A Chinese workers’ rights group released a new report today that sheds light on the deplorable working conditions in factories that assemble the iPhone 6. According to China Labor Watch, on February 3, 2015, Pegatron assembly line worker Tian Fulei died while assembling the iPhone 6.
The hospital labeled the cause of death as “sudden death,” but fellow workers say Tian worked long overtime shifts day after day, which gave his family reason to believe that Tian died from overwork.
To smooth things over, Pegatron reportedly offered the family a measly $2,400 as compensation for their son’s death. Tian’s family of farmers couldn’t afford to pay for an expensive independent autopsy to prove the death was work-related. Eventually they took Pegatron’s next offer of $1,277 for his untimely death.
“Tian’s family told CLW that the 26-year-old Tian was healthy when he began working at Pegatron in November 2014. It was only after months of long overtime hours that his health suddenly failed him. CLW’s recent investigations, including for 2013 and 2014, have found consistently that workers making Apple products at Pegatron Shanghai work tremendously long overtime hours.”
Apple’s supply chain practices have come under fire repeatedly over the last five years. Foxconn received most of the attention after a series of suicides at the company’s factories. Pegatron’s practices were recently spotlighted by a BBC One documentary that focused on Apple’s broken promises to workers.
Tim Cook said he was “deeply offended” by the investigation into Apple’s supply chain, and that no one is doing “as much as Apple does to ensure fair and safe working conditions.”
Via: Fortune
