Apple manufacturers in China have been illegally employing high schoolers to make the company’s red-hot iPhone X.
Foxconn has brought on 3,000 students from the Zhengzhou Urban Rail Transit School to assemble the smartphone as it works to make up ground following severe production delays, according to a Tuesday report in the Financial Times.
The students, who range in age from 17 to 19, have reportedly been required to work at the plants in order to complete a “work experience” graduation requirement. They regularly work 11-hour days, which violates Chinese labor laws for student interns.
“We are being forced by our school to work here,” one student, who was made to assemble 1,200 iPhone X cameras a day, told the FT. “This work has nothing to do with our studies.” Both Apple and Foxconn acknowledged that they were aware of the students working overtime, and said they were investigating the matter. Apple, however, insisted that “the students worked voluntarily, were compensated and provided benefits.”
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