Foxconn Admits Breaking Labor Laws In China

Foxconn, an original equipment manufacturer for Apple's iPod, has admitted that their employees work about 80 extra hours each month, which is against the law in China.

According to Chinese labor laws, a company breaks the law if it asks employees to work more than 36 extra hours each month.

However, Li Zong, a spokesperson from Foxconn, says Foxconn's complicated salary structure has caused misunderstanding among the media, and the company has paid the workers according to the minimum salary standards of the Shenzhen local government.

Li also says Apple has sent a special team to investigate, but has found no problem with Foxconn.

It was reported earlier that Apple's iPod OEM paid very little to the workers and provided very poor working conditions for them in their Chinese factories.

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1. By John – June 27th, 2006 at 9:58 am

   The minimum salary standards of the Shenzhen local government.

   Wow that's big of them …

   where's the love ?

2. By max liu – June 27th, 2006 at 12:01 pm

   Apples and Oranges… things are so different in China that it\'s difficult to compare working conditions and living conditions in China with that of the rest of the world. Not everyone lives in a suburb, has diabetes from fast food, supports an illegal war by an incompetent president, and drives a gas-guzzler. China is changing and getting better, but idiot Westerners know only what their Fox TV shows them, yes!

3. By Jim Anderson – June 27th, 2006 at 12:37 pm

   The standard of living may be different in China, but low wages and forced labor are not to be accepted anywhere. Westerners pay good money for their Apple hardware… a proper amount of it should be going to those who build the gear, not just the factory owners. I don't waste my time watching Fox News, so this is not an anti-China thing. Slave labor is not right and not exclusive to China, witness the sweatshops of the U.S.'s Northern Marianas Islands Territory, among others.

4. By Cathay Stray – June 27th, 2006 at 1:34 pm

   Bravo Max Liu, absolutely right you are. Would sign my name under every word you wrote.

5. By Hector L. Vazquez – June 27th, 2006 at 8:40 pm

   Slaves used to be African-American but now are Asians and Hispanics. It is sad to see and to even imagine slavery still exist today in modern civilization.

   Hector L. vazquez
   Framingham, MA

6. By Ed Chang – June 28th, 2006 at 2:08 am

   To Max
   China may be different from the rest of the world but Chinese people are human beings just like humans in the west, north and south.

   If you, Max Liu, were a factory worker in China making iPods would you make the same arguement you made above. If you had the power to demand better for yourself would you do it?

   A typical 9am – 5pm job = 40 hours, five days a week. That means these workers worked an extra two standard western business weeks on top of their workload which is undoubtedly more than 40 hours a week already.

   There is only a fixed amount of time a workers gets to himself and his family. Subtract the amount of time you work, commute and about 7 hours of sleep and what you have left is the time you get to eat your meals, use the bathroom and have some time left over for errands and leisure.

   This formula applies to every worker throughout the world whether they are chinese, American, nigerian or Syrian.

   Every person in the world who works for a living knows this formula well.

7. By jade – June 28th, 2006 at 7:54 am

   Living in dormitories is not bad! Where the hell else are migrant workers going to live? In the suburbs? Foxconn should be applauded for providing such perks to workers. And worlkers always want more money and lots love to work overtime. What the article never mentioned was if the workers are forced to work overtime–are they??

   I think everyone is overreacting. It is true that Taiwanese (the province of Taiwan–it is not a country as many idiot Westerners believe) companies are harsher and don\'t have as good management as other companies operte in China but migrant workers can leave their jobs and go to find a better management place owned by Americans or British peoples

8. By Peter, Switzerland – June 28th, 2006 at 1:09 pm

   Wow, thanks Jade!

   Sure, they like doing overtime, sleeping in dormitories, working under slavery conditions etc.

   China is a dictatorship with slaves, and harming the environment. Thats a fact.
   Profits are for westerners, Apple, and the management.

9. By Drew – June 29th, 2006 at 2:21 am

   I think we need to look at what the workers think about their jobs and the conditions. Yes, wages are less per hour there. Why? Because it is a different part of the world and money has different value there. Perhaps to those workers the money made is more than enough to live, especially if they live in factory dormatories. Living expenses are a huge cost so take that into consideration, too. I'm sure Apple will take all of these into consideration when investigating and if there is in fact a problem, they will handle it.

10. By Bob – June 29th, 2006 at 5:38 am

    I just finished a tour of the Foxconn facility a few days ago. They operate one of the cleanest, well run factories I have seen in China. Worker's dormitories include swimming pools and other amenities you would not find elsewhere.

    Do they work hard? Yes, but it's their option. What people don't understand is that workers are free to walk across the street to another manufacturer if they feel compelled. It happens all the time.

    Is this slave labor? No. Are there many choices for jobs and income in China? Not at Western levels. This is the real challenge but it's improving.

11. By Jeff – July 2nd, 2006 at 2:23 pm

    Right Bob, you just toured Foxconn. Well, I just finished doing a tour of the "your full of crap" facility. If you went there and toured it, post some pictures on a website and let everyone see the facts.

12. By C. Mil – October 4th, 2006 at 11:07 pm

    are all iPods made at Foxconn, or just the Shuffle?

13. By Ekisa – October 14th, 2006 at 3:54 pm

    Well, here in chihuahua mexico, since Foxconn bought Motorola,it has been several changes, No longer yoghurt in the dinning room, bad seats (ergonomics don\'t care for foxconn) masives recruiting-discharges processes, 30 minutes (unpaid) making line waiting to leave the factory for bad metal detectors, too many temporal contracts, bad temperature control (too cold/too hot),threats to force workers to do overtime-last moment overtime cancellations, stupid decisions…

14. By Enikő – October 9th, 2008 at 5:19 pm

    Dear Ekisa,
    the situation is the same in Hungary, where Foxconn supply for Nokia. Chinese people who manage the Hungarian factories handle workers as animals.

15. By Mozzman – October 17th, 2009 at 7:24 pm

    After knowing all this, why would anyone in thier right mind buy an Apple Product? Especially thier laptops and desktops which they charge an axtra 40 – 50% for the same product as a PC?

    Also remember that Apples are basically PC"s now but with different software. They use Intel CPU's the same hard drives as PC's and as for the motherboards, all Laptop manufacturers have thier own.

    Say NO to Apple products

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