新品發佈在即 蘋果中國代工工廠再被指違規

HONG KONG — With its stock near a high and its latest iPhone expected to be introduced on Tuesday, Apple is facing new accusations of violations of labor rights and workplace safety at a supplier in China.

香港——蘋果(Apple)的股價接近紀錄高點，其最新款的iPhone也將於週二發佈，但與此同時，這家公司在中國的供應商也面臨着侵犯勞工權益和違反工作場所安全規定的新指控。

The allegations involve employees at a factory in the eastern China city of Suqian that is owned by Catcher Technology, a Taiwan company, and that makes metal casings for Apple iPads and for other consumer electronics companies.

這些指控涉及中國東部宿遷市一家工廠的工人。這家工廠的所有者是臺灣可成科技公司(Catcher Technology)，主要爲蘋果iPad以及其他消費電子企業生產金屬外殼。

The employees are made to work excessive overtime and handle toxic chemicals without proper protective clothing, according to a report released Thursday by Green America, an environmental nonprofit group, and China Labor Watch, a workers’ rights group based in New York.

綠色美國(Green America)和中國勞工觀察(China Labor Watch)週四發佈報告稱，這些工人被要求長時間加班，且在沒有適當防護服裝的情況下，接觸有毒化學品。綠色美國是一家非營利性環保機構，而中國勞工觀察是一家勞工維權組織，總部設在紐約。

Apple, like Samsung and several other multinational companies, has previously faced scrutiny over the working conditions at the factories in China where its products are made. But the allegations in the latest report suggest that the company might need to increase its vigilance further over the 200 major global suppliers that account for 97 percent of Apple’s component costs.

與三星(Samsung)及另外幾家跨國企業一樣，蘋果在華代工工廠的用工條件也曾受到嚴密審視。但這份最新報告的指控意味着，蘋果可能需要進一步提高警惕，對全球200家主要供應商予以監督。這些供應商佔據了蘋果零部件成本的97%。

In a statement on Thursday, Apple said its most recent annual audit of the Suqian plant, in May, had “found some concrete areas for improvement in Catcher’s operations, and we worked with Catcher to develop a corrective action plan.”

蘋果在週四發表的聲明中稱，在5月份對宿遷的這家工廠進行的最新年度審計中，“發現可成科技公司的運營存在着一些具體的需要改進的地方，我們已經與可成科技公司共同制定了一項糾錯行動方案。”

Apple had scheduled a follow-up visit to the plant for next month but dispatched a team immediately to investigate the allegations in the new report, Chris Gaither, an Apple spokesman, said in a statement on Thursday.

蘋果發言人克里斯·蓋瑟(Chris Gaither)週四在一份聲明中稱，蘋果已經派出了一個團隊對這份報告的指控進行調查，並定於下個月對這家工廠進行後續考察。

An undercover investigation by China Labor Watch at the Suqian plant last month found that fire exits were locked and that flammable aluminum-magnesium alloy dust and shavings filled the air and littered the floors of some workshops. Investigators also found that employees were forced to work as many as 100 hours of overtime a month and failed to receive the social insurance payments required under Chinese law, according to the report. It said the plant made aluminum covers for a coming iPad and parts for the iPhone 5.

中國勞工觀察上個月對這家工廠的臥底調查發現，工廠的消防通道上了鎖，一些車間的空氣中和地板上，滿是易燃的鋁鎂合金粉塵和廢料。報告稱，調查人員還發現，工人們被要求每月加班多達100小時，而且沒有獲得中國法律規定的社保待遇。報告稱，這家工廠爲一款即將面世的iPad，以及iPhone 5生產鋁合金外殼。

Workers at the plant, about 300 miles northwest of Shanghai, in Jiangsu Province, were also required by Catcher to sign forms saying they had completed safety training, even though they had received none, according to the report.

該工廠位於江蘇省，在上海西北約500公里處。報告稱，可成科技還要求工人們在聲稱已完成安全培訓的表格上簽字，但工人們實際上根本沒有受到相關培訓。

China Labor Watch privately raised concerns about conditions at the Suqian plant with Apple in April 2013, after an earlier undercover investigation. According to the group, Apple responded at the time by conducting its own inspection, after which it said that Catcher would make changes, especially those related to occupational safety.

中國勞工觀察在經過早期的祕密調查後，曾於2013年4月私下裏向蘋果提出了對宿遷工廠條件的擔憂。據該組織透露，蘋果當時決定開展內部調查。調查結束後，蘋果表示可成科技公司將做出改變，特別是與職業安全有關的問題。

“The health and safety violations found in this factory two years in a row are startling,” said Elizabeth O’Connell, campaigns director at Green America.

綠色美國活動總監伊麗莎白·奧康奈爾(Elizabeth O’Connell)表示，“連續兩年在該工廠發現的違反健康及安全規定的情況令人震驚。”

Apple’s audits showed that the plant’s aluminum-polishing systems exceeded international safety standards, Mr. Gaither of Apple wrote, while a fire safety inspection last week corrected some of the problems identified in the report, like unblocking corridors and fire exits. He said that the plant made cases for the iPad and MacBook but did not mention iPhone parts.

蘋果公司發言人蓋瑟寫道，審計結果顯示，該工廠鋁拋光系統超出了國際安全標準，上週的消防安全檢查糾正了報告中提到的一些問題，比如清理了走廊、打開了安全出口。他表示，該工廠生產iPad、MacBook外殼，但沒有提到iPhone零件。

Regarding the allegation of excessive overtime, Mr. Gaither said Catcher had averaged 95 percent compliance, as of the end of August, with the maximum 60-hour workweek that Apple enforces.

至於過度加班的指控，蓋瑟稱，到八月底，可成科技公司員工的工時符合蘋果規定的比例平均達到95%，蘋果規定每週工作時長不得超過60小時。

“We are deeply concerned about the claims made by China Labor Watch, and we take the report very seriously,” Catcher Technology, based in Tainan, Taiwan, said in a statement on Thursday. “We are committed to following Apple’s supplier code of conduct and will investigate thoroughly.”

“我們對中國勞工觀察指出的問題深感憂慮，我們認真地看待這份報告，”總部位於臺灣台南的可成科技公司週四發表聲明稱，“我們承諾將遵循蘋果公司的供應商行爲準則，並將進行徹底調查。”

In response to previous allegations of poor working conditions at suppliers’ factories, Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., has placed a greater focus in recent years on auditing its sprawling global network of suppliers. The company said that last year it conducted 451 audits of suppliers, up from 298 in 2012, and that 173 of those had been first-time audits. Apple said that last month it took steps to ban the use of the harmful chemicals benzene and n-hexane at its 22 final assembly factories.

之前有指控稱蘋果供應商的工廠裏工作條件惡劣，爲此，蘋果最近幾年更加註重對龐大的全球供應商網絡進行審計。蘋果總部位於加利福尼亞州庫比提諾。蘋果公司表示，去年公司對供應商進行了451次審計，其中有173次爲初次審計，而2012年共進行了298次審計。蘋果表示，該公司上個月採取措施，禁止22家總裝工廠使用有害化學制品苯和正己烷。

China remains Apple’s biggest single source of suppliers, and it is also where most of the company’s products are assembled.

中國仍是蘋果最大的供應商來源國，該公司大部分產品都是在中國組裝的。

In a report on Monday, analysts at Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch unit in Hong Kong estimated that the expected release next week of the iPhone 6 could add around 1 percent a month to China’s export growth rate for the rest of this year. The analysts arrived at that figure after deducting the $10 billion or so in new iPhones that they expect will be sold locally in China this year.

美銀美林(Bank of America Merrill Lynch)香港分部的分析師在週一發佈報告稱，蘋果預計於下週推出iPhone 6，這可能會使中國在今年剩餘時間裏，月出口增長率提升大約1%。他們預計，新版iPhone今年在中國的銷售額將會達到大約100億美元（約合614億元人民幣），分析人士在扣除這部分銷售額後得出了上述出口數據。