hankyoreh

By Seong Yeon-cheol, Beijing correspondent

A Chinese supplier for Samsung Electronics is illegally employing underage workers, an international labor watchdog said. Samsung Electronics said that it would take immediate steps to look into the situation.

In a report released on July 10, New-York based China Labor Watch (CLW) raised allegations about child labor at a factory called Shinyang Electronics in Dongguan, in China’s Guangdong Province. “During the busy season and in urgent need of labor, Shinyang hires child labor and underage student workers. These minors will usually only work for a period of three to six months, toiling for 11 hours every day without overtime pay, and the factory does not purchase social insurance for them as required by law,” CLW said.

Under China’s labor laws, it is illegal for those younger than 16 years of age to work. In order to get away with hiring underage workers, this company gives them fake papers and falsifies their registration, sources say. Around 600 people are working at the Shinyang Electronics factory, which supplies covers and other parts for mobile phones produced by Samsung Electronics.

In a July 10 story, a New York Times reporter described meeting three boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 15 who were working at the Shinyang Electronics factory. They were “asked to work the most difficult shift, 8:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., and then to put in an additional three hours of overtime, six days a week,” the story said. According to the story, the girls only received US$1.20 out of their US$1.45 hourly wage, with the job broker taking the rest.

On June 30, Samsung announced that an audit of working conditions at 100 of the company’s 200 or so Chinese suppliers conducted by a third party had found problems with missing safety equipment and long working hours, but that there had been no cases of child labor.

“Samsung's reports are meant to reassure investors and don't have any value for workers. Samsung's monitoring system is ineffective and has failed to bring about improvements for workers,” Li Qiang, executive director of the watchdog, was quoted as saying in the Guardian.

The KLW also criticized Samsung in 2012 for feigning ignorance of underage workers being employed at the factories of its suppliers.

“We are currently carrying out an emergency investigation into these allegations at our local suppliers. We will take the appropriate measures according to our internal policies, which strictly forbid child labor,” a Samsung representative said.

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