14 DAY TRIAL // Financial Times reports on Tuesday that Foxconn, Apple’s main supplier in Asia, forced high school students to work overtime on the iPhone X assembly line. Both Apple and Foxconn confirmed the news.
Six students, aged between 17 and 19, from Zhengzhou Urban Rail Transit School who reported the illegal work were initially told that they have to work at least three months in the factory if they want to be hired there after graduation. However, Apple discovered that the students were sometimes forced to work overtime.
"We are being forced by our school to work here. The work has nothing to do with our studies," said Ms Yang, an 18-years-old student that worked at Foxconn for a few months assembling up to 1,200 cameras a day for Apple's 10th anniversary iPhone model, the iPhone X, which is currently company's flagship device.
The students were part of a total of 3,000 others sent from Zhengzhou Urban Rail Transit School in September to work at Foxconn's local facility on the iPhone X production line. This usually happens every year, between August and December, but no such things were reported until now.
Foxconn says the students were paid for their overtime work
While Apple confirmed that several students worked overtime at the said supplier facility in China, it says that the work was voluntary, and the students were compensated for their overtime hours on the iPhone X production line. However, Apple also said that the students shouldn't have been allowed to work overtime in the first place.
It's not the first time Foxconn is accused of treating workers badly, forcing them to work overtime, especially when Apple launches a new iPhone line-up. Apple told its partners, including to limit working hours to no more than 60 hours a week, and provide workers with at least one day of rest every seven days.