Apple puts Taiwanese supplier Pegatron on probation for asking student employees to work night shifts or overtime

Weeks after finding that Taiwanese supplier Pegatron violated its supplier code of conduct by asking student employees to work night shifts or overtime, Apple on November 9 put it on probation.

"Several weeks ago, we discovered Pegatron - one of Apple’s suppliers in China - violated Apple’s Supplier Code of Conduct in its administration of a student work-study programme," news agency Reuters quoted Apple statement as saying.

Refusing to declare the terms of the agreement, Apple in its statement added, "Apple has placed Pegatron on probation and Pegatron will not receive any new business from Apple until they complete all of the corrective actions required."

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The US technology giant had said that Pegatron had mis-classified student workers and falsified paperwork to disguise the violations. Alongside Foxconn, Pegatron is one of a handful of Taiwanese manufacturers on the island.

Though Apple's probe team had found no evidence of forced or underage labour, Pegatron had now fired the executive with direct oversight of the programme.

Meanwhile, Pegatron had stated that student workers were found working without complying with local rules and regulations at its Shanghai and Kunshan campuses. The Taiwanese manufacturer had said that those student workers had been taken off the production lines and given 'proper compensation'.

Earlier in 2017 too, a similar instance was reported where Apple's Foxconn had released a statement that a small number of students were discovered working overtime in one of the latter’s Chinese factories.

Recently in October 2020, Apple launched its next-generation iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, with faster 5G connectivity. Its pre-orders in India began on October 23 and over 1,00,000 orders have been placed for iPhone 12 models. iPhone 12 price in India starts at Rs 79,900 for the 64GB model, while iPhone 12 Pro is priced at Rs 1,19,900 for the 128GB model.

(With inputs from agencies)