A new report by China Labor Watch accuses Apple of overlooking irregular and abusive work conditions at Foxconn Zhengzhou, one of its key suppliers. Here are the details.
6 years later, it appears little has changed
China Labor Watch was founded in 2000, and describes itself as “an independent not-for-profit organization that advocates for workers’ rights, and supports the Chinese labor movement.”
Throughout the years, the group has criticized and called attention to numerous alleged labor violations taking place at Apple suppliers, particularly at Pegatron and Foxconn.
This week, China Labor Profit released a study comparing 2025 work conditions at Foxconn Zhengzhou with those in its 2019 report on the same factory.
And while the report highlights the elimination of underage workers in 2025, in contrast to vocational school minors documented in 2019, it concludes that this was basically the sole improvement.
From the report:
“It is important to note that the Chinese authorities are not unaware of the aformentioned (sic) issues at Apple’s supplier factories. Instead, it has tolerated them in exchange for Apple’s technology transfers to China. One outcome of this bargain is that the new iPhone 17 is being mass-produced at Foxconn Zhengzhou. In addition, these findings demonstrate that far from being corrected, issues promised to address in 2019 remain in 2025, as summarized below.”
They note that issues such as “wage system,” “ethnic/regional discrimination,” “information control, and “occupational safety” have worsened between 2019 and 2025, while issues such as “overtime hours,” “use of students,” “wage levels,” “training,” “union,” “gender/pregnancy discrimination,” and “dormitory conditions” remained unchanged.
The report also notes that wages in 2025 were unchanged from 2019, with the official base pay remaining between 2,100 and 2,400 RMB (about $294–$336), rising to roughly 3,000 RMB ($420) with overtime and bonuses.
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