[HN Gopher] Apple knew a supplier was using child labor but took...
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       Apple knew a supplier was using child labor but took 3 years to
       fully cut ties
        
       Author : nailer
       Score  : 63 points
       Date   : 2021-01-19 21:46 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.businessinsider.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.businessinsider.com)
        
       | judge2020 wrote:
       | Supply chains at Apple's scale take at least 3 years to set up
       | and scale up. I'm surprised it didn't take longer for them to
       | fully disintegrate that supplier.
        
         | LatteLazy wrote:
         | You'd think they call that supplier and the supplier would
         | (within a few hours) stop using child labour...
        
           | jibcage wrote:
           | They have leverage if they're the only gig in town, though.
        
           | keehun wrote:
           | While still meeting delivery targets? Even if budget weren't
           | a concern, how do you scale up new employees that quickly?
           | 
           | I'm NOT condoning the behavior. This is disgusting. Still,
           | "the supplier would (within a few hours) stop using child
           | labour" is completely unrealistic.
           | 
           | Apple should have cut ties immediately even if it meant a
           | breach of contract or shortage of inventory.
        
           | herodoturtle wrote:
           | You'd think within a few hours and not right away?
        
         | haltingproblem wrote:
         | Can you explain this more. If it takes them 3 years to scale
         | up, does it now mean all the vendors are locked in for that
         | period. If a vendor starts failing quality checks will they
         | still take 3 years to disintegrate them? If not then why would
         | violation of their own labor standards take 3 years to remove
         | them?
         | 
         | FWIW, except forced labor, I am against child labor standards
         | since it usurps the wisdom of the parents without providing for
         | that child. No parent no matter how poor wants their child to
         | work unless they cannot afford to feed them. The alternative to
         | working in a apple supplier factory might be working in a more
         | hazardous factory or construction site.
        
         | rmsaksida wrote:
         | A supplier using child labor shouldn't be a "ok, let's
         | gradually work this out" kind of issue. It should be a
         | "immediately cut all ties to them" kind of issue. If it will
         | disrupt a supply chain and hurt profits, so be it. Seems like a
         | small price to pay compared to _using child labor_.
        
       | edoceo wrote:
       | With all these eyes on Apple, what do we know about Asus or Acer
       | or even further down the alphabet? For some components we may
       | only have a very few suppliers
        
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       (page generated 2021-01-19 23:00 UTC)