Samsung Enjoys Record Profits While Employing Child Labor - Patently Apple

Samsung Enjoys Record Profits While Employing Child Labor:

While Bloomberg was reporting on Friday that Samsung had reported a record operating profit jumping to 91 percent, I was reading a scathing report titled "Samsung Factory Exploiting Child Labor," which made me wonder: did Samsung's huge leap in profits come off the backs of child laborers? Members of China Labor Watch (CWL) who were responsible for the report stated that they "were stunned by the results of the investigation of HEG Electronics, which showed that the practice of hiring child labor is prevalent in this factory." HEG Electronics is an important partner of South Korea's Samsung, processing such products as mobile phones, DVDs, stereo equipment and MP3s for Samsung.

Child Labor is Common Practice with Samsung Factories

The China Labor Watch report revealed that their investigators worked in the factory during the months of June and July 2012, and had identified seven children working—all of them are under the age of 16—in the department in which the investigators were working. This suggests that child labor is a common practice in the factory. The precise number of child laborers throughout the factory is unknown because our investigators had limited contact with workers in other departments. But the company has clearly violated Chinese labor laws.