A labour rights group marked the launch of Apple's latest iPhone on Friday with a report accusing one of the smartphone giant's Chinese suppliers of exploiting factory workers.
Hong Kong-based Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) say lens Technology, which makes touchscreen glass, used forced overtime, withheld wages and risked workers' health after a months-long investigation into three of its factories.
Company founder Zhou Qunfei, herself a former factory worker, became China's richest woman after lens Technology's debut on the Shenzhen stock exchange in March. As the iPhone 6s went on sale in markets including Hong Kong, Japan and mainland China on Friday, SACOM called for Apple to "apply immediate measures to rectify exploitations in its supply chain.”
“We urge Apple Inc to fulfil its corporate responsibility. To give workers a workplace with dignity and respect," it said in a statement. The rights group's allegations include workers going for a month without a day off, wages being withheld for weeks and that the company failed to pay social security.
“Dust, noise, polluted water and chemical substances are common problems on the shop floor," it added, with management ‘ignoring if workers were well-protected.” It sent undercover workers into factories, as well as interviewing workers off-site.
SACOM was due to deliver its new report on Friday to Apple and lens Technology, based in the southern Chinese province of Hunan. Around 10 protesters gathered outside one of Apple's largest stores in Hong Kong, holding giant phones with the slogan ‘Throw Away The Bad Apple’.