Schoolchildren in China work overnight to produce Amazon Alexa devices

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Schoolchildren in China work overnight to produce Amazon Alexa devices

Leaked documents show children as young as 16 recruited by Amazon supplier Foxconn work gruelling and illegal hours

Gethin Chamberlain
Thu 8 Aug 2019 23.37 BST Last modified on Thu 8 Aug 2019 23.39 BST

Hundreds of schoolchildren have been drafted in to make Amazon’s Alexa devices in China as part of a controversial and often illegal attempt to meet production targets, documents seen by the Guardian reveal.

Interviews with workers and leaked documents from Amazon’s Foxconn supplier show that many of the children have been required to work nights and overtime to produce the devices, in breach of Chinese labour laws.

According to the documents, the teenagers – drafted in from schools and technical colleges in and around the city of Hengyang – are classified as “interns”, and their teachers are paid by the factory to accompany them. Teachers are asked to encourage uncooperative pupils to accept overtime work on top of regular shifts.

Some of the pupils making Amazon’s Echo, Echo Dot and Kindle devices have been required to work for more than two months to supplement staffing levels at the factory during peak production periods, researchers found. More than 1,000 pupils are employed, aged from 16 to 18.

Chinese factories are allowed to employ students aged 16 and older, but these schoolchildren are not allowed to work nights or overtime.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/aug/08/schoolchildren-in-china-work-overnight-to-produce-amazon-alexa-devices

[Thomas Hurt]

1. Sad, and makes the conservatives in this country pine for the good ole days.