A nonprofit organization criticized the Fair Labor Association’s review of Apple’s largest supplier in China, saying consumer demand for the iPhone 5 has unraveled any potential improvements in working conditions at the Chinese factories.
The EBI paper said Foxconn is far from being in line with fair labor regulations, and continues to hold back pay and push employees to work long hours, skirting the problems with poor attempts at reform. The Apple supplier is continually in the media hot seat, with its most recent blemishes including an admittance to breaking child labor law by employing underage interns and a court case over a man who allegedly suffered brain damage from a work-related accident.
The EBI paper cited these media reports, as well as a 2012 report from activist group Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour and the FLA’s own report report, to illustrate its criticism.