A report from the New York-based China Labor Watch found that the Hengyang Foxconn plant in the Hunan area South China, which basically makes gadgets for Amazon like Amazon Echo Dot and Kindle devices, depends on temporary workers with a high turnover rate, pays them far below the local average, and puts them on long, unpaid excursions, which pushes numbers of them to leave to find paying work. A China Labor Watch specialist went covert as a laborer to talk with 20 different workers at this processing plant and to observe conditions.
“Amazon’s profits have come at the expense of workers who labor in appalling working conditions and have no choice but to work excessive overtime hours to sustain a livelihood. All workers are subject to long hours and low wages,” said the China Labour Watch.
He found that laborers should procure compensation of $2.26 per hour, but are only receiving $2.11 with a small hourly attendance bonus that is difficult to acquire. The typical month-to-month wage in Hengyang, Hunan, a year ago was $725.22, yet Foxconn workers gain an average of $390.16 a month. China Labour Watch detailed that up to 40% of its workforce has been comprised of temporary workers, far surpassing a legitimate breaking point of 10%. These temp specialists had insufficient safety training, weren’t paid additional for extra time, and never got paid sick leave, as indicated by the report.
In its statement, Foxconn said salary reviews “are conducted regularly, and we ensure that we offer all employees remuneration that exceeds statutory requirements and that is competitive with our industry peers. Such remuneration includes basic wages, payments for any overtime work, housing and other allowances, and other financial incentives and bonuses,” the company said.
This isn’t the first occasion when Foxconn has been found to have unpleasant working conditions. It’s additionally not the first run through in which Amazon has experienced harsh criticism for its shoddy work ethics. Like different industrial facilities that China Labour Watch has written about, there’s no labor union for the Hengyang specialists. There’s a procedure for recording objections; however the laborers don’t trust it.
Amazon told The Guardian this weekend that it had audited the factory in question in March and discovered two violations. “We immediately requested a corrective action plan from Foxconn Hengyang detailing their plan to remediate the issues identified, and we are conducting regular assessments to monitor for implementation and compliance with our supplier code of conduct,” the company said.
