Some Apple Suppliers in China Tell Ethnic Minorities: Don’t Bother Applying For Jobs

Some of the companies in China that supply Apple with parts for its devices are willing to use workers from the predominantly Muslim group known as Uyghurs, as part of government-sponsored labor programs widely criticized as coercive. But Uyghurs and other marginalized Chinese minorities need not apply for jobs on the open market to many of those same suppliers.

The Information found more than 100 online ads for production line jobs containing discriminatory language across more than 30 companies in Apple’s supply chain, including ads that discouraged applications from those over 40 or people with tattoos. The companies include assemblers of iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and AirPods, as well as manufacturers of printed circuit boards, touch modules, camera lenses, batteries, data cables, cover glass and packaging. They include ads for some of Apple’s biggest suppliers, such as Foxconn Technology, Pegatron, Quanta Computer, Wistron, Luxshare Precision Industry, Compal Electronics and Goertek.

The ads explicitly say members of marginalized Chinese minority groups can’t apply, even though such discrimination is illegal under Chinese law and a violation of Apple’s rules for its suppliers. “Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hui, Yi, Dongxiang from Tibet or Xinjiang regions aren’t accepted,” read one April job ad from Biel Crystal, a company that makes iPhone cover glass.