Foxconn Was Hiding Underage Workers During Audits

That's where your iPhone comes from

 As much as people love their iPhones, they can't help but wonder how they were made. And recent reports revealing employee treatment at Foxconn made them feel even worse about their purchase of an iDevice. Now, an interview with the Hong-Kong based Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), has produced one of the most frightening reports yet; Foxconn has been hiding their underage workers during audits.

Apple allows 16 and 17 year-olds to work in Foxconn factories if the local laws do, but they can't work in particularly dangerous fields, and they can't work overtime. According to SACOM's representative, Foxconn doesn't follow these two rules, so when they found out, probably through intelligence, that the Fair Labor Association was going to inspect their procedures, they tidied up, but only for the duration of the inspection.

Two Foxconn workers in the town of Zhengou said that Foxconn was "prepared for inspection." One even said that "all underage workers, 16 or 17, were not assigned any overtime work, and some were even sent to other departments." Other reports found that this isn't the only thing Foxconn does to prepare for inspections. They often tell their employees that if they tell the inspectors how badly they're being treated, they'll be fired immediately.