The world's largest contract electronics maker, Foxconn Technology Group admitted that it employed interns as young as 14 years old. The firm that manufactures Apple's iPhone and other products of leading technology companies such as Samsung and Microsoft said that underage interns had worked at the plant for about three weeks; however, no evidence was found so far about the company's other plans in China.
"An internal investigation carried out by our company has confirmed media reports in China that some participants in the short-term student internship program that is administered at our campus in Yantai, Shandong Province are under the legal working age of 16 years," the company said in a statement. "This is not only a violation of China's labor law, it is also a violation of Foxconn policy and immediate steps have been taken to return the interns in question to their educational institutions."
One of the largest suppliers of electronic components in the world, Foxconn's major manufacturing units are in mainland China where it produces and supplies electronic devices such as Apple's iPhone and iPad, Amazon's Kindle and Microsoft's Xbox. Interns constitute about 2.7 percent of Foxconn's 1.2 million employees in China.
The news came to light when an independent not-for-profit organization China Labor Watch reported that underage interns were mainly sent to Foxconn by schools but that Foxconn did not check the IDs of the underage interns. This has also been confirmed by the Chinese radio show "Zhongguo Zongheng."
"The schools involved in this incident should take primary responsible, but Foxconn is also culpable for not confirming the ages of their workers," the organization said in a statement.
In a statement to CNET, Foxconn said "full responsibility for these violations rests with our company and we have apologized to each of the students for our role in this action."
