Apple Watch supplier under fire for student labour

washington: Apple is investigating a factory in south-west 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 compelled to work in order 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).

SACOM interviewed 28 students at the plant in Chongqing municipality over the summer, and all of them said they had not voluntarily applied to work there, according to the report published last week.

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.

“Our graduation certificate will be withheld by the school if we refuse to come,” said one student majoring in e-commerce, according to SACOM.

Manufacturing internships are permitted under Chinese labour law, but SACOM found the work has “literally nothing to do with learning” and violated some of the country’s labour laws.

“We are like robots on the production lines,” one 18-year-old student told SACOM.

Others said they were put on the night shift working from 8pm to 8am with minimal breaks, according to SACOM. — AFP