Samsung reacts – Malaysian migrant worker abuse
As mentioned 3 weeks ago in a previous wrap-up, Samsung was faced with allegations of employee exploitations in their supply chain. Employees in Malaysia had their passports taken away from them and were made to pay large agency fees to secure their jobs. Samsung has now issued a statement on the allegations. After in depth investigations, Samsung has terminated the contract with one of their labor supply companies. On-site investigations took place which revealed violations in the hiring process. The company is now looking into other sites with further investigations taking place.
Samsung is determined to rid this kind of treatment throughout its supply chain and has enforced new laws in order to tackle the issue. Suppliers must adhere to a new set of migrant worker guidelines, which were introduced with help from the Business for Social Responsibility. Suppliers are required to follow local labor laws and Samsung’s own Code of Conduct. It will apply across all global operations. Samsung will strive to make regular on-site visits and deliver training to employees to raise human rights awareness.
Read more on Samsung’s plans here.
UPS and FedEx’s Christmas struggle
UPS and FedEx are struggling to cope with holiday shipping demands, with the amount of deliveries being significantly above expectations. Promises on deliveries have been abandoned due to the amount of unforeseen volume for the holiday season. The companies have extended their delivery windows to avoid backlash from consumers and refunds have already been given because of delays of up to two days.
In order to tackle this, hundreds of staff from UPS have been relocated from its headquarters to its shipping hubs. Some employees have had their hours increased to meet the overwhelming demand. This year, UPS and FedEx have also both invested in automation to speed up the processing of packages. Their supply chain is already being tested and there is still 10 days to go until Christmas Day, meaning customers may not get their present deliveries on time. Up to tens or hundreds of thousands of shipments are reported to be affected.
To read more on the delivery struggles click here.
Amazon’s Prime Air delivery
Amazon has successfully made its first Prime Air drone delivery in Cambridge, UK. The trial is currently only available to two customers in the city but there are plans to expand the beta program to hundreds of customers in the coming weeks and months. The delivery is also available at no extra cost. The first delivery of an Amazon Fire TV stick and bag of popcorn took less than 13 minutes from ordering. Deliveries will be available seven days a week, however the drones are still only able to fly in daylight hours and acceptable weather conditions.
Amazon was able to perform the delivery after it won approval from the UK Government to lift flying restrictions. The company’s end goal is for the drones to be used in multiple countries as an alternative way of delivering, with the hope that countries will soften their regulations for this to go ahead.
Find more information on the drone delivery here.
Have a great weekend.
