"Foxconn Denies Forcing Vocational Students to Make iPhones"

Foxconn Denies Forcing Vocational Students to Make iPhones

An Apple spokesperson did not comment on the allegations reported from The New York times that Foxconn, Apple’s go-to iPhone assembler, has been forcing vocational students to work in their factories to make more iPhones, in anticipation of the sales that the new iPhone 5 will generate.

Instead, the spokesman referred to his company’s code of conduct for its suppliers like Foxconn, which requires them to comply with local labor laws.

Two organizations, Taiwan-based Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior and China Labor Watch from New York, have been following Foxconn’s practices and accused the company of employing students as part of a vocational program. It is like short apprenticeship, but with long working hours.

Meanwhile, a representative to Foxconn said its “short-term internship program” complies with Chinese labor laws, adding that interns make up 2.7 percent of its labor force in mainland China. In the program, it is the schools who recruit students to Foxconn. The supplier also stressed that local government authorities supervise the program, while teachers are assigned to monitor the working students.

Source: Washington Post