Apple Suspends Business With iPhone Supplier Pegatron for Labor Violations

Apple has suspended its partnership with Pegatron after it discovered that the major iPhone supplier was committing labor violations at a student workers' program.

pegatron logo
Bloomberg reports that several weeks ago Apple found Pegatron had been falsifying paperwork to cover up the violations of Apple's code of conduct for suppliers. Specifically, the Taiwanese manufacturer had misclassified student workers, which allowed some to work nights and overtime. Employees reportedly then "went to extraordinary lengths" to cover up the violations.

"Pegatron misclassified the student workers in their program and falsified paperwork to disguise violations of our Code, including allowing students to work nights and/or overtime and in some cases to perform work unrelated to their major," Apple said in a statement to Bloomberg. "The individuals at Pegatron responsible for the violations went to extraordinary lengths to evade our oversight mechanisms."

Pegatron said the violations took place at its Shanghai and Kunshan campuses in eastern China and that students working night shifts, over-time, and in positions unrelated to their majors were "not in compliance with local rules and regulations." Pegatron has since fired the manager who oversaw the student worker program.

"Upon discovery of this non-compliant activity, we immediately took the student workers off production lines and worked with our customer and third-party experts to make appropriate arrangements for them to return to their homes or schools with proper compensation alongside all necessary support and care," Pegatron said in a statement.

Apple has put Pegatron on probation as a result of the violations, and while supplier's current ‌iPhone‌ business is not expected to be affected, it could lose some ‌iPhone‌ 12 orders to Luxshare next year.

This isn't the first time Pegatron has been accused of worker abuse. A 2013 report by China Labor Watch found evidence of unpaid overtime and underpayment of student workers at Pegatron's Shanghai assembly plant. Other companies in Apple's Chinese-based production chain including Foxconn and Catcher Technology have also flouted local regulations in the past, forcing Apple to tighten standards and audit the companies that manufacture components for its devices.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

10 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Thursday October 31, 2024 9:42 am PDT by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 in December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well. ...
M4 Pro on Blue

M4 Pro Chip Benchmark Results Reveal an Extremely Impressive Performance Feat

Thursday October 31, 2024 7:06 pm PDT by
The first Geekbench 6 benchmark results for the M4 Pro chip surfaced today. Impressively, the results that are available so far show that the highest-end M4 Pro chip is faster than the highest-end M2 Ultra chip in terms of peak multi-core CPU performance. Here is a comparison of the results: Mac mini with M4 Pro (14-core CPU): 22,094 multi-core score (average of 11 results) Mac Studio...
Apple iPhone SE 4 5G Modem 1

iPhone SE 4 First to Get Apple-Designed 5G Modem, iPhone 17 Pro to Add Custom Wi-Fi 7 Chip

Friday November 1, 2024 4:04 am PDT by
The iPhone SE 4 that's set to come out early next year is expected to debut Apple's first in-house 5G modem, according to Jeff Pu, an analyst who covers companies within Apple's supply chain. In a research note this week with Hong Kong-based investment firm Haitong International Securities, Pu said Apple is expected to roll out its custom-made 5G modem starting with the next-generation...
best early black friday deals

The Best Early Black Friday Apple Deals

Friday November 1, 2024 8:21 am PDT by
We're officially in the month of Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 29 in 2024. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment,...
M3 Pro Max vs M4 Pro Max Feature

Here's How Much Faster M4 Pro/Max Are for Graphics vs. M3 Pro/Max

Friday November 1, 2024 8:04 am PDT by
Apple's new M4 Pro and M4 Max chips are impressively fast in terms of CPU performance, topping the M2 Ultra, but what about graphics performance? The first Geekbench 6 results for GPU performance are now available for the M4 Pro and M4 Max, and the Metal scores reveal some impressive year-over-year gains. Based on the Metal scores that are available so far, the M4 Pro and M4 Max are up to...
imac video apple feature

What to Expect From Apple This November

Friday November 1, 2024 9:40 am PDT by
After a busy October in which Apple announced new Macs and Apple Intelligence launched, the calendar has now turned to November. Below, we outline what to expect from Apple this month as the slower-but-still-busy holiday season approaches. After seeding the first betas of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 with additional Apple Intelligence features last month, Apple will likely...
pixelmator

Apple Acquires Photo Editing App Maker Pixelmator

Friday November 1, 2024 8:41 am PDT by
Apple has reached an agreement to acquire Pixelmator, the company behind popular photo and image editing apps Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval, according to an announcement made by the Pixelmator team on Friday. Based in Vilnius, Lithuania, Pixelmator has developed a suite of well-regarded creative tools that compete with...

Top Rated Comments

spyguy10709 Avatar
52 months ago
I don't see how


Apple has put Pegatron on probation... business is not expected to be affected
translates into


Suspends Business
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ian87w Avatar
52 months ago

It is crazy how we perceive Apple as a premium brand, but they are really products being manufactured by cheap Chinese labor.

I love my iPhone 12 Pro, but stories like these make me feel gross about supporting a company like Apple. It is time to invest in the country that made them rich, or get out.
Wait, isn't this actually a good thing for Apple since they actually put efforts to curtail naughty suppliers? Pegatron made a ton of other stuff, including laptops and components, yet we don't see other brands (I'm looking at you Asus) putting the same scrutiny as Apple.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
citysnaps Avatar
52 months ago

It is crazy how we perceive Apple as a premium brand, but they are really products being manufactured by cheap Chinese labor.

I love my iPhone 12 Pro, but stories like these make me feel gross about supporting a company like Apple. It is time to invest in the country that made them rich, or get out.
Maybe you should instead purchase your tech products from companies not using Chinese suppliers and contract manufacturing? Or companies looking the other way when labor violations are discovered with their suppliers/contract manufacturers? And then you wouldn't need to feel gross.

Hat-tip to Apple and Mr. Cook for not looking the other way and instead taking action. I suspect many tech companies simply look the other way out of convenience.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
neuropsychguy Avatar
52 months ago

Shocker, China abusing their workers ?‍♀️
That's not what it looks like. It looks like the students wanted to work more hours or different hours than they were allowed to and a manager helped them do it and falsified paperwork: "Apple said it didn’t find evidence of forced or underage labor in Pegatron’s case".

There are plenty of worker abuses (and forced labor) in China [not to mention this is Taiwan] but this doesn't appear to be one of those cases.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
farewelwilliams Avatar
52 months ago

It is crazy how we perceive Apple as a premium brand, but they are really products being manufactured by cheap Chinese labor.

I love my iPhone 12 Pro, but stories like these make me feel gross about supporting a company like Apple. It is time to invest in the country that made them rich, or get out.
apple would gladly sell you a $1.5k entry level iPhone
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
roxygal9 Avatar
52 months ago
Shocker, China abusing their workers ?‍♀️
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)