun’s health issues had nothing to do with his job at the iPhone 5c factory, and the worker logs did not depict an accurate representation of his working and rest hours.

Underaged Pegatron Worked Overworked original content from Ubergizmo.

Yet another manufacturer contributing to Apple’s supply chain has been accused to labor violations. Back in July one of Apple’s biggest suppliers, Pegatron, was accused of worker abuse in China. A non-profit based in New York has made these allegations, its called China Labor Watch. The allegations against Pegatron were also made by this non-profit. China Labor Watch claims that the Jabil Green Point factory in Wuxi, China, is committing various labor violations. This factory apparently manufactures the casing for iPhone 5C, Apple’s rumored low cost iPhone.

The factory is owned by Jabil Circuit, which is a company based in the U.S. with its headquarters in St. Petersburg, Fla. China Labor Watch alleges that workers at the factory are made to stand for more than 11 hours every day, the only rest they get is during the half an hour meal break. This is over three times over China’s legal limit. Workers are also allegedly forced to complete more than 100 hours of mandatory paid overtime per month apart from 11 hours of unpaid overtime. CLW’s report also alleges that living arrangements are not satisfactory, one dorm apparently houses eight workers. Lack of proper training, safety information and audi fraud is added to the list of violations as well. Apple hasn’t issued a comment as yet, but when the report about Pegatron came out, the company said that it is “committed to providing a safe and fair working condition” throughout its supply chain.

iPhone 5C Casing Manufacturer Allegedly Mistreating Workers In China original content from Ubergizmo.

The latest report coming in from infamous Taiwanese publication Digitimes claims that Apple might be placing orders for iMac production with Pegatron. The company is said to be shifting some of its iMac production business from Quanta Computer, which produces most of the iMac units for Apple. Upstream supply chain players have been cited as saying that Apple has sent iMac components to Pegatron recently, however both Pegatron and Quanta Computer have denied any knowledge of Apple’s changing plans.

Pegatron has produced MacBooks for Apple in the past and it appears that it does have the capacity to mass produce iMacs. No reason has been given as to why Apple might be moving the business away from Quanta. Pegatron was in the news recently after a non-profit group alleged that it is involved in worker abuse, Apple said that it would look in to the matter. The manufacturer has also reportedly started initial production of Apple’s much rumored low cost iPhone, known as the iPhone Lite. Pegatron has been a part of Apple’s supply chain for quite some time now, it has produced various iPhone models in the past as well.

Pegatron Apparently Set To Receive Orders For The iMac original content from Ubergizmo.

Remember that China Labor Watch report we recently covered? After digging further into the document, 9to5Mac‘s unearthed more possible evidence about that often leaked, low-cost plastic-clad iPhone. The introduction states:

Its assembled products include iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, and low-priced plastic iPhones.

Then, on page 27:

Today’s work is to paste protective film on the iPhone’s plastic back cover to prevent it from being scratched on assembly lines. This iPhone model with a plastic cover will soon be released on the market by Apple. […] The new cell phone has not yet been put into mass production, so quantity is not as important.

Of course, there’s no definitive proof that Apple will be launching a more affordable iPhone made of polycarbonate — after all the company might just be testing prototypes that are not destined to market. Still, the information in this report sure gives all these recent iPhone rumors a lot more merit.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple

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Via: CNET Asia

Source: 9to5Mac