A human rights group on Monday blasted Apple in a report that found alleged labour rights violations at a Chinese factory making new model iPhones.
The report by China Labor Watch (CLW), said that workers at Shanghai-based supplier Pegatron earned just $1.50 an hour and were forced to work 11-hour days, six days a week.
The group said that the factory in question was producing a new iPhone that would be cheaper than current models, increasing pressure on suppliers to cut costs.
In total, the group said it had documented 36 legal violations and 50 ethical violations at the Pegatron factory, including the forcing of workers to sign forms indicating that their overtime hours were less than the actual levels. The report said that the managers held workers’ ID cards to prevent them resigning.
“Our investigations have shown that labour conditions at Pegatron factories are even worse than those at Foxconn factories,” said CLW executive director Li Qiang, referring to Apple’s primary supplier.
“Apple has not lived up to its own standards. This will lead to Apple’s suppliers abusing labour in order to strengthen their position for receiving orders,” Li said. “In this way, Apple is worsening conditions for workers, not improving them.” Apple issued a statement to The Wall Street Journal after it published early news of the report, saying Apple had audited Pegatron facilities 15 times in the past six years, and determined in June that Pegatron workers had an average workweek of 46 hours.
The company said that it would investigate the new allegations and had approached Pegatron immediately after China Labor Watch uncovered that workers’ ID cards were being held and forced them to stop the practice.