Apple Admits Employing More Workers Illegally To Make iPhones In Time

Apple and its manufacturer Foxconn said that they employed too many temporary workers in China-based factories for iPhone manufacturing after being accused of violating a number of labor laws, Bloomberg reported. The report was released on Monday, just a day ahead of Apple’s iPhone 11 launch event.

According to China Labor Watch (CLW), undercover investigators on Zhengzhou-based Foxconn plant found in August that about 50 percent of the workforce were temporary workers, or dispatch workers. China’s law allows only 10 percent at most.

In addition, it said that some of these workers did not get bonuses the company promised them while student intern workers had to work overtime though that’s not allowed in regulations. Furthermore, the workers exceeded the monthly overtime limit, which is 36 hours, some of them even had at least 100 hours working overtime.

It’s said in CLW’s report that the iPhone XS has a higher complexity to make compared with the iPhone X, so the company needed more workers.

In an emailed statement to CNET, Apple said that it was aware that the proportion of dispatch workers was higher than its standards, and it would work with Foxconn to address the issue immediately. But the firm said most of the allegations from CLW are false.

A spokesperson of Apple wrote:

Foxconn also stated that it also found the use of temporary workers as well as the overtime hours that weren’t consistent with company guidelines. The firm noted that currently, it didn’t have interns working overtime.