- China Labor Watch has claimed that it has uncovered other violations of labor rights by Apple in the past
- In 2017, it was found that Foxconn had employed students from high school working overtime illegally
Tech giant Apple Inc and Foxconn, its manufacturing partner reportedly confirmed that they violated a labor rule laid down by China by having used too many temporary staff in the largest iPhone factory in the world, following the reports of its alleged harsh working conditions.
China Labor Watch (CLW) issued the reports for its claim before an Apple event on 10 September to announce new iPhones. CLW is a non-profit advocacy group that examines the conditions in Chinese factories. It said that it has been able to uncover several other alleged violations of labor rights by Apple partners before.
According to the recent reports by CLW, the advocacy group revealed that undercover investigators were sent to work in China's Zhengzhou plant of Foxconn which also included one investigator who had been employed there for four years. The investigations revealed that temporary staff, also called dispatch workers, had made up around 50% of the workforce in the month of August. The Chinese labor law grants only 10% of dispatch workers to total up the workforce.
The tech giant stated the investigation conducted disclosed that the percentage of dispatch workers allowed to work had exceeded the company's standards. It has reportedly been working with its partner, Foxconn, to settle the issue. Apple further added that it will take an immediate corrective action once it finds the issue.
Apparently, the supply chain by Apple has been criticized for poor labor standards for several years and has induced the manufacturing partners to either improve the working conditions or risk losing business. However, the assemblers and suppliers have always been involved in churning out more handsets. Foxconn seemingly hires thousands of dispatch workers to speed up production and gradually meet the demand for iPhones in the holiday season every year.
Source Credit-
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/apple-foxconn-broke-a-chinese-labour-law-for-iphone-production
