Foxconn, the Tiawanese electronics assembler closely linked to Apple and other electronics firms, admits student interns who helped build Sony Playstation 4 consoles worked both overtime and at night in its China factories. Foxconn is the world’s leading contract manufacturer whose fortunes are closely tied to Apple’s.
In a statement last week, Foxconn said there were “a few instances” where interns worked shifts which violated company policies. However, the company which also assembles iPhones and iPads for Apple, said “immediate actions” will be put in place to prevent further incidents…
The company “determined that there have been a few instances where our policies pertaining to overtime and night shift work were not enforced,” Foxconn said this past Friday (via CNBC).
As a result, “immediate actions” were taken.
Those actions include “reinforcing the policies of no overtime and no night shifts for student interns, even though such work is voluntary, and reminding all interns of their rights to terminate their participation in the program at any time.”
The statement follows a report by a Chinese newspaper that student who did not participate in the program were threatened with losing their degree certification.
Ironically, this most recent incident involving student interns at Foxconn comes one year after the company “admitted that it had employed interns as young as 14 years old at one of its factories in China,” reports CNBC.
Last year was full of headaches for Foxconn, including more than 200 workers at its Zhengzhou plant refusing to work due to factory conditions. Also in 2012, 100 workers rioted at Foxconn’s Chengdu site to protest treatment by security guards.
The string of bad headlines sent Apple CEO Tim Cook to personally visit the factories, introducing plans to ensure worker rights are not violated. Since then, Foxconn has seen its stock rise due to increased demand for the new iPhones, as well as the company’s plans to pursue its own products.