iPhone manufacturers, Foxconn, have come under fire today for illegally employing students to work overtime assembling the new iPhone X.
Six Chinese students from the Zhengzhou Urban Rail Transit School told the Financial Times they often worked for 11 hours a day, which, under the country’s laws, is illegal for student interns.
The 3,000 students, aged between 17 and 19, were told they had to work at the plant for three months in order to fulfil graduation requirements, despite the work having nothing to do with their studies.
“We are being forced by our school to work here,” said one of the students who also claimed to have assembled around 1,200 iPhone X cameras per day.
Both Apple and Foxconn said they were aware of the overtime and are investigating the claims. Apple insists “the students worked voluntarily, were compensated and provided benefits,” also adding that “they should not have been allowed to work overtime.”
Foxconn has acknowledged that the overtime worked violated both the law and its own policies prohibiting students from working more than 40 hours per week.
Prior to its launch, the iPhone X was plagued by rumours of production delays and supply problems that would result in some buyers being unable to get a hold of the device until early 2018. While Apple appear to be making good time on shipments, it’s concerning that it could be the result of illegal labour.
