Report Throws Spotlight On Electronics Industry Labour
0Overall Score

A new report released today analysing the electronics industry’s credentials in protecting workers has not seen a single company among 56 assessed granted an A grade.The 2016 Electronics Industry Trends report released by Baptist World Aid and Not For Sale shows that “industry has not made sufficient progress in implementing steps to protect workers”, with a median grade of C for the report.

Thermomix, Nutri-Bullet and GoPro were among the worst performing companies with a D-, while Garmin (B) and Dick Smith (B-) were among the best performers.

“Forced labour, child labour and exploitation remain as significant problems in the supply chain of the electronics industry,” Gershon Nimbalker, Baptist World Aid Australia advocacy manager, commented upon the report’s release.

“This is the most valuable industry in the world, worth in the trillions. If anyone can afford to ensure they have an ethical supply chain, it’s our big tech companies.”

The report, now in its second year, graded the companies “from A to F on the practices and policies they have in place to mitigate the risk of forced labour, child labour and exploitation”.

Since the report’s release in 2014, 64 per cent of companies showed some improvement.

Baptist World Aid stated the median C grade suggests “workers remain overworked and underpaid, working long shifts with no overtime pay, little rest, and wages so low families struggle to make ends meet”.

“This lack of a living wage was a top concern as it meant workers still would not be able to afford the basics – food, water, shelter and electricity,” Baptist World Aid stated.

Company

Grade

Company

Grade

Company

Grade

Acer

B+

GoPro

D-

Olympus

C+

Amazon

D+

Haier

D-

Oracle

D+

Apple

B+

Hewlett Packard

B

Palsonic

F

Arcelik A.S

D+

Hisense

F

Panasonic

B-

Asus

C

Hitachi

C

Philips

B

BlackBerry

B-

HTC

D+

Polaroid

F

Breville

C+

Huawei

D+

Ricoh

B-

BSH Group

B+

Intel

B+

Samsung

B+

Canon

D+

JVC Kenwood

D-

SanDisk

B

Capital Brands

D-

Kodak

C-

Sharp

C-

Dell

B-

Kogan

D-

Soniq

D-

De’Longhi

C

Leica Camera AG

D-

Sony

C

Dick Smith Electronics

B-

Lenovo

D+

Sunbeam

D-

Dyson

D

LG Electronics

B+

TEAC

D-

Electrolux

B-

Microsoft

B+

TomTom

C+

Ericsson

C+

Motorola Mobility

B+

Toshiba

B

Fujitsu

D+

Motorola Solutions

B

Vorwerk

D-

Garmin

B

Nikon

C

Whirlpool

D+

Google

C-

Nintendo

C-

Baptist World Aid stated that it “applauds the progress” of the following five companies, which improved the most among those companies surveyed two years in a row.

Company

2014 Grade

2015 Grade

San Disk

C-

B

Dick Smith

D

B-

Asus

D-

C

Garmin

C

B

BlackBerry

C-

B-