Apple has said it is “deeply offended” by a BBC investigation into conditions for workers involved in manufacturing its devices, despite knowing about the program for two months Apple refused an on air interview to explain their position, but they did issue a statement to another media organisation.
Rules on workers’ hours, ID cards, dormitories, work meetings and juvenile workers were routinely breached, the BBC show Panorama claimed.
The Panorama film showed exhausted workers falling asleep on their 12-hour shifts at Pegatron factories on the outskirts of Shanghai.
One undercover reporter, working in a factory making parts for Apple computers, had to work 18 days in a row despite repeated requests for a day off.
In a staff email, senior Apple executive Jeff Williams said he knew of no other company doing as much as Apple to improve conditions.
But he added: “We can still do better.”
Panorama’s editor Ceri Thomas said that the BBC team had found an exhausted workforce making Apple products in China, as well as children working in extremely dangerous tin mines in Bangka, Indonesia.
“While Apple did confirm earlier this year that it gets tin from Bangka, it had never been confirmed whether illegal tin was entering their supply chain,” he said.
“We got the first evidence of this on our trip.
Apple refused to explain its position on camera.”
Mr Williams’ email, published in full by one British newspaper, was also sent to around 5,000 Apple staff in the UK.
“Panorama’s report implied that Apple isn’t improving working conditions,” he wrote.
He said he wanted the email to offer “facts and perspective, all of which we shared with the BBC in advance, but were clearly missing from their programme”.
He wrote that he and Apple chief executive Tim Cook were “deeply offended by then suggestion that Apple would break a promise to the workers in our supply chain or mislead our customers in any way”.
He added: “We are honest about the challenges we face and we work hard to make sure that people who make our products are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.”
Williams said “This year, our suppliers have achieved an average of 93% compliance with our 60-hour limit.”
It also explained how the firm supports moves to address the issue of illegal mining in countries such as Indonesia.
In the Panorama programme, children were seen mining for the tin typically used in devices such as smartphones and tablets.
The process can be extremely dangerous – miners can be buried alive when the walls of sand or mud collapse.
The programme spoke to 12-year-old Rianto who was working with his father at the bottom of a 70ft cliff of sand.
He said: “I worry about landslides. The earth slipping from up there to the bottom. It could happen.”
Pegatron has said it will look carefully at the BBC’s claims.
