Working 20 straight days without rest in an iPhone 16 factory in Henan
The China Labour Bulletin posted some videos from Chinese social media showing workers fainting from the gruelling shifts at the Foxconn plant in conjunction with the release of its new smartphone models. Overtime can reach up to four times the limit established by Chinese law.
Milan (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Foxconn workers are becoming exhausted from gruelling shifts to churn out Apple’s new iPhone models.
The problem became public after workers at the Zhengzhou plant (Henan) posted some videos in recent weeks on Chinese social media, later picked up by the China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based workers’ rights advocacy organisation that monitors work-related issues in the People's Republic of China.
“Who can endure 20 consecutive days of night shifts without any rest?" reads a comment on a video posted on Douyin that described a worker taken to hospital after days of night work.
Three days later, another video (which has since been removed) reported that two workers had fainted in Area F of the Foxconn plant.
Another video uploaded on 12 October (also removed) reported another episode of a worker fainting in a plant. The China Labour Bulletin was unable to verify whether these reported cases overlapped.
Foxconn's factories in Henan significantly extended working hours following the release of the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max to include Saturdays and Sundays, resulting in workers facing 20 consecutive days of work before getting a single day off.
The extended workload offers higher pay, considering that the average hourly wage is relatively low, at about 25.6 yuan. However, the reduction in rest time makes the work more physically demanding.
Similar arrangements for longer working hours have also been reported at Foxconn's factories in Shenzhen, but without any fainting incidents reported.
After the posting of anonymous complaints, some lines at the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou have returned to a weekly rest day system, likely in response to unreasonably long working hours and fainting episodes.
Making a worker work for 20 consecutive days violates China’s Labour Law. Article 38 clearly states that employers must guarantee at least one day of rest per week.
In addition, the overtime hours provided by the Foxconn programme also significantly exceed the legal limits.
Accounts from several workers indicate that many worked over 300 hours in October, with overtime almost four times higher than what is allowed under Article 41 of the Labour Law.
Another report by the China Labour Bulletin highlights the widespread problem of excessively long working hours in China's manufacturing sector.
This situation led to a tragic case of overwork-related death at the Qisda electronics factory in Suzhou, Jiangsu, in 2023. Migrant worker Xiao Xu, 23, died after working 13 consecutive night shifts.
China Labour Bulletin also notes that, as the main buyer of Foxconn products, Apple has a social responsibility to ensure that working conditions in its factories comply with local labour laws.
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02/03/2022 14:02
