Once again, US-based tech giant Apple Inc. is being accused of misusing labor rights at a key supplier in China. This was found in an undercover investigation by a New York-based human rights group which was conducted in three mainland factories which are owned by Taiwan-based Pegatron Corp.
A report on Monday, July 29, 2013 claimed that it found at least 86 violations at the Pegatron factories in Shanghai and neighboring Suzhou. The organization says that its mission is to pressure factories to stop labor abuses. In 2012, the organization issued two reports and launched a similar accusation against Apple and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
The executive director of China Labor Watch, Li Qiang said that the organization has sent a team of investigators between March 2013 and July 2013 to work in the factories and interviewed about 200 workers outside. It was found that about 70,000 people make iPhones, Mac computers and iPad parts of Apple. The violations include demanding from employees to work 66- to 69-hour weeks, which is beyond legally required 49-hour maximum without overtime being paid.
Pegatron has also been accused of using underage workers under the name of interns who worked the same long hours at the factories.
Photo Credits: Blog CND
