Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the manufacturer of Apple’s iPhone, faces new allegations of worker abuse at its sprawling China plants in two reports that claim conditions have not improved despite company promises after a rash of suicides.
One report, based on interviews with over 1,700 workers by 20 universities in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, criticized Hon Hai for long working hours, a “militaristic” work culture and mass employment of low-wage vocational college students and interns on production lines to cut costs.
Hon Hai and its Hong Kong-based Foxconn International Holdings Ltd (富士康控股) unit, which make iPhones and iPads for Apple and goods for Dell and Hewlett-Packard, among others, dismissed the report’s “unsubstantiated allegations” and said it treated and paid its workers well.
“Foxconn Technology Group (富士康集團) strongly and categorically rejects reports in the Chinese and international media that are attributed to research by academics and students alleging worker abuse, illegal labor practices and unsafe working conditions at our operations in China,” it said in a statement.
Hon Hai, the world’s biggest electronic parts maker, and Foxconn came under criticism following 13 suicides at their China plants that labor activists said were triggered by the Taiwanese firm’s tough labor practices and murky corporate culture.
In recent years, multinationals including Honda Motor Co have recruited aggressively from Chinese technical and vocational schools, paying lower wages and skimping on benefits.
“It’s common now throughout the Pearl River Delta in any -manufacturing sector,” said Geoffrey Crothall with the China Labour Bulletin in Hong Kong, who added such interns often inked contracts lacking labor safeguards and workplace insurance. “In terms of legal protection, they’re in no-man’s land.”
Since the suicides, Hon Hai pledged to improve the livelihood of its 937,000 or so workers in China by raising wages, cutting overtime and building new factories in inland China to allow migrant workers to be closer to home.
However, the report, based on worker interviews carried out between June to August, said the workload was still unrelenting.
A second report by rights group Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) said many staff was still paid barely more than minimum wage levels in some factories despite promises to beef up basic wages to about 2,000 yuan (US$300) by this month.
Both reports said Hon Hai was hiring young students and interns on a vast scale at low wages to mitigate soaring costs that have eroded profits and hurt its share price this year.
Hon Hai denied this, saying that only about 7.6 percent of its workforce were interns and that those working overtime had done so voluntarily. It said it was working hard to ban such overtime work by interns.
“Foxconn is certainly not perfect, but we take our responsibility to our employees very seriously,” it said.
Major electronics brands like Apple were also blamed for driving Chinese workers and factory owners to the brink.
“Apple and other brands must raise the unit price of their orders to allow manufacturers to survive while providing a living wage for the workers who produce their electronics products,” SACOM wrote in its report.
Apple declined to comment.
Market research firm iSuppli estimates that a 4G iPhone costs US$6.54 to make in China, or just around 1.1 percent of its retail price, while Apple’s profit margins hover above 60 percent.
TAKING STOCK: A Taiwanese cookware firm in Vietnam urged customers to assess inventory or place orders early so shipments can reach the US while tariffs are paused Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam are exploring alternatives after the White House imposed a 46 percent import duty on Vietnamese goods, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on the US’ trading partners. Lo Shih-liang (羅世良), chairman of Brico Industry Co (裕茂工業), a Taiwanese company that manufactures cast iron cookware and stove components in Vietnam, said that more than 40 percent of his business was tied to the US market, describing the constant US policy shifts as an emotional roller coaster. “I work during the day and stay up all night watching the news. I’ve been following US news until 3am
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
Six years ago, LVMH’s billionaire CEO Bernard Arnault and US President Donald Trump cut the blue ribbon on a factory in rural Texas that would make designer handbags for Louis Vuitton, one of the world’s best-known luxury brands. However, since the high-profile opening, the factory has faced a host of problems limiting production, 11 former Louis Vuitton employees said. The site has consistently ranked among the worst-performing for Louis Vuitton globally, “significantly” underperforming other facilities, said three former Louis Vuitton workers and a senior industry source, who cited internal rankings shared with staff. The plant’s problems — which have not
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
RSS