In a Change.Org petition, civil society organisations demand that Apple Inc. take on its social responsibility to thoroughly investigate the incident at Zhengzhou’s Foxconn factory.
Since late October, footage depicting Foxconn workers’ experience of brutal treatment in the Henan area has surfaced online, which has also been picked up by official media outlets.
As revealed in the news concerning the pandemic, many of Zhengzhou’s Foxconn workers, revealing that Foxconn employs massive amounts of dispatch labor far exceeding its legal ratio of all employees as stipulated by laws. It did not provide dispatch workers with proper labor contracts and social benefits, severely violating Chinese labor law.
Foxconn’s mother company Hon Hai released a statement on October 30th saying that they will make improvements, but continued to affirm closed-loop management practices—this is undoubtedly a kind of forced labor. The government’s demands should not give excuses for companies to enact forced labor. Foxconn is still choosing to prioritize profit over workers’ health and human rights.
Also, Chinese state media’s reporting has still not adequately accounted for the workers’ conditions. As information is tightly controlled by China’s ruling party, we need an independent third party to investigate to uncover the truth to the world. As Foxconn’s main order source whose products are purchased by consumers across the world, Apple has the responsibility to call for such an investigation, under the supervision of international trade unions (including US unions and the International Trade Union Confederation).
CSOs demand that questions be answered under an independent investigation authorised by Apple. In addition,
CSOs also demand the following:
- Respect that workers’ rights are more important than the companies’ profit, that workers’ freedoms and health are more important than the employers’ production plan
- Immediately stop violating workers’ personal freedoms
- Find out who has been responsible for violently restricting workers’ freedoms
- Guarantee all workers’ lives and health
- Fairly compensate workers who have been harmed by the closed-loop production regiment
- Provide enough food and protective gear to workers
- If cases begin to spike again, prioritize workers’ health and pause the production process when needed
- Provide travel stipends for workers wishing to return home
Support Foxconn Workers. Sign the petition here.
