A new report of makeITfair reveals that mobile phone production plants in South China and the Philippines are exploiting workers to cut costs.
The report says production plants in Guangdong province and the
Philippines are violating workers' rights by letting staff handle chemicals without protective gear and forcing them to work overtime.
The labour conditions at six factories that produce components for
Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson and Apple's iPhone in China
have been investigated. The research revealed that "working conditions
there violate national laws, conventions of the International Labour
Organisation as well as the mobile phone companies' own codes of
conduct on issues such as working hours and use of hazardous chemicals."
"As the prices of mobile phones steadily decline, the factory workers
that manufacture our phones in China and the Philippines continue to
pay a very high price," says Sara Nordbrand, researcher at SwedWatch, a
partner association of makeITfair.
Nokia announced in a statement that it is working with makeITfair and
the involved manufacturing plants to improve working conditions. The
Finnish company also emphasised it will not accept conditions that do
not comply with national and international labour laws.
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