Apple suppliers are hiring more children

CUPERTINO, Calif., Feb. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. technology giant Apple said the number of children working at its supply companies worldwide increased dramatically in 2010.

In addition, Apple said, less than a third of its suppliers audited last year adhered to company rules on working hours, The Guardian reported Tuesday.

At one Chinese supplier, Apple said, 137 workers were poisoned by n-hexane in 2010.

The company gave suppliers mixed reviews. While 91 children were found working in 10 separate facilities, 70 percent of the firm's suppliers met the company's standards on wages and benefits, up from 65 percent in 2009.

But in 2009, only 11 children were found working at three supplier facilities.

A spate of suicides at Chinese supplier Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. last year prompted Apple to audit 127 supplier firms, an increase from 102 the previous year.

An Apple spokesperson said the report "provided more transparency," this year. Apple, in the report, said it was "disturbed and deeply saddened" by the suicides at Foxconn, which assembles the iPad, iPod and iPhone.

Debby Chan, a spokeswoman for Students Against Corporate Misbehavior in Hong Kong called the report "image-building."

As the report does not name specific suppliers that fail to meet company standards, "I regard this report as a means of image-building rather than ensuring compliance with labor rights," she said.