Nintendo has released a statement on the latest controversy with overseas manufacturing supplier Foxconn.
The plant has now been charged with hiring underage employees – some as young as 14-years-old – even though Chinese law prohibits child labor and the practice flies directly in opposition to the standards that Foxconn’s clients have been pushing for.
Although Foxconn manufactures components for every video game console as well as Apple as numerous other consumer electronics companies, Nintendo has been getting the lion’s share of attention from this since it is the company with the newest product on the horizon – the Wii U.
“Nintendo is in communication with Foxconn and is investigating the matter. We take our responsibilities as a global company very seriously and are committed to an ethical policy on sourcing, manufacture and labor. In order to ensure the continued fulfillment of our social responsibility throughout our supply chain, we established the Nintendo CSR Procurement Guidelines in July 2008,” Nintendo said.
It continued, “We require that all production partners, including Foxconn, comply with these Guidelines, which are based on relevant laws, international standards and guidelines. If we were to find that any of our production partners did not meet our guidelines, we would require them to modify their practices according to Nintendo’s policy. For more information about Nintendo’s Corporate Social Responsibility report, please visit http://www.nintendo.co.jp/csr/en/index.html.”
For Nintendo, it isn’t the greatest news since the company is already reportedly having supply problems for the launch of the Wii U. It’s feared there will be a very limited number of units available when the console goes on sale in the US next month.
