Ethics Newsline®

CUPERTINO, Calif.
Apple Computer, a favorite of socially responsible investment firms and a company frequently cited as a good corporate citizen, last week defended itself against reports that it used sweatshop labor overseas, producing a study showing that while some of its corporate procedures were violated in Chinese factories, there was no wholesale exploitation of laborers.

The San Jose Mercury News reported that Apple’s investigation came in the wake of a British tabloid’s claim that iPod music players were produced in factories where workers were mistreated and poorly paid — allegedly working 15-hour days in a factory outside Hong Kong and being charged exorbitant rates for company-supplied food and housing at a plant near Shanghai.

The Agence France-Presse reported that Apple dispatched a team to check up on the claims, and said it found some violations of standard company policy but no evidence of child labor, compulsory overtime, or abusive housing conditions.

According to a report from CNET and Reuters, Apple did admit that its main supplier of iPods let employees work more hours than allowed by Apple’s code of conduct, but that Apple had acted to remediate the problem.

BusinessWeek reported that Apple also found problems with company housing at the Shanghai plant, noting that some dormitory areas housed hundreds of workers in large single rooms. Two of the buildings in question were reconverted factories, according to Apple’s report.