Apple’s largest supplier, Foxconn, said on Friday that they will remedy its working practices after a US labour auditor visited three plants in China and reported widespread abuses.
The report, which was released on Thurday, found that Foxconn employees work 56 hours a week on average which is well above the recommended 40 hours a week and 36 hours overtime a month they are allowed under Chinese law.
In some cases, employees are working more than seven days in a row without taking a 24-hour break, which they are required to do. The report also stated that many workers were not paid for overtime.
The reports comes off the back of Tim Cook’s first ever visit to China as CEO where he visited a Foxconn factory to see conditions for himself.
Pictures sent to Reuters show Cook seen smiling and meeting workers in the newly built Foxconn Zhengzhou Technology Park in the north central province of Hebei. The facility employs 120,000 people.
According to the report, a large number of employees do not work in crowded dormitories and just under half felt the factories canteens were not clean and hygienic.
Interestingly many workers actually want to work more hours at the factories as they felt the salaries weren’t enough to meet their basic needs.
The employees’ average monthly salary at the Chengdu plant was 2,250 yuan (S$448). In Shenzhen plants in general, the average is 2,800 yuan.
The Fair Labour Association said Foxconn has agreed to bring its factory conditions both into full compliance with Chinese law and with the association’s standards governing working hours by July next year.
“We welcome the results of the audit by the (Fair Labour Association) report and Foxconn has participated fully and openly in this review,” Foxconn said in a statement.
“We are committed to working with Apple to carry out the remediation program and we are fully committed to ensuring that our employees have a safe, satisfactory and healthy working environment.”
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