Apple decided to launch an investigation to one of its supply chains after workers' rights group allegedly said on supplier has been illegally employing students to make Apple Watches in China.
Last week, the Silicon Valley giant reportedly opened the probe. A Hong Kong-based human rights group called "Sacom" has an alleged accusation against Quanta Computer. Quanta is a Taiwanese Apple supplier, which said to be employing students to assemble Apple watches in the Chinese city of Chongqing.
According to Financial Times, Sacom was able to interview over 28 high school students at Chongqing's factory last summer. The students said they were sent by their teachers at the factory for internships. However, these young people who weren't supposed to work yet said they are performing similar jobs as other assembly line workers and are even working nightshifts and overtime. Both are illegal for intern students when it comes to Chinese law.
What's worst, the teachers told the eleven students they could not graduate on time if they are not able to complete the said internships. Meanwhile, the entire twenty-eight students revealed they worked night shifts and overtime. One of the students taking automotive repair told the human rights group, "We are scheduled to work at night, from 8 pm to 8 am. Only one day off is allowed per week."
Another student said over 120 students from their school is working at the Quanta site in Chongqing - Plant F5 fourth floor. The student added, "We repeat the same procedure for hundreds and thousands of times every day, like a robot." Of course, these accusations allowed fresh questions to emerge about how the giant tech company manages their supply chain.
After all, this happened at a time where China is having a hard time attracting young workers. Apple is reportedly publishing annual list suppliers, in hopes to highlight the rigorous monitoring of the company's manufacturing partners. These reported abuses reminded people of the labor violations uncovered last year at the Foxconn Zhengzhou factory iPhone supply chain.
Both companies admitted their intern students have been illegally working overtime. During that time, the two companies promised to end the illegal practice of student interns working extra hours. In the end, Apple spokesperson released an official statement saying, "We are urgently investigating the report that student interns added in September are working overtime and night shifts." The company emphasized they have zero tolerance for incompliance of their standard.
