Apple supplier Foxconn has improved factory conditions since a series of worker suicides drew attention to the company’s labour practices in 2010, but workers still do more overtime than permitted by Chinese labour law, an audit of its operations has found.
Foxconn is “not in compliance” with Chinese law allowing only 36 hours of overtime a month, according to an inspection by the Fair Labor Association, a monitoring group brought in by Apple to help the company improve working conditions.
The report comes shortly after labour watchdogs accused another of Apple’s suppliers, Pegatron, of abuses. China Labor Watch said this week that “several workers” in a factory making products including iPhone 5Cs had died recently. Among the dead was a 15-year-old named Shi Zhaokun, who CLW said died of pneumonia at a Shanghai hospital on October 9.