Samsung, the world’s largest mobile phone producer, is quickly losing face. Just days after being ruled against competing smartphone maker Apple and losing a billion dollars; Samsung is now being accused of child labour and other labour abuses. It’s hard to believe that while Samsung has been building world-wide, trusted relationships with clients; the company has also managed to completely disregard the lives of the factory workers. According to an investigation done by China Labour Watch, Samsung factory workers have been subjected to unpaid work, gender discrimination, verbal and physical abuse, and many other labor abuses. To add to the headache, Samsung is also facing accusations of “not tak[ing] any actions to prevent the hiring of child workers even when they [did] know about them.” In a frantic attempt to save their reputation, Samsung is soft-pedalling the real issue by stating that some of their factories have “inadequate management and potentially unsafe practices”. Although the company is denying any accusations of child workers (under age 16), Samsung has “so nobly” vowed to end contracts in which policies, such as labour abuse, have been violated.
