There is no doubt that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) owns a remarkable brand. Even though its goods are quite expensive when compared to other consumer electronics manufacturers, it still manages to outsell them. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) not only makes expensive devices, but also makes a hefty profit in selling them, so what’s stopping it’s suppliers from providing workers better working conditions? According to Kevin Slaten, Program Coordinator at China Labor Watch, the working conditions and standards at the manufacturing facilities operated by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s supplier, Catcher Technology in China are really bad. He was on CNBC recently to discuss the unsafe standards used by Catcher Technology in China.
“A lot of times, the ways that brand companies like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and some other major electronic companies like Dell or HP, when they try to gather information, they are conducting audits and these audits are frequently fraudulent or inaccurate because there is some sort of cloaking of some of the violations going on. But, this has really been clear for a long time, the brand companies like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) know that these audits don’t always reflect what’s going on […],” Slaten said.
Slaten emphasized that the results of the investigations that China Labor Watch undertakes can’t be cloaked as the companies where the investigations are conducted don’t know that such type of an undercover investigation is going on. He revealed that the investigation that his firm conducts uncovers those things that the audits conducted by the company themselves fail to uncover.
According to Slaten, his firm has done nearly 400 undercover investigations across various types of industries that operate in China. He feels that the kind of violations of Labor laws at Catcher Technology’s factory that manufactures Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s devices is not the worst, but that doesn’t mean the factory follows all the standards set by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and China’s Labor laws.
As of June 30, 2014, Carl Icahn’s Icahn Capital LP owns over 52 million shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Disclosure: None
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