We have published all the original copies of the 1,261 pay stubs online, for those who are interested. At the same time, we urge Apple to give us a response regarding Pegatron workers’ labor conditions upon reading these pay stubs.
On February 24th, 2016, based on a study on 1,261 original pay stubs, China Labor Watch released a report regarding Apple’s corporate social responsibility. The report revealed that in Pegatron Shanghai, one of Apple’s major suppliers, workers had overtime hours which were not only much higher than Apple’s standard but also overtime hours as stipulated by China’s Law. At the same time, this report also casted doubt on Apple’s corporate social responsibility report’s reliability.
On Apple’s Supplier Responsibility website, Apple claimed in September and October 2015, over 90% of suppliers were compliant with its 60-hour maximum work hour standard, but according to our investigation in Pegatron, 43.7% of workers in September and 71.1% of workers in October on average worked more than 60 hours each week. If we take into account hidden overtime hours, more than 80% workers’ working hours exceeded the 60-hour maximum standard. (Please see Graph 1 and Graph 2)
Graph 1：Apple Official Statistics
Graph 2: China Labor Watch’s Findings
In addition, we found that Pegatron workers’ base wages were too low, only around USD 290/month, and they were insufficient to meet living standards in Shanghai. In this case, workers had no choice but to work overtime. From Graph 3 we can also discover that overtime pay as a percentage of workers’ gross income reached 40%, which was even higher than base wage.
China Labor Watch has sent the report to Apple, however, we are yet to receive a response. Normally, Apple would publish its corporate responsibility report in February, but this year, there has been no sign of publication,
Graph 3: Pegatron Shanghai Workers’ Overtime Pay