Mick Meaney |<\/p>\n
iPhone maker\u00a0Foxconn has been\u00a0accused of using slavery-like\u00a0tactics by forcing thousands of underage students to work at the company’s production plant in East China.<\/p>\n
The company failed to recruit the number of employees required,\u00a0approximately\u00a010,000, to make\u00a0USB cables for\u00a0the much anticipated iPhone 5.<\/p>\n
Although Foxconn have invested over\u00a0$210 million in new production lines, it is\u00a0despicable\u00a0that students are being forced to take time away from\u00a0their education, while being\u00a0paid just\u00a0$243.97 a month for working 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week and being forced to work overtime if they fail to complete daily tasks.<\/p>\n
The company has defended itself by claiming that students are free to leave the factory, but some schools have temporarily closed to enable the factory to ramp-up production of the iPhone 5.<\/p>\n
In a desperate PR move, Foxconn have also highlighted a\u00a0Fair Labor Association audit<\/a> that found “no evidence that any interns were pressured to participate.”<\/p>\n However, the audit was conducted in March, before these students were taken to the plant, and the report still found “serious and pressing”\u00a0violations of Chinese labor laws.<\/p>\n Around 200 students from one school,\u00a0the Huaiyin Institute of Technology, were\u00a0driven to the factory without the\u00a0knowledge\u00a0or consent of students or parents, allegedly under order from the authorities.<\/p>\n