Advocates decry Foxconn treatment of student interns
A highly publicized labor audit of Foxconn, conducted by a nonprofit group at Apple's behest after the tech giant faced public pressure to improve working conditions in its supply chain, revealed much about factory practices and conditions. It failed, however, to adequately address what some watchdog groups call an entrenched pattern in Chinese factories: The poor treatment of student interns.
"As far as I know, no Western company that uses Chinese labor has explicitly addressed this issue at all," Ross Perlin, author of "Intern Nation," said via email. "They should be taking a stand against the exploitation of student labor."
Investigations by Hong Kong-based groups Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour and the China Labour Bulletin detail an internship system rife with abuses, minimal protections for workers as young as 15 years old, and designed to take advantage of loopholes. These watchdog groups cite instances of compulsory internships with long hours and no days off, often in fields unrelated to what the students are studying. Since the students aren't technically employees, companies aren't held responsible if they suffer on-the-job injuries.
In one report, the CLB said interns "lack the legal protection guaranteed to those with an employment contract. If interns are injured, forced to work excessively long hours or are cheated out of their pay, they often have no one to turn to. And if they do complain to their school, they run the risk of not getting their diploma."
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Cueing Mr. Job's extended family in 3...2...1!