Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Low cost iPhone leading to worker abuse in Apple factories in China...

A human-rights watchdog group may have inadvertently confirmed one of the biggest Apple rumors of the year. China Labor Watch, a nonprofit based in New York, released a 62-page report detailing safety violations, poor living conditions, forced overtime, and the withholding of pay – but they also came across workers who were involved in the production of a low-cost iPhone.

The report, titled Apple’s unkept promises: Cheap iPhones come at high costs to Chinese workers, centered on factories operated by Pegatron, a Taiwan-owned suppler with factories in Shanghai. Investigators were sent to three Pegatron factories, conducting nearly 200 interviews with staff.

Pegatron has expanded its workforce as Apple shifts some production away from its most infamous suppler, Foxconn. The Wall Street Journal reported that one-third of the world’s iPhones and iPads are assembled at Pegatron.

One section of the China Labor Watch report, “A day in Pegatron,” is written in the style of a diary entry by one of the factory’s staff. The unnamed assembly-line worker describes living in a cramped dormitory with between 10 and 12 people per room, unpaid morning meetings, and military-style discipline from superiors. The worker goes on to explain that talking during work results in docked pay and details how workers who finish their quota before the end of their shift are forced to remain on-site and read the company’s Standard Operating Procedures handbook. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. High stress, high security: the price of an iPhone made in China...
  2. Investigation finds widespread abuses at Apple China factories...
  3. Dozens arrested after riot at Foxconn plant in Chengdu...
  4. China: Two hundred Foxconn workers threaten suicide...
  5. Scathing report about working conditions in Apple's Foxconn...
  6. An exclusive look into Apple's Foxconn factory in China...
  7. Apple avoids taxes on $74 billion with ‘complex web’ of offshore entities...

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