Apple has temporarily halted new collaborations with iPhone supplier Pegatron after it emerged that the Taiwanese manufacturer had violated Apple’s rules for student workers in some of its factories in China.
Students did overtime and night work, in violation of Apple’s rules, and performed work unrelated to their education. Pegatron is also said to have also falsified paperwork to try to hide these violations, Bloomberg reports.
Pegatron has since fired the manager responsible for the student programme. Affected workers have been removed from the positions and allowed to return to their homes and schools with what is said to be “proper compensation alongside all necessary support and care”. However, Apple has not so far changed its decision, and in a statement, Pegatron states that it is complying fully with additional measures.
Apple often comes under fire for the ethics of its supply chain – here at Macworld we argued that it should renounce forced labour – but the company has done a lot of work auditing its suppliers. Concrete actions like this send a message to suppliers that it won’t turn a blind eye to labour violations in future, and can only be applauded.
This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation by David Price.