Apple Inc. continued work in 2020 to ensure integrity in its global supply chain — including labor suppliers and concerns over debt-bonded labor — according to the company’s latest supplier responsibility report released last week. This year it mapped the number of labor agencies at companies in its global supply chain last year and found more than 470 labor agencies supplying workers to some 400 facilities.
Apple works to audit suppliers to uncover labor and other violations of its supplier code; the annual report details some of its findings.
Of particular concern to the company is “debt-bonded labor,” which Apple describes as a form of modern slavery where a person is forced to work in exchange for the repayment of debt or other obligation such as recruitment fees. Apple prohibits charging of recruitment fees even if they are legally allowed in the country in which the labor takes place. The company requires suppliers to return recruitment fees in cases where they have been discovered.
Apple’s report noted that $177,277 in recruitment fees were repaid to 381 employees at suppliers in 2020. Overall, $32.4 million in recruitment fees were paid back by suppliers to 36,890 workers since 2008.
Findings of recruitment fees have declined over the years.
To illustrate its work, the report detailed a story about a partnership with a new supplier the company was exploring in early 2020. It discovered the supplier had a number of foreign contract workers who had paid recruitment fees to labor agencies in order to gain employment. Apple was able to fix the situation with the supplier before bringing the company on board. It resulted in nearly $3.4 million being repaid to 10,570 workers.
“I was surprised to see that this is still an issue in this day and age,” said Rob H., a member of Apple’s Product Operations Team quoted in the report. “Coming face to face with the reality made us feel the full weight of our responsibility to fix it.”
Apple reported a small percentage of workers in its supply chain are foreign contract workers — those who choose to leave their home countries to seek employment abroad. These workers may be at higher risk of paying recruitment fees.
The report also looked in other areas of labor supply. One portion highlighted Apple’s efforts to upskill employees. It noted that in 2019, it launched an education program focused on providing skill-building opportunities for employees of US-based suppliers. The program started with California-based staffing suppliers and provides individuals with opportunities to take courses on a variety of technical skills and professional development topics.
The full report, which also details other parts of the supply chain, is available here.