Rights group reveals sad truth about Apple’s overseas partners

Nov 24, 2011 15:01 GMT  ·  By

Roughly 1,000 workers of Taiwan's Jingyuan Computer Group went on strike this week, according to a rights group in the territory, who called on Apple to "take responsibility, as there are more than 300 workers working on the Apple keyboard assembly line."

The plant employs thousands in the Pearl River Delta, an area owned by Taiwan's Jingyuan Computer Group, which supplies components to technology giants IBM and Apple Inc.

Strikers reportedly said they were forced to work as many as 120 hours of overtime a month, and suffered workplace injuries.

Many also cited layoffs of older workers and frequent verbal abuse by managers in their protests. The group said the protests ultimately ended when Jingyuan Computer Group agreed to cut back the overtime work.

The rights group also said in a statement that hundreds of female workers at a bra factory in Shenzhen put their tools down and went on strike after a manager told one of the women to "jump off a roof and go to hell."