Your iPhone 17 wasn’t made by the happiest people.
During the period between March and September of this year, the Chinese employees working on the iPhone 17 series saw a brutal crunch, according to China Labor Watch. There were also multiple labor rights violations, as well as some local laws being broken to get the phones ready on time, alleges the organization’s report.
Foxconn’s Zhengzhou facility hired a ton of temporary workers, totalling over 50 percent of the workforce. This, according to the report (subscription required), is “five times the legal limit under Chinese law”.
Many of these workers were forced to work nights for meager pay, had their pay withheld for weeks at a time, and had to work many hours over the legal allowed limit and Apple’s own cap. Employees couldn’t quit, either, as the pay structure meant that they wouldn’t see any money for the weeks that they had already put in.
The report also claims that Apple personnel were present on-site, and were very likely aware of the labor rights violations taking place, but chose to turn a blind eye.
