Back in 2016 the Chinese labor union known as 'China Labor Watch' along with the BBC organized a vicious attack on Apple in documentaries titled "Inside the Machine," and "Broken Promises." The documentaries covered a wide range of issues including child labor, horrific living conditions at plant dorms through to Apple working with mines that harvest harmful minerals for use in Apple iDevices.

The very same BBC reporter who was shown to despise Apple and the Apple Cult, was recently back at attacking Apple over the 'Paradise Papers.' You could see Richard Bilton trying to play up the mysterious Appleby office on the UK territory island of Jersey that reportedly hides Apple's tax money from governments in the third video on this page. Of course we never got to hear the actual conversation that took place inside Appleby's but Bilton's account of the conversation made Apple sound oh so evil. Without evidence, Bilton simply sounded like a verbal thug.

Today China Labor Watch is on the attack against Apple once again in a new report titled "Apple's Failed CSR Audit: A Report on Catcher Technology Polluting the Environment and Harming the Health of Workers."

The report begins by stating that "Catcher Technology (Suqian) Co Ltd. is a world leader in the light metal industry, specializing in notebook computers, digital cameras, and disc drives. Headquartered in Taiwan, the company has set up a number of mainland branches. Catcher manufactures products for Apple, IBM, Dell, HP, and Sony, amongst other well-known brand companies."

The report further notes that "CLW identified major issues at Catcher regarding occupational health and safety, pollution and work schedules. On the morning of May 25 2017, there was an incident of toxic gas poisoning at Catcher's A6 workshop, which resulted in the hospitalization of 90 workers, with five workers admitted to intensive care. Shortly after, the Administrative Committee of the Suzhou-Suqian Industrial Park, located in Suqian city, Jiangsu Province, conducted an investigation."

However it's a bit of a mystery as to why they reference this report because in the summary it appears to clear Catcher of any wrong doing. The Government's summary notes that "At present, the City Environmental Protection Bureau of Testing Center, emergency Center and the third party organization Jiangsu Innovation Safety Testing Co., Ltd. to the Science and technology A6 Workshop continuous monitoring, plant surrounding environment and operating site monitoring indicators are in line with national standards, no unusual situation. All employees who have not responded are discharged. We have carried out responsibility investigation on this accident, according to the investigation result, will treat the responsibility unit and the responsible person by law" (translation by Bing).

For those interested in learning more about CLW's report and long list of grievances, read the full CLW report here.

Bloomberg covering the CLW report was able to get a few quotes from Apple and Catcher. Bloomberg noted that "An Apple spokeswoman said the company has its own employees at Catcher facilities, but sent an additional team to audit the complex upon hearing of the CLW's impending report.

After interviewing 150 people, the Apple team found no evidence of violations of its standards, she added and noted that "We know our work is never done and we investigate each and every allegation that's made. We remain dedicated to doing all we can to protect the workers in our supply chain."

Catcher, which gets almost two-thirds of sales from Apple, said in a separate statement it too investigated but also found nothing to suggest it had breached its client's code of conduct. The Bloomberg report covers much more than what the CLW report does, playing up the poor conditions extensively. You could check out the report here.

At the end of the day, let's be honest. CLW is a union in a very tough country like China who has a past of supporting labor camps. So it's going to be tough to win over more concessions, higher wages and safer environments on a fast track. Just like when unions started in the States, it's going to be an ongoing battle as this country evolves more towards capitalism and away from communism.

It's going to be a long road for unions in China and there will always be a battle against large corporations and their customers like Apple. So hearing about new cases from China Labor Watch is simply going to be an ongoing battle and Apple will continue to be the main target because of the size of its wallet and the attention their brand gets from the media.

While it was made clear that Catcher makes devices for IBM, Dell, HP, and Sony, it's Apple who the media love to pounce on like a broken record. At least Apple sent a team to investigate the matter. There's been no word as to what Dell and HP have done regarding CLW's report thus far, but I'll take a gamble and say nothing. Now there's the real story.

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