Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group said Sunday that it takes its responsibilities as a leading consumer electronics manufacturer very seriously and puts a priority on providing a positive working environment for its more than 1 million employees and ensuring their welfare.
"All aspects of our businesses are guided by our Social and Environmental Responsibility Code of Conduct, which is clearly communicated to all employees. That code sets out Foxconn's standards relating to business ethics, labor and employee rights, health and safety, the environment, and many other areas," the company said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Sunday.
Regular audits are carried out and "if infractions are identified, we work to immediately rectify them," the firm noted.
The comment came after the UK-based Guardian newspaper published a report on Saturday claiming that Foxconn's factory in Hengyang, Central China's Hunan Province, which makes Amazon's electronic products including the Kindle, has been found to be violating workers' rights by hiring an illegal number of agency or dispatch workers and not paying them properly for overtime.
According to an investigation by China Labor Watch (CWL), a New York-based non-governmental organization, more than 40 percent of the staff at the Hengyang factory of Foxconn, the world's largest contract producer of electronic devices, are agency workers, a clear violation of the legally mandated limit of 10 percent.
Regular workers are paid overtime, but dispatch workers earn 14.5 yuan per hour ($2.26) and are paid the same rate for all hours that they work, whether during their normal schedules or overtime hours, according to the investigation report released by the CWL on Sunday.
While there are clear distinctions related to working conditions between regular workers and dispatch workers at the factory, all workers are subject to long hours and low wages, the report said. During each month of the peak production season, workers must put in more than 100 hours of overtime per month, found the investigation. Chinese law stipulates monthly overtime cannot exceed 36 hours.
Zuo Xiangqi, an expert on labor law, told the Global Times Sunday that the updated Chinese law in 2014 added the terms covering the number limit of agency workers, who usually hold marginal positions that are temporary and replaceable, and that's why there shouldn't be a big number of such workers in firms.
"It is common practice in the manufacturing sector in China for firms to engage temporary employees to support specific product development and manufacturing cycles. Our company ensures that when we do this, that all relevant laws and regulations are followed and that we only work with accredited recruitment agencies," Foxconn said.
As far as Zuo is concerned, the Foxconn reply did not address the issue of the numerical limit of agency workers. "Besides, there is a possibility that the foreign investigation work group was unable to differentiate the agency workers from the outsourced ones," Zuo noted.
"We cannot determine and make comments based on the NGO's investigation alone. But if these are the facts, there are many regulations specific to this issue and strong law enforcement in our country," he said.
