The other day I told you that thousands of Chinese students would have been forced to work in the Foxconn factories to assemble the terminals iPhone 5 which would arrive on the market at the end of this month. Students from several technological faculties were told that in order to obtain the credits necessary to promote the subjects they are enrolled in, they must assemble USB connectors in Foxconn factories for $244 per month. Faced with these accusations, those from Foxconn claim that The Fair Labor Association inspected their factories and found that the company did not force anyone to work in its factories to assemble anything, rather the employees would be allowed to leave the factories even before the end of the program.
Responding to reports in the Chinese publications Beijing News and China Daily and elsewhere that some students in Jiangsu province were being pressured to work long hours at Foxconn making things like iPhone USB cables, the company — which makes iPhones and iPads for Apple — told Bloomberg today that an audit by the Fair Labor Association "found no evidence that any interns were pressured to participate."
Although those from FLA claim that Foxconn respects the rules, this does not mean that before the investigations made by the organization, the incidents that were talked about during this week did not happen. It's hard to say now if Foxconn forced students to work in its factories, but since the rumors started, there is a problem there, even if it's not that serious.
