End iSlavery Now!
HONG KONG—Students and Scholars against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) reveals Apple’s continuous abuse of labor rights across its supply chain. Among the major violations the report highlighted are suppression of trade union rights, use of intern labor, and forced overtime and unpaid wages.
- Suppression of trade union rights: Trade union election in Apple’s suppliers are found to be corrupted. Workers were forced to vote to assigned candidate with open ballot. The union also suppressed workers demand when labour disputes happens.
- Use of intern labor: Apple’s manufacturers are found to be massively using student interns as young as 16-old to replace regular workers. The students are mostly in irrelevant major and they are not allowed to graduate if they refuse to work.
- Forced overtime and extremely low wages: Workers’ basic wage have barely raised since 2012 while the inflation was rapid. Workers have no choice but to work excessive overtime for a living.
How much is it worth? In 2010, 18 young workers attempted to commit suicide at Foxconn, one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturer located in China, and where Apple products are made. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou downplayed the tragedy by telling the media the company would raise workers’ wages by 20 percent.
Take action!
November 3, 2017 marks the release of iPhone X, Apple’s new flagship product. Labor rights activists from Hong Kong, Philippines, USA, UK, France, Germany, Austria and other regions have come together to hold the iSlave at 10 Global Day of Action to highlight a decade of labor rights violations in Apple’s iPhone production.
- Join iSlave at 10 Global Action Day and demand Apple to:
- Guarantee full trade union right for all workers
- Stop labor flexibilization
- Double the basic wage for workers’ reasonable living
- Sign and share the petition here.
- Watch and share the documentaries from SACOM’s channel.
- Access the action kit from this Drive.
Reference: Michael Ma, michaelma@sacom.hk
