iPod workers ‘exceeded Apple’s limits on hours’

AN investigation by iPod- maker Apple into claims of poor conditions in its Chinese factories has revealed that workers were exceeding the company’s limits on hours and days to be worked per week.

The company said it was taking immediate steps to resolve that and other issues.

The probe was in response to a report by the Mail on Sunday alleging workers at the factory were paid as little as €40 a month — much less than the cost of the cheapest iPod — and forced to work 15-hour shifts making the devices.

On its website, Apple said it “found no evidence of the use of child labour or any form of forced labour”.

However, the probe found that in many cases workers exceeded the company’s limits for overtime, which specify a maximum of 60 hours or six days a week.

The probe “found no instances of forced overtime”, but that weekly limits were exceeded 35% of the time in a seven-month period and that employees worked more than six days in-a-row 25% of the time.

The company running the factory, which was not named in the report, was ordered to enforce Apple’s overtime limits, it said.

Apple found that in at least two instances workers were made to stand at attention for disciplinary reasons.

“Apple has a zero tolerance policy for any instance, isolated or not, of any treatment of workers that could be interpreted as harsh,” the report said.

It said the factory has launched a training program to prevent such behaviour.

The probe also found the workers were paid at least the minimum wage, with more than half earning more. Minimum wage for Shenzhen, where the factory is thought to be located, is about 800 yuan (€78) a month.