Students won't be able to work overtime at the factory

Nov 23, 2017 11:47 GMT  ·  By

Following complaints from high school students, Foxconn, Apple's main supplier in Asia, has put a stop to the illegal overtime work at its iPhone X factory in China.

Earlier this week, a Finacial Times report cited accounts of six high school students from Zhengzhou Urban Rail Transit School who claimed they were forced to work overtime at Foxconn's iPhone X plant in China, assembling over 1,200 iPhone X camera every single day.

In its defense, Foxconn immediately replied that the students were paid for their overtime work at the iPhone X plant, but it's still illegal to use high school students over the 40 hours they were supposed to do the factory as a "legal" requirement if they wanted to be hired there after graduation.

Apple confirmed that students worked illegal overtime at Foxconn and issued a statement on Tuesday saying "they worked voluntarily and were compensated, and provided benefits." Foxconn's statement said pretty much the same thing, but they admitted students work overtime in violation of their policy.

Foxconn to no longer allow school interns work more than 40 hours a week

As things went south and the students' claimed were posted by every news outlet worldwide, Apple issued a statement today to inform the media that it (finally) put a stop to illegal overtime at their factory, no longer allowing high school students to work more than 40 hours a week, according to BBC news.

"Apple is dedicated to ensuring everyone in our supply chain is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve," reads Apple's statement for BBC News. "We know our work is never done and we'll continue to do all we can to make a positive impact and protect workers in our supply chain."

Foxconn also stated that they took "immediate action to ensure that no interns are carrying out any overtime work." They also noted the fact that "interns represent a very small percentage" of the total workforce in China at their iPhone plants. Each year, the company hires 3,000 interns from nearby high schools between August and December to work on the new iPhone assembly line.