Hewlett-Packard tightens hiring rules for China suppliers
Working hours for students must be lower than the legal limit and the total number of student workers must also be limited, HP said yesterday.
Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest computer maker, has tightened hiring rules for Chinese suppliers two weeks after Apple said an employment agent on the mainland forged documents on behalf of underage workers.
Suppliers must comply with the guidelines immediately, said the maker of Envy laptops and other peripherals.
The effort to improve working conditions follows Apple, which joined the Fair Labour Association last year after being criticised for working conditions at suppliers including Foxconn Technology Group.
Foxconn, which supplies both computer makers, said HP's new guidelines don't impose any requirements beyond what it already does.
"We don't hire outside contract workers," Louis Woo, spokesman for Taipei-based Foxconn, said yesterday.
