hinese schoolchildren are producing Amazon’s Alexa and Echo devices in grueling shifts in order to meet certain production goals, according to a new report from China Labor Watch.
Hundreds of schoolchildren ranging in age from 16 to 18 who have been classified as “interns” are working at Amazon’s supplier Foxconn to assemble the popular devices, in defiance of Chinese labor laws.
Chinese factories are permitted to employ students aged 16 and older, but those children are not allowed to work nights or overtime.
However, school teachers have been asked to encourage uncooperative pupils to accept overtime work on top of regular shifts and a number of children have worked 10 hours per day, according to the labor nonprofit’s report. Interns are also supposed to make up no more than 10 percent of the overall workforce, but the report said they accounted for 21.3 percent of workers at the Foxconn factory.
In addition, the report claims that some teachers verbally and physically attacked students in order to get them to comply with the factory’s production schedule and regulations. – READ MORE