Apple has admitted to excessive use of temporary staff at one of its suppliers’ iPhone making factories following a hard-hitting report into labour violations, and says it is working closely with its manufacturing partner Foxconn to resolve the issue.
The US tech group made the admission following publication of a 51-page report entitled “iPhone 11 illegally produced in China” by China Labor Watch, a workers’ rights group that has previously probed labour violations at Foxconn. The admission comes a day before the US company is expected to unveil three new iPhones.
The Silicon Valley company has been criticised repeatedly for working practices in its vast supply chain in China. Late last year it launched an investigation after Sacom, another human rights group, alleged a supplier was illegally employing students to assemble Apple Watches in the Chinese city of Chongqing.