Apple Says China Agent Forged Documents for Underage Workers

choi

If Companies Want to Do Business With Us, They Must Act Fairly and Ethically at All Times.  We don’t allow suppliers to act unethically or in ways that threaten the rights of workers — even when local laws and customs permit such practices. We’re working to end excessive work hours, prohibit unethical hiring policies, and prevent the hiring of underage workers. Apple, Jan 25, 2013 (annual report of Supplier Responsibility)  
http://www.apple.com/supplierres ... d-human-rights.html

a section with its heading:

"How dishonest third-party labor agents conspire to corrupt the system.

"In many of the cases of underage labor we’ve discovered, the culprit behind the violation was a third-party labor agent that willfully and illegally recruited young workers. In January 2012, for example, we audited a supplier, Guangdong Real Faith Pingzhou Electronics Co., Ltd. (PZ) (广东昭信平洲电子有限公司), that produces a standard circuit board component used by many other companies in many industries. Our auditors were dismayed to discover 74 cases of workers under age 16 — a core violation of our Code of Conduct. As a result, we terminated our business relationship with PZ.

"But we didn’t stop there. We also learned that one of the region’s largest labor agencies, Shenzhen Quanshun Human Resources Co., Ltd. (Quanshun) (深圳全顺人力资源有限公司), which is registered in both the Shenzhen and Henan provinces, was responsible for knowingly providing the children to PZ. In fact, to obtain the workers, this agency conspired with families to forge age verification documents and make the workers seem older than they were.

"We also alerted the provincial governments to the actions of Quanshun. The agency had its business license suspended and was fined. The children were returned to their families, and PZ was required to pay expenses to facilitate their successful return. In addition, the company that subcontracted its work to PZ was prompted by our findings to audit its other subcontractors for underage labor violations — proving that one discovery can have far-reaching impact.

My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the rest of the report.
(b) Pingzhou Station  坪洲站
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9D%AA%E6%B4%B2%E7%AB%99
(c) The title of my posting comes from

Tim Culpan and Adam Satariano, Apple Says China Agent Forged Documents for Underage Workers. Bloomberg, Jan 25, 2013.