Finger pointed at Apple iPhone 7 maker Pegatron over alleged worker rights violations

"Apple has never seriously fulfilled their commitments to the public and workers," claims China Labor Watch

A new report examining working conditions at Apple's contractors building the new iPhone 7 indicates that workers are still being subjected to rights violations and wage deductions neutralising increases in the local minimum wage.

This time Pegatron, rather than Foxconn, is the focus of industry watchdog China Labor Watch's latest report. It claims that workers are effectively forced to do overtime, sometimes unpaid, with almost two-thirds of staff doing overtime of more than 82 hours every month. It also accused the contract manufacturer of breaking Chinese labour laws by, for example, making interns work overtime, too.

Various security procedures for the factory works also add an hour or so to every working day, which is unpaid. And, while increases in the minimum wage in Shanghai were passed on, Pegatron cut welfare benefits and "shared" insurance payments with workers, effectively cutting their pay rather than raising it.

As a result, staff have no choice but to work long hours of overtime in order to make a reasonable living wage, claims the report.

Apple is directly implicated in the abuses, suggests the group, because it controls so much of what its contractors do, yet at the same time has been pressurising the companies that manufacture its products and the parts that go into them to cut costs

"Apple controls costs associated with purchases and workers' in the supply chain. In manufacturing the IPhone, over 80 per cent of materials are purchased by Apple. In addition, Apple supplies the manufacturing equipment whilst factories only purchase cases, screens, circuit boards, packaging and other materials," claimed the report.

The group's executive director, Li Qiang, accused Apple directly of undermining moves to improve conditions in Chinese manufacturing.

"Apple is, in fact, hindering the improvement of working conditions in the smartphone industry. In 2015, Apple alone claimed more than 90 per cent of the smartphone industry's aggregate profits, while a majority of other firms were operating at a loss. If Apple does not take on responsibility commensurate with its status, other companies will not have the ability to make improvements either," said Li Qiang.

The report examined the pay stubs of a number of Pegatron workers making the forthcoming iPhone 7, as well as interviewing them.

It claimed that "working conditions are terrible, and workers are subject to terrible treatment" as a direct result of Apple pressure on its suppliers to cut their costs. Suppliers, meanwhile, have taken measures to circumvent Apple's own worker audits, which were introduced after an outcry over working conditions in factories producing Apple products in 2013.

Apple's supply-chain has been mired in controversy for a number of years, blowing up following a number of suicides of workers at one of the plants assembling its iPhones. That was followed by a series of damning reports by China Labor Watch and others.

Pegatron was the focus of reports into alleged labour abuses in July 2013. In response, Apple stepped up its audits of its contract manufacturers and other suppliers in its supply chain.

But the latest report, suggests the organisation, "demonstrates that Apple has never seriously fulfilled their commitments to the public and workers".