Apple bars suppliers from employing debt-bonded labor tactics
Apple’s SVP of Operations Jeff Williams said today that the Cupertino company made changes to its requirements for supplier factories with regard to bonded labor practices in October. The practice in question centers on suppliers charging workers recruitment fees in exchange for a job on the assembly line.
Apple now says that these fees should be paid by employers, and employees should not pay anything at all.
As Bloomberg notes, Apple has previously stated that its supplier partners should not charge laborers “excessive fees” equal to a month’s pay or more, but with the recent shift has banned what Williams referred to as “bonded servitude” entirely.
