Amazon's overseas labor policy: Trust us/Foxconn produces Kindle Fire [View all]

[ND-Dem]

While Apple and some other corporations have increased public reporting about their global suppliers, Amazon has not released information about who produces its brands or the results of watchdog audits.

Overseas suppliers manufacture thousands of Amazon.com products ranging from Kindles to pillows to lawn chairs. All the suppliers are supposed to comply with an Amazon code of standards that includes a ban on child labor and forced labor.

But in an era when worker- and human-rights activists are pressing for increased disclosure, Amazon remains mum about which international suppliers make these products and about the results of watchdog audits.

Amazon officials said the company works with Bureau Veritas, a global firm that offers inspection, audit and certification services, and Amazon managers participate in many audits. But they declined to disclose any of the audit results...

Amazon's most publicized labor issues have flared in the United States, where it employs tens of thousands of workers in fulfillment-center warehouses....Earlier this year, The Seattle Times reported on harsh conditions at a Campbellsville, Ky., warehouse, where employees who complained about the workplace feared losing their jobs and a former human-resources employee said managers strategized on how to shed injured workers.

With the past half-decade, Amazon also has rapidly expanded a network of overseas suppliers to manufacture products such as Kindle e-readers, as well as lines of furnishings, electronics and other private-label merchandise.

Earlier this year, The New York Times published a lengthy examination of Foxconn's treatment of workers producing iPhones. Foxconn also does contract work for Amazon, according to Ken Hui, a Hong Kong-based analyst for Jefferies, a banking and investment firm. Hui, who says his information is based on supply-industry sources, says Foxconn produces Kindle e-readers and one model of the Kindle Fires...

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020017651_amazonsuppliers30m.html


Amazon taps Foxconn for 10-inch Kindle Fire, says report

Amazon will consign production of a 10-inch Kindle Fire tablet to Foxconn, according to an Asia-based report. If true, this would mean that Amazon has its sights on a slightly bigger tablet than previous reports have claimed.

Shipments of the 10-inch class Fire would begin in the second quarter, according to a report in DigiTimes.

http://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-taps-foxconn-for-10-inch-kindle-fire-says-report/


Apple, Amazon contractor boss calls workers “animals”

The chairman of the Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn, Terry Gou, referred to his workers as “animals” during an appearance at the Taipei City Zoo on Friday. The remark caused an uproar. He later apologized and said the media had distorted his comments.

Foxconn produces around 40% of the world’s consumer electronic devices, including Apple’s iPad, the Amazon Kindle, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and many more.

http://www.latitudenews.com/story/foxconn-boss-calls-workers-animals/