Last month Samsung temporarily suspended business with a parts supplier based in China after U.S. based China Labor Watch found at least five child workers employed at the supplier without contracts. An investigation revealed that the supplier, Dongguan Shinyang Electronics, didn’t directly employ child labor but failed to catch a subcontractor who did through a labor dispatch agency. In accordance with its zero tolerance policy on child labor Samsung announced today that it is reducing orders by 30 percent to hold the supplier responsible.
It is not unusual to hear about child labor being employed in Chinese factories. Apple has been hounded by labor rights groups as well when some of its suppliers were found to be employing children under the age of 16, which is the legal working age in China.
China Labor Watch reported back in 2012 that at least seven children under the age of 16 were working for one of Samsung’s parts suppliers in China. Samsung’s move to discipline Dongguan Shinyang Electronics comes at a time when its being pushed to ensure that its suppliers do not violate local labor laws.