Cargo Business Newswire

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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Apple faces scrutiny over South China factory worker conditions

Apple, the popular purveyor of iPads, iPhones, iPods, iMacs, and more, has been under reported scrutiny for the working conditions in at least one of its supplier’s manufacturing plants in China on the heels of several worker suicides at a Foxconn factory there in 2010.

Foxconn is owned by China’s Hon Hai Industries, and supplies products for Apple, Dell, HP and Microsoft.

After the suicides, Foxconn reportedly set up nets to catch workers who would try and jump.

In a recent CNN interview with an 18-year-old student who takes part in the assembly of iPads at a Foxconn factory in Southwest China, the girl she has been forced to work 60-hour weeks while also trying to do her schoolwork. The girl, who did not use her real name, told CNN she had placed 4,000 stickers on iPad screens during her first three weeks of work.

"It's so boring, I can't bear it anymore," she told CNN. "Everyday is like: I get off from work and I go to bed. I get up in the morning, and I go to work. It is my daily routine and I almost feel like an animal."

A pay dispute was reportedly at the heart of a threat last month by Foxconn workers to commit a mass suicide.

Foxconn has since reportedly settled that dispute and has promised to raise the pay of its over 1 million employees in China.

In CNN’s interview with the girl who did not use her real name, she was asked why humans are doing the work of machines at Foxconn, and her reply was: "humans are cheaper."

For the full CNET report: news.cnet.com