SAN FRANCISCO — Apple stepped up audits of working conditions at major suppliers last year, discovering multiple cases of employment of underage workers, discrimination and wage problems.
The company, which relies heavily on Asia-based partners like Foxconn Technology Group of Taiwan to assemble its devices, said Thursday that it had conducted 393 audits, up 72 percent from 2011, reviewing sites where more than 1.5 million workers make its gadgets.
In recent years, Apple has faced accusations of building its profits on the backs of poorly treated and severely underpaid workers in China.
That criticism came to the fore around 2010, after reports of suicides at Foxconn drew attention to the long hours that migrant laborers frequently endured, often for a pittance in wages and in severely cramped living conditions.
Foxconn is the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry. The company employs 1.2 million workers across China.
Under Tim Cook, who took over as chief executive from Steve Jobs in 2011, Apple has taken steps to improve its record and increase transparency, with measures like the extensive audits of its sprawling supply chain. Last year, it agreed to separate audits by the independent Fair Labor Association.
In an interview Thursday, the senior vice president of operations at Apple, Jeff Williams, said the company had increased its efforts to solve two of the most challenging issues: ensuring there are no underage workers in its supply chain and limiting work time to 60 hours a week.
Apple is now investigating its smaller suppliers — which typically face less oversight on such issues — to bring them into compliance, sometimes even firing them.
“We go deep in the supply chain to find it,” Mr. Williams said. “And when we do find it, we ensure that the underage workers are taken care of, the suppliers are dealt with.”
In one case, Apple terminated its relationship with a component maker after discovering 74 cases in which underage workers were being employed. Apple also found that an employment agency had forged documents to allow children to work illegally at the supplier.
Apple reported both the supplier and the employment agency to the local authorities, the company said in its latest annual report on the conditions in its supply chain.
Apple Labor Audits Uncover Underage Workers
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Apple Labor Audits Uncover Underage Workers
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Apple Labor Audits Uncover Underage Workers
