Samsung resumes contract with supplier caught using child labor, cuts orders by 30 percent

Samsung has resumed its contract with a Chinese supplier shown to have been using child labor after stating that the under-age workers were employed by a third-party subcontractor rather than the supplier itself. It has cut its orders to the supplier by 30 percent as a mark of disapproval, reports Reuters.

“Samsung has decided to still take measures against Dongguan Shinyang to hold the supplier responsible for failing to monitor its subcontractors, in accordance with Samsung’s zero tolerance policy on child labour,” the maker of the popular Galaxy smartphone said on Tuesday …

Samsung suspended its contract with Dongguan Shinyang Electronics last month after an investigation showed that the company was using under-age workers despite passing an earlier audit. Reuters now reports that Samsung has resumed business with the supplier after finding that five children involved in production had been hired through a labor agency by a subcontractor, and therefore technically not employees of Dongguan Shinyang.

A spokesperson for the supplier said that it had not been notified of the decision to cut its production for Samsung.

Samsung’s response is likely to be viewed as disappointing in a market where the use of both subcontractors and labor agencies is extremely common, allowing suppliers to claim that they do not employ under-age workers even when children are found to be working on their production lines.