South China Morning Post – Chinese Apple Watch supplier under fire for ‘forcing students to work like robots’
Apple is investigating a factory in southwest China after a labour rights group said the tech giant’s supplier forced student workers to work “like robots” to assemble its popular Apple Watch.
Many were forced to work to get their vocational degrees and had to do night shifts, according to an investigation by Hong Kong-based NGO Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM).
They worked under the guise of “internships”, SACOM said, a practice rights groups say is widespread in China as manufacturers pair up with vocational schools to supply workers and fill labour shortages when they ramp up production for new models or the Christmas rush.
The NGO demanded Apple investigate and bring the labour practices in line with the firm’s own policies and those of the local and central Chinese government.